Theodore Roosevelt Page (April 22, 1903 - December 1, 1984), nicknamed "Terrible Ted", was an American baseball player. From 1923 to 1937, Page played for numerous Negro league teams, including the

Homestead Grays The Homestead Grays (also known as Washington Grays or Washington Homestead Grays) were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 by Cumberland Posey, and remained in continuo ...

and

Pittsburgh Crawfords The Pittsburgh Crawfords, popularly known as the Craws, were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team, previously known as the Crawford Colored Giants, was named after the Crawford Bath House, a recre ...

. On a 1986 Larry Fritsch baseball card (“Negro League Baseball Stars, #4), “…Page is regarded as one of the best outfielders ever to play the game.” He is a member of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

Biography

Early life

Page was born in

Glasgow, Kentucky Glasgow is a home rule-class city in Barren County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. Glasgow is the principal city of the Glasgow micropolitan area, which comprises Barren and Metcalfe counties. The population was 14,028 ...

in 1903. In his early years, Page said that he had no awareness of racial differences. His family moved to

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, whi ...

when he was nine, and they lived in a neighborhood largely composed of families of European descent. He said that many of his childhood friends were Polish and Italian. Representatives from the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

football team pursued Page and his friend

Joe Donchess Joe Donchess (March 17, 1905 – January 30, 1977) was an American football player at the University of Pittsburgh. He was a consensus All-American at end while playing on the 1929 university's football team under head coach Jock Sutherland. ...

, but Page did not finish high school and Donchess ended up as an All-American end at

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

Career

In 1923, Page signed with the

Toledo Tigers The Toledo Tigers were a Negro National League team that operated during the season, its only season in the league, representing Toledo, Ohio. It played its home games at Toledo's Swayne Field, home of the minor league Mud Hens. The team was ...

, but he was cut before playing a game. Over the next several seasons, he played for numerous Negro league teams, including the Newark Stars,

Brooklyn Royal Giants The Brooklyn Royal Giants were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 1905 by John Wilson Connor (1875–1926), owner of the Brooklyn Royal Cafe, the team initially played against white semi-pro teams. ...

and

Baltimore Black Sox The Baltimore Black Sox were a professional Negro league baseball team active between 1913 and 1936, based in Baltimore, Maryland. Founding The Black Sox started as an independent team in 1913 by Howard Young. They were one of the original six ...

. Page played with the

in 1930 and 1931. Page is sometimes remembered for a fight that he had with Grays teammate

George Scales George Louis Scales (August 16, 1900 - April 15, 1976), nicknamed "Tubby", was an American second baseman and manager in Negro league baseball, most notably with the New York Lincoln Giants and Baltimore Elite Giants. Born in Talladega, Alabama, ...

. He knocked out two of Scales's teeth after Scales criticized his performance on the field. The fight was broken up, but Page slept with a gun in his hand that night and Scales kept a knife in his hand. He moved on to the

, where he batted in front of

Cool Papa Bell James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell (May 17, 1903 – March 7, 1991) was an American center fielder in Negro league baseball from 1922 to 1946. He is considered to have been one of the fastest men ever to play the game. Stories demonstrating Bell's sp ...

. Players on

Gus Greenlee William Augustus Greenlee (December 26, 1893 – July 7, 1952) was a highly successful businessman in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who was born and raised in Marion, North Carolina. After migrating to Pittsburgh as a young man and working in the ...

's Crawfords teams frequently worked for Greenlee in the offseason. One winter after a Crawfords season, Page made $15 per week to act as a watchman at the numbers house of owner

. Teammate

Judy Johnson William Julius "Judy" Johnson (October 26, 1899 – June 15, 1989) was an American professional third baseman and manager whose career in Negro league baseball spanned 17 seasons, from 1921 to 1937. Slight of build, Johnson never developed as ...

once worked as Greenlee's chauffeur. In 1934, popular major league pitcher

Dizzy Dean Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (January 16, 1910 – July 17, 1974), also known as Jerome Herman Dean (both the 1910 and 1920 Censuses show his name as "Jay"), was an American professional baseball pitcher. During his Major League Baseball (MLB) career ...

assembled a team of major league players and a team of Negro league players to tour large metropolitan areas and play exhibition games against each other. The Negro league team included Page,

Josh Gibson Joshua Gibson (December 21, 1911 – January 20, 1947) was an American baseball catcher primarily in the Negro leagues. Baseball historians consider Gibson among the best power hitters and catchers in baseball history. In 1972, he became the se ...

Satchel Paige Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction in ...

Buck Leonard Walter Fenner "Buck" Leonard (September 8, 1907 – November 27, 1997) was an American first baseman in Negro league baseball and in the Mexican League. After growing up in North Carolina, he played for the Homestead Grays between 1934 and 1950, ...

, Jud "Boojum" Wilson and Cool Papa Bell. The major league team included Paul Dean, Larry French and a retired

Hack Wilson Lewis Robert "Hack" Wilson (April 26, 1900 – November 23, 1948) was an American Major League Baseball player who played 12 seasons for the New York Giants, Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. Despite his diminutive statur ...

. Page said that his team won seven out of nine matchups.

Later life and legacy

After retiring from baseball, Page operated a bowling alley in Pittsburgh. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1977. Page was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat on December 1, 1984. Jeffrey Sullivan, 20, was charged with his murder. Sullivan had performed yard work for Page and said that Page owed him money. Sullivan was convicted of second-degree murder and is serving a life sentence. In August 2013, the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project announced that it would hold a ceremony to mark Page's grave at

Allegheny Cemetery Allegheny Cemetery is one of the largest and oldest burial grounds in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is a historic rural cemetery. The non-sectarian, wooded hillside park is located at 4734 Butler Street in the Lawrenceville neighborhood, and bou ...

in Pennsylvania. Page's ashes were thought to have been lost, but they were located in a community cellar at the cemetery. During his later life, Page raised money to mark the grave of Negro league star

at the same cemetery.

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads

Find a Grave bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Ted 1903 births 1984 deaths Baltimore Black Sox players Brooklyn Royal Giants players Burials at Allegheny Cemetery Deaths by beating in the United States Homestead Grays players Male murder victims Murdered African-American people Newark Stars players Newark Eagles players New York Black Yankees players People murdered in Pennsylvania Philadelphia Stars players Pittsburgh Crawfords players 20th-century African-American sportspeople