A Rare Negro League Relic that Features Satchel Paige Available at REA

I just think the item below is amazing.  It is no doubt filled with Baseball history, and if it could speak I'm sure it has some incredible stories to tell.

Featured below is a circa 1940 Kansas City Monarchs Trainer's Suitcase - Satchel Paige's Personal Medicine Cabinet!

(Auction Link)

As you may know, Satchel Paige had a personal trainer named Frank Floyd; who also doubled as the team trainer for the Kansas City Monarchs.  Well, as was common during games Paige pitched, the game would be delayed briefly while Frank Floyd came out to the mound with a bicarbonate soda concoction to calm his stomach.  Satchel Paige had a notoriously bad stomach/digestive issues... So bad that he would need some treatments during a game.  Ever the showman, these delays soon became a part of the show - a running gag during games.

Via the auction description, noted Negro League historian Larry Lester provided some information about the case in a letter below:

Hello Jim, just talked with some former Kansas City Monarchs who confirmed my original theory about the suitcase. The suitcase belonged to Jewbaby Floyd, Kansas City Monarch trainer. He was really Satchel Paige's personal trainer and would mix up solutions for Satchel's temperamental stomach.

I wrote an article a few years ago about the celebrated Josh vs. Satch matchup of 1942. A paragraph taken from that article will give you the gist of your wonderful piece of baseball Americana. In Buck O'Neil's words: "Jewbaby Floyd was our trainer and he traveled all over the country with Satch. Wherever Satch would go, Jewbaby would follow. Jewbaby was like our team doctor. So after Satchel walked those guys, Jewbaby in his white doctor's coat and his black medicine bag marched out to the mound. Satchel had always had trouble with his stomach. Jewbaby opened his bag and mixed up some concoction, I imagine Alka Seltzer or something, in a cup and shook it up. Now mind you, this is happening right there on the mound. Now everybody in the stands knows what's happening. Satchel had walked these two men and now the people are standing, some 15,000 people. He took the cup from Jewbaby and drunk it down, right there on the mound, and gives the cup back to Jewbaby. He stretches out and gives out a loud belch that echoes throughout the ball park. So Jewbaby goes off the mound and now Satch is ready to pitch to Josh."

I'll trade the rest of the story for the suitcase. Just kidding! If you ever want to sell it. . . Have a great day and keep me in mind.

This is an awesome piece of Baseball Americana, and if there's any justice it will find its way to a museum for all to see.

(Auction Link)

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