Leroy Robert Paige was a legendary pitcher in Negro leagues, later for the Cleveland Indians and the St. Louis Browns. He even pitched three scoreless innings for Kansas City in 1965 at the age of 59.

He's in the Hall of Fame, which is appropriate for many reasons. No pitcher was more famous than the one and only Satchel.

Paige owed much of his fame to his supreme self-confidence and his self-promotion. He was not the most reliable teammate in the Negro leagues because he often cut himself a better deal somewhere else, even if it were just for a special, one-game appearance.

His Negro league statistics are good (123 wins, 79 losses, 26 shutouts), but he was probably better known for performances against barnstorming major leaguers who spread the word that Paige was special.

His fame took away attention from other fine Negro league pitchers, such as Bill Foster, Chet Brewer, Ray Brown, Bullet Joe Rogan, William Bell and Andy Cooper.

I'm also intrigued by Stuart "Slim" Jones, who in 1934 had a remarkable 22-3 record for the Philadelphia Stars, reportedly adding 12 more wins in non-league games. He held out for more money in 1935, but was selected to start the Negro leagues all-star game even though he hadn't yet won a game that season.

For Jones it was all downhill from there. Arm trouble, attitude and alcohol reduced him to an ordinary pitcher who would win only 10 more league games in four years – the final four years of his life. He died of pneumonia in 1938. He was only 25.

Stanwood Wendell Partenheimer, a left-handed pitcher, made two brief World War II visits to the major leagues.

He began his professional career in 1942 with the Boston Red Sox organization and had a 15-5 record with Class C teams in Canton and Oneonta. He was in the Army in 1943 until he was discharged because of a leg injury he had suffered in a football game years earlier. He was back playing baseball in 1944, winning 16 games in the American Association. He made one pitching appearance with the Red Sox, but was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals, which is how he happened to start his American Association season with Louisville, a Boston farm team, and wind up in Columbus, affiliaed with the Cardinals. Partenheimer joined the St. Louis Cardinals in 1945, made eight appearances, but was involved in no decisions, even though he started three games. The leg injury that got him discharged from the Army became a problem, but he continued to pitch, though back in the minor leagues. He had a fine 18-8 record with Springfield (Illinois) of the III League in 1947, but retired when the season was over.

He went on to become coach and athletic director at Sewickley Academy near Pittsburgh. The school's Hall of Fame is now located in the Stanwood Partenheimer Room.

Partenheimer's father, Steve, was an infielder who reached the major leagues long enough to play one game at third base for Detroit in 1913.

Steve Partenheimer grew up in Massachusetts and played baseball for Amherst College. He moved his family to Akron in 1933 and remained involved with baseball by sponsoring and managing amateur teams in northeast Ohio. His sons Stan and Hal played on their father's teams in addition to being standout high school players. Hal Partenheimer also played professional ball, briefly, in the Chicago Cubs farm system, but when World War II came along he joined the Navy.

All three Partenheimers are in the Greater Akron Baseball Hall of Fame.

Nowadays the Partenheimer family is more interested in soccer. Stan Partenheimer's granddaughters Stephanie and Jennifer play for their college teams, Stephanie at North Carolina State, Jennifer at the University of North Carolina at Geensboro. Their father, Steve, also played college soccer and their Uncle Hal Partenheimer played soccer professionally.

John Gaston Peacock was a catcher (1937-45) who spent most of that time with the Boston Red Sox. Little did he know when he hit his first home run in 1938 that it would also be his last. He's one of the few catchers who ended his career with more stolen bases (14) than homers.

In 1946 he was player-manager for New Orleans in the Southern Association.

Obvious Bermanism: Johnny "Struts Like a" Peacock.

The outfielder broke in with Cincinnati in 2002 and showed lots of promise. At six-foot-three, 215 pounds, Pena had the look of a guy who'd deliver 40-plus home runs every season. However, the Reds parted company with Pena in 2005. He moved to the Boston Red Sox, but was on the disabled list much of the 2006 season. He spent most of 2007 with the Red Sox, but felt underused. Finally, in mid-August, he was dealt back to the National League, this time with Washington. He got off to a good start with the Nationals, homering in his first two games. He finished the season with a .293 batting average for Washington, with 8 home runs in 37 games. However, he struck out 36 times. Things got worse last season (2008) when a shoulder injury ended Pena's season in July when he was hitting an anemic .205 in 64 games with only two home runs. In 2009 Pena was with Buffalo of the International League, hitting .276 in 41 games.

