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Who really said it

I have never thrown an illegal pitch. The trouble is some of my pitches were never seen by this generation until I came along

Spoken by Satchel Paige 1906–1982 · Negro leagues and Major League pitcher
Verified In copyright

Paige said it to the Miami Herald’s Eddie Storin for a profile published on 5 March 1958. Quote Investigator ↗ transcribes the passage; apart from a comma before “until,” it is the sentence above word for word. A United Press International story five months later carried it in exactly this form.

Last verified 22 Sep 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

For presentations

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Verified quote & credit

“I have never thrown an illegal pitch. The trouble is some of my pitches were never seen by this generation until I came along” Satchel Paige, The Miami Herald, 5 March 1958. Verified by Quotle.info.

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by The Miami Herald). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Satchel Paige — Negro leagues and Major League pitcher. Theme: "I have never thrown an illegal pitch. The trouble is some of my pitches were never seen by this generation until I came along". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "I have never thrown an illegal pitch. The trouble is some of my pitches were never seen by this generation until I came along". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source

Publication
The Miami Herald, 5 March 1958
Article
“Psychiatrist Satch Set for Season” by Eddie Storin
Quote page
5D, column 6
What prompted it
Accusations that his “hesitation pitch” broke the rules

“I have never thrown an illegal pitch,” he straight-faced. “The trouble is some of my pitches were never seen by this generation, until I came along. But you know a fella named (Rube) Waddell used that hesitation pitch of mine back in the 1890’s.”

As transcribed by Quote Investigator ↗. The only difference from the wording that circulates is the comma before “until.” The dating of Rube Waddell to “the 1890’s” is Paige’s own; we have not checked it.

Quote Investigator on this quotation

How we verified this

  • Quote Investigator ↗ gives the earliest citation as Eddie Storin, “Psychiatrist Satch Set for Season,” The Miami Herald, 5 March 1958, page 5D, column 6.
  • The same page records a United Press International story of 3 August 1958 printing the remark as “I’ve never thrown an illegal pitch. The trouble is some of my pitches were never seen by this generation until I came along” — the popular wording, comma and all removed, within the same year.
  • Quote Investigator’s conclusion: “Satchel Paige deserves credit for the remark he made by 1958. The phrasing presented in newspaper accounts has been variable, and Satchel Paige probably delivered the line more than once.”
  • Wikiquote ↗ carries a different wording of the same joke and cites The New York Times of 9 June 1982 — the day after Paige died. It is a real variant, but it is not this sentence.
In copyright

First published in The Miami Herald on 5 March 1958. The United States public domain currently reaches published works from before 1931, so a 1958 newspaper is in copyright.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Often misquoted

The line is Paige’s and nobody disputes it. What varies — a lot — is the wording, because he told it repeatedly and reporters wrote down what they heard.

The Miami Herald, 5 March 1958 earliest in print

Quote Investigator’s earliest citation, and the closest documented match to the wording that circulates. Quote Investigator ↗

“I ain’t never throwed an illegal pitch” wording drift

A Rochester, New York paper printed it this way in December 1964, and a Texas paper credited Catholic Digest for a similar version in March 1965. Both render Paige in a dialect the 1958 Herald transcription does not use.

“once in a while I toss one that ain’t never been seen by this generation” later variant

Wikiquote ↗ cites this form to The New York Times of 9 June 1982. A genuine variant from his obituary coverage — but twenty-four years later than the sentence above, and not the one people search for.

Quote Investigator ↗ concludes that “Satchel Paige deserves credit for the remark he made by 1958,” while warning that newspaper phrasings vary because he delivered the line more than once.

Context

Why it mattered

The joke is a defence. Paige threw a “hesitation pitch” — a stutter in the delivery that broke a batter’s timing — and it was treated as cheating. A 1964 Rochester account, quoted by Quote Investigator, says it had been banned by then American League president Will Harridge as “deceitful.”

So the line does two things at once. It denies the charge, and it explains the charge away: what looks illegal is only unfamiliar. And then, having claimed the pitch, Paige immediately gave it back — a fella named Waddell had it first.

But you know a fella named (Rube) Waddell used that hesitation pitch of mine back in the 1890’s.

Read the full story

Quote Investigator’s chronology is short and tight: The Miami Herald (5 March 1958), United Press International (3 August 1958), the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (5 December 1964) and the Tyler Morning Telegraph crediting Catholic Digest (10 March 1965).

Paige was pitching in the Major Leagues again in 1958, ten years after his debut season with Cleveland, and the question of his age followed him everywhere. “Never seen by this generation” is a joke about the pitch and a joke about the pitcher in the same breath.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Creativity Work Character

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Investigatorquoteinvestigator.com

The 1958 Miami Herald citation and every variant wording through 1965
Wikiquote: Satchel Paigeen.wikiquote.org

Sourced Paige quotations, including the 1982 New York Times variant
Wikipedia: Satchel Paigeen.wikipedia.org

His Major League career, including the 1958 season this was said in
Wikipedia: Negro league baseballen.wikipedia.org

Where Paige pitched for two decades before the Major Leagues would have him

The author

About Satchel Paige

Satchel Paige

1906–1982 · Negro leagues and Major League pitcher

Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige began pitching in the Negro leagues with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1927 and did not reach the Major Leagues until 9 July 1948, when he debuted for the Cleveland Indians at 42. That season he became the first player who had played in the Negro leagues to pitch in a World Series. He threw his last Major League game for the Kansas City Athletics in September 1965, two weeks shy of 60, and in 1971 became the first player elected by the Hall of Fame’s Negro League Committee.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

The primary source (Chicago)

Storin, Eddie. “Psychiatrist Satch Set for Season.” The Miami Herald, March 5, 1958, 5D. Locator as given by Quote Investigator; we did not read the original.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘I have never thrown an illegal pitch. The trouble is some of my pitches were never seen by this generation until I came along’?” Last verified 22 Sep 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/i-have-never-thrown-an-illegal-pitch-the-trouble-is-some-of/

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