Stevens spent 20 years playing, coaching, and managing professional baseball, much of it in the Pacific Coast League, but is best remembered as the player who delivered the first major league hit off pitching legend Satchel Paige.\n', '

At an early age Stevens played baseball and basketball, but he also was always interested in music, playing guitar, fiddle and percussion, and became an accomplished tap dancer in his youth. Following his graduation from Long Beach Polytechnic High School in early 1937, he enrolled at the Cal Berkeley, but turned his attention to baseball and signed a contract with the St. Louis Browns of the American League before the 1938 season.\n', '

He went to spring training in San Antonio, Texas before reporting to the Williamston Class-D team of the Coastal Plain League, where he hit .288 with 10 home runs in 97 games. In 1939, Stevens was promoted to Class-C Johnstown of the Middle Atlantic League, where he hit .290 in 128 games. His most productive season came in 1940 with Class-B Springfield of the Three-I League, when he hit .316 with 74 RBI for a team that won the league championship. Stevens\' rapid advancement through the Browns\' system indicated that he could be considered a major league prospect. He moved up again in 1940, this time to Class-A San Antonio of the Texas League. He did not hit quite as well (.264 in 158 games), but gained attention for his flashy defense at first base and his aggressive base running. Then he was added to the Browns\' roster in late September, but did not appear in any games.\n', '

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