Vintage Card Of The Month: 2005 UD Origins Satchel Paige

This month’s Vintage Card of the Month is not officially a vintage card but the subject began his career in 1926 so I am including this in the vintage series. The card is from the 2005 Upper Deck Origins release and is a 5x7 tin box topper of Satchel Paige.

In 2005 I opened a tin of UD Origins, the box contained 20 cards, one was a relic, plus one box topper. My relic was Randy Johnson so I was cool with that but nothing else was special besides the box topper of Satchel Paige. Like the box that it came in the 5x7 cards are also tin with blank backs and really reminds me of an advertising sign. I am currently not displaying the card and it is packed away but when I did have a man cave it was included in my displays.

This image is one of those that has been sitting in my scan folder just waiting for me to include in a post and now that I am not buying anything new it makes it appearance as a Vintage Card of the Month post.

Paige began his career in the Negro Leagues with the Chattanooga Black Lookouts in 1926 and his career lasted 40 years and spanned 5 different decades. His last official game was 1965 when he played in a single game for the Kansas City Athletics but his last regular appearance was in 1953 with the St Louis Browns. After the 1965 game, he did play minor league baseball in 1966 and 1967 and even worked in some time with the Harlem Globetrotters.

Unfortunately, the stats from his playing days are incomplete so it is difficult to tell how overwhelming he really was in his career. From the records that were kept from the Negro Leagues and MLB he went 128-81 with a 3.29 ERA and includes 7 All-Star appearances. He has two World Series Titles, one with the KC Monarchs in 1942 and one with the Cleveland Indians in 1948, and in 1971 he was inducted in to the Hall of Fame.