Ted Williams called for the recognition of Negro League players in his 1966 Hall of Fame induction speech:
“The other day Willie Mays hit his five hundred and twenty second home run. He has gone past me, and he’s pushing, and I say to him, “Go get ’em, Willie.” Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel. Not just to be as good as someone else, but to be better This is the nature of man and the name of the game. I hope that one day Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson will be voted into the Hall of Fame as symbols of the great Negro players who are not here only because they weren’t given the chance.”
After Williams’ speech, Jay Hanna “Dizzy” Dean became one of Paige’s most vocal supporters.In 1968 Dean said:
“I think that he was one of the most outstanding pitchers I ever saw throw a ball and too bad he couldn’t have broken in in his prime when he could really fire that ball.”
Dean encouraged fans to write letters to members of the Baseball Writers Association of America to tell then “The venerable Leroy Robert Paige has proved he belongs in Cooperstown.”
Dean said he had “played more baseball against Satchel Paige,” than any other Major League player:
“I certainly think that if anybody belongs in the Hall of Fame, Satchel Paige deserves it as much as anyone else. I think he was one of the outstanding pitchers of all times, and a guy who has given his life to baseball.”
Paige was the first player inducted to the Hall of Fame by The Special Committee on the Negro Leagues in 1971.
Baseball History Daily 
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