President Biden refers to baseball legend Satchel Paige as “the greatest negro of the time”

On Friday, as President Joe Biden delivered his Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, he made a remark which has now gone viral on social media.

During his speech, while referring to Major League Baseball player Satchel Paige, the president called the legendary pitcher “the great negro at the time.” Paige was a Black pitcher in baseball’s Negro Leagues – a baseball tournament that Black players formed when they were shut out of Major League Baseball.

Biden’s remarks were made after acknowledging the birthday of 95-year-old Donald Blinken, an ex-U.S. ambassador and father of Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In the speech, Biden was wishing Blinken a happy birthday.

Biden then went onto tell a story about Satchel Paige. “And I just want to tell you, I know you’re a little younger than I am, but, you know, I’ve adopted the attitude of the great Negro — at the time, pitcher in the Negro Leagues — went on to become a great pitcher in the pros — in the Major League Baseball after Jackie Robinson. His name was Satchel Paige,” Biden said during the speech, according to the White House transcript.