Pena has a unique name, though I'd like it better if Wily were pronounced the way it is spelled.

New York City-born George Louis Pennington was such a highly regarded young athlete that he was given a major league tryout in 1911 when he was only 14. However, his entire major league career was played out in one inning in 1917 when he made a relief appearance for the St. Louis Browns. He gave up one hit, no runs, with no strike outs or walks.

At five-foot-eight, Pennington was not a dominating pitcher, though he did hang around for many years in the minor leagues, afterward settling in Newark, New Jersey, where he had pitched for its Bears, an International League affiliate of the New York Yankees. Later he became manager of Bankers Indemnity Insurance Company of Newark.

I'm not sure about the nickname, which probably comes from Kewpie Doll, suggesting a reference to Pennington's size, appearance or his age when he had that first big league tryout.

John "Pretzel" Pezzullo was a pitcher who had a 3-5 record with the Philadelphia Phllies in 1935, but in his only 1936 appearance had obvious control problems, walking six batters in two innings. Exit Pretzel, never to return to the major leagues.

Though he was 25 years old as a rookie, Pezzullo had only pitched one season in the minors, posting a fine 16-4 record with Richmond of the Piedmont League. In 1938 he had his best year as a professional, winning 26 games with Savannah of the South Atlantic League (aka Sally League). His career minor league record was 91-65.

I found nothing to explain his nickname. Perhaps it had something to do with the way he curled his body when he pitched, maybe it was all in the interests of alliteration.

Lipman Emanuel Pike is regarded as the first professional baseball player, accepting $20 a week in 1866 to play for the first team to be known as the Philadelphia Athletics. Other players soon followed suit, with Cincinnat's Red Stockings assembling the first all-professional team.

Pike played for and managed the Troy (New York) Haymakers in the first professional league, the National Association, in 1871. He was 5-foot-8, weighed about 160 pounds, but was the most noted slugger of his era. His combination of power and speed made him the league's home run champion four times. (In most parks, a ball hit over the fence wasn't automatically a home run; an outfielder could retrieve the ball, which forced hitters to run the bases full speed.)

Pike used his footspeed to earn money in unusual ways, such as the time he raced a trotter in a 100-yard dash and won.

He played outfield with the St. Louis Brown Stockings during the first National League season and bounced to four other teams over the next five years. His brother, Jay, played one National League game in 1877. Lip Pike's unusual enough, but he also carried this nickname: The Iron Batter.

Check out Lip Pike's biography at http://bioproj.sabr.org

Clark Alonzo Pittenger was a utility player (SS-3B-2B-OF) for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds, playing parts of seven seasons during the 1920s. He had 959 at bats in 373 games, hit .263 with one home run (for Cincinnati in 1927). He struck out only 50 times and his walks were even fewer – 37.

He was a graduate of Ohio University and a dental student. No word whether Pittenger became a dentist after he retired from baseball. And no word on just how he picked up his nickname, though Pinky wasn't all that unusual in his time. Pinky Hargrave and Pinky Higgins come to mind.

Charles Reno Pittinger pitched for the Boston Beaneaters and the Philadelpia Phillies of the National League for eight seasons (1900-07). He was twice a 20-game winner. His best season was 1902 when he and Boston teammate Vic Willis had 27 wins apiece to account for 54 of the Beaneaters' 73 victories.

After two losing seasons, he was traded to the Phillies, bouncing back in 1905 to win 23 games. Shoulder problems limited his appearances the next two seasons and he left the major leagues in the fall of 1907.

Pittinger was tall and lean (six-foot-two, 175 pounds) and he was usually among the league leaders in strikeouts. Unfortunately, he also was wild, three times leading the league in bases on balls.

He died in 1909 of Bright's disease, a kidney ailment. He was only 37.

The six-foot-five-inch Plunk was a pitcher drafted by the New York Yankees in 1981, but when he arrived in the major leagues five years later he was with the Oakland Athletics, bearing a perfect name for a guy who had trouble throwing strikes. As a rookie he walked 102 batters in 120 innings, plunking five hitters along the way. He settled down and enjoyed a 14-season major league career, appearing in 714 games, most of them in relief.

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