Satchel Paige

There are few journalism rituals as moth-eaten as lists of top 10 this and top 10 that. And, when done with verve, there are few rituals that can be so engrossing. Take this month's issue of American Heritage magazine. Please! It's a fourth annual survey of the most overrated and underrated, and it gets very smart folks to opine on matters we surely haven't given much attention to (perhaps justifiably). A few examples: * Most overrated Adams: According to conservative essayist Richard Brookhiser, it's John, the second president, and his wife, Abigail.

The story of baseball's Negro leagues is one not only of opportunities denied, but also of chances created out of resourcefulness. With segregation in professional baseball closing doors to African-American players for the first half of the 20th century, Rube Foster created a league for blacks in 1920. That league and others like it would eventually rival their major league counterparts in talent - producing players such as Jackie Robinson, Ernie Banks and Willie Mays - and in fan following.

Leon Day moved to Baltimore when his father got a job at a Westport glass factory. Day was 6 months old when he arrived with his family at Camden Station.The station is now a ballpark, and the nearby section of Camden Street is now Leon Day Way -- in honor of the induction tomorrow of the late Negro Leagues star into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.Day, 78, died of heart and kidney ailments on March 13, six days after learning of his election. A pitcher, second baseman and outfielder with the Newark Eagles, he grew up in the Mount Winans section of southwest Baltimore and was the 12th Negro Leagues star selected for the Hall.

PHILADELPHIA — Nolan Ryan once found himself on a game show with the legendary Satchel Paige. The two killed time talking baseball, and for Ryan it was another chapter in his hardball education. Paige asked Ryan at one point if he knew the best pitch in baseball, and the self-conscious Ryan didn't want to embarrass himself. He said he wasn't sure. "Bow tie," Paige told him. "I never heard of it, Satch," Ryan said. "What kind of pitch is that?" "That's when you throw a fastball right here," Paige answered, running his hand across his Adam's apple, and smiling wickedly.

ONCE there was another Cal playing for the Orioles: left-handed, and an outfielder, but a favorite with the fans. Cal Abrams, this was, the team's leading hitter in 1954.In that first year of the Orioles' return to the American League, they lacked for offense (52 was the whole team's homer total; afterward, the fence was moved in). With his team playing most of the season in last place, it was nice having one man who could hit -- Abrams, in what turned out to be the high point of his eight-year career, batted .293.

Longtime Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski, who engineered one of the greatest moments in sports history, finally was rewarded yesterday with a place in baseball's Hall of Fame. Mazeroski's dramatic game-winning home run against the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series nearly overshadowed a distinguished career as one of the game's best defensive infielders, but the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee decided yesterday that he deserved a plaque at Cooperstown.

Ken Burns' 18 1/2 -hour documentary "Baseball" begins tonight on PBS. The merchandising has been under way for some time and will continue long after the show ends.The first group of collectibles was offered by public broadcasting stations, which aired a preview show during their summer fund raising. Those included caps, tote bags, the series' companion book and theme music recordings.General Motors, the series' sponsor, has issued a 14-page catalog for its employees and customers. Some items will be available through other sources: the coffee-table book, the set of videocassettes of the series and Upper Deck's 90-card companion card set. One item exclusive to the GM catalog is a nine-card "dream team" of all-time players.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- They sat in the back of J. J. Newberry's, a five-and-dime store adjacent to the Hall of Fame, 23 Negro leaguers signing autographs.Some of them played against Leon Day. One played with him. Most never saw his induction."We're catching the bus to go back to Albany at 1:30 p.m.," Homestead Grays pitcher Wilmer Fields, of Manassas, Va., said.The ceremony started at 2:30 p.m."I guess I'll get somebody to tell me how it was when I get back home," New York Cubans outfielder Russell Awkard, of Rockville, said.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH EARLY BLACK MOVIES / / Enjoy screenings of three films related to Black History Month. The movies were made in the 1930s and 1940s and are three of many "race films," which featured all-black casts. Race films were shown at "Midnight Rambles," which were all-black segregated movie houses. Get a glimpse of black history by watching Broken Strings, Murder in Harlem and Reet Petite and Gone at the Creative Alliance. ....................... These screenings are at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson, 3134 Eastern Ave. "Broken Strings" will be shown Wednesday, "Murder in Harlem" will be shown Feb. 15 and "Reet Petite and Gone" will be shown Feb. 22. All films start at 8 p.m. Call 410-276-1651 for more information.