Satchel Paige

An inspiring story, in the spirit of Field of Dreams, about one of our nation's most eccentric and important star athletes, and the seeds of a social movement that changed the course of American history. Rudy is a black man in his 70s and the janitor of the same boy’s orphanage where he was raised. Years ago, he had a chance at the life he wanted, but the Vietnam War, a broken heart and a life filled with people telling him that he could never succeed, pushed him to the shadows. And he’s been fine hiding there ever since. But when he discovers a mint condition Satchel Paige baseball card worth over $100,000, he is magically transported back to 1936 when Paige, the very best player in baseball, is locked out of the majors due to his race. Barnstorming the country, mowing down baseball’s biggest white stars in exhibition games from coast to coast, Rudy learns how this singular talent cut through racism and the ravages of the Depression and put baseball’s color line on notice. Paige will ultimately square off with the New York Yankees’ brightest young phenom, Joe DiMaggio, in an epic extra-inning showdown. On the journey of a lifetime, Rudy will learn that life is worth fighting for even in the face of impossible odds.

When Harper graduated from Brown University with a history degree, there was no inkling that a career as a writer would follow. After running a successful business for years, then launching the Social Impact Conference to support business owners, artists and activists dedicated to positive social change, Harper realized that story-telling was fundamental to changing the world and that history housed the greatest stories of them all. Harper especially enjoys finding important but forgotten, or misunderstood, figures from history and bringing them back to life so that the reader can learn about them firsthand.