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Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Thanks for being here.

Satchel Paige was a folk hero as much as he was a ballplayer.

The story of his life is full of myths and tall tales that only made one of the greatest players in baseball history even grander in the imaginations of fans and historians alike. Even his birthdate — possibly July 7, 1906, 119 years ago today — isn’t certain. As Paige once said: “My birth certificate was in our Bible, and the goat ate the Bible with the birth certificate in it.”

Paige first pitched professionally in 1926. He made his last MLB appearance in 1965 with the Kansas City Athletics when he was (around) 59 years old, and he continued pitching into the 1970s. In between, Paige and the lore surrounding him traveled to ballparks all over the Americas.

“He pitched for, essentially, 45 years,” said Mark Armour, the outgoing president of the Society for American Baseball Research’s board of directors.

As detailed by our Anthony Castrovince, it has been Armour’s mission over the past couple of years to compile a timeline of Paige’s baseball life from every known published article about the legendary Hall of Famer.

Armour has dubbed it “The Satchel Project.”

Armour has combed through 100-year-old newspapers and other archives to piece together Paige’s life, day by day. His research has led to an immense amount of discovery and illumination.

“I was sort of amazed by how much I was able to find,” Armour said.

For instance, Armour found 1,833 pitching appearances and 671 known wins for Paige in every kind of game imaginable — exhibitions, independent ball, winter leagues, Old-Timers’ games, etc. That dwarfs the 400 appearances and 127 wins on Paige’s official MLB record.

Armour is close to finalizing “The Satchel Project” and presented an overview of it at a recent SABR conference. It’s not available for public consumption; Armour is still deciding how to release it to the world. Maybe it will come in a book or on a website.

But thanks to him, we will have a much more accurate picture of possibly the most interesting man to ever step onto the diamond.

Not that Paige would have been proud of that. He once said, “I want to be the onliest man in the United States that nobody knows nothin’ about.”

That would be impossible, of course, because there was only one Satchel Paige.

— Brian Murphy

• The Athletes Unlimited Softball League returns tonight from a two-week hiatus during which many of its players participated in the U.S. Women’s National Team Camp & Showcase. The league’s inaugural-season slate picks back up at 7 p.m. ET with the 9-3 Bandits taking on the Volts (4-8) on ESPN2. At 9:30 ET, the Talons, also 9-3, seek a fifth straight win when they face the Blaze (2-10) live on MLB.com, MLB.TV and the MLB App.
• Rays @ Tigers (6:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV, FS1): The Tigers may be the class of MLB right now, but the Rays aren’t far behind despite dropping three consecutive series. Tampa Bay took two of three from Detroit last month and enters tonight with a comfortable grip on one of the AL’s three Wild Card spots, three games behind the surging Blue Jays for the AL East lead.

• D-backs @ Padres (9:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV, MLB Network):Turning 39 next month, Yu Darvish may not be the ace he was a decade ago, or when he posted five straight sub-2.00 ERA seasons in Japan, but the Padres are nevertheless ecstatic to welcome the right-hander back for his season debut tonight. As AJ Cassavell writes, the return of Darvish, sidelined all year with elbow inflammation, brings immediate stability to the Padres, who are clinging to the NL’s final Wild Card spot, just a percentage point ahead of the division-rival Giants.
  

Byron Buxton became the fourth member of the 2025 T-Mobile Home Run Derby field when he announced his participation in the annual power display this afternoon. The preternaturally talented Twins superstar called the chance to do the Derby at Truist Park, about 215 miles northwest of his hometown of Baxley, Ga., a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” But perhaps even more excited than Buxton is the slugger’s oldest son, Brix, and not for the reason you might expect.

“He plays MLB The Show and he plays the Derby all the time,” Buxton said. “And he always is like, ‘Dad, if you do this, I want to bring you a towel!’ and I’m like, all right. That’s all he cares about. He wants dad to do it so he can bring me a towel and a Gatorade.”

If you’re starting to get excited for the inaugural Speedway Classic on Aug. 2, when the Reds and Braves take to the field inside a NASCAR racetrack, you’re not alone: Cincinnati backstop Tyler Stephenson has his gear all lined up, and it appropriately evokes the 2006 film “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.”

Catcher’s equipment is famously known as “the tools of ignorance,” but it’s clear Tyler Stephenson is quite the movie buff — at least for this particular film. There are clever nods to the Will Ferrell car-racing opus throughout the chest protector, mask and cleats, very recognizable even if you haven’t seen the movie.

Now that we’ve seen what Stephenson has planned for the Classic, we can’t wait to see what some of the other players come up with. Ronald Acuña Jr. comes to mind as a guy who generally brings it.

For more information on the Speedway Classic, check out our FAQ, and tickets are available right here.

— Bryan Horowitz

• Even Shohei Ohtani outs are entertaining. Although it did cost Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. feeling in his foot for a while.

• “Why is the letter ‘P’ painted on your chest?” “Well I’m going to Wrigley and me and these 18 other guys are gonna take our shirts off and spell out Pete Crow-Armstrong.”

• White Sox prospect Colson Montgomery pulled off a catch the likes of which he had never made before during his MLB debut.

• The first pitch didn’t go exactly as planned, so this NFL star requested a do-over.

• You are likely aware that Nolan Ryan threw seven no-hitters. But did you know that he allowed just one walk-off homer — and that the person who hit it is a current big league manager?

Whether you’re more excited to see rising stars or established icons, next Tuesday’s All-Star Game will have you covered. Among the 19 first-timers on this year’s rosters is Astros ace Hunter Brown, and he’s joined by 14 vets who have earned at least five All-Star nods, like Freddie Freeman (nine). Freeman’s Dodgers are well represented, with five players headed to the 95th Midsummer Classic, but every team will be sending at least one player to Atlanta.

The unveiling of this year’s rosters is the perfect occasion to offer our fans a chance to catch even more baseball. Now through Sunday, you can secure an MLB.TV Yearly subscription for 50% off at just $47.99, locking in access to every out-of-market regular-season game, live or on demand.

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