Ted Radcliffe facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ted Radcliffe |
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Ted Radcliffe c. 1935
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| Pitcher, Catcher | |||
| Born: July 7, 1902 Mobile, Alabama |
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| Died: August 11, 2005 (aged 103) Chicago, Illinois |
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| debut | |||
| 1929, for the Chicago American Giants | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| 1946, for the Homestead Grays | |||
| Career statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 32–24 | ||
| Earned run average | 3.68 | ||
| Strikeouts | 216 | ||
| Batting average | .271 | ||
| Home runs | 17 | ||
| Run batted in | 183 | ||
| Managerial record | 165–148–5 | ||
| Teams | |||
As player
As manager
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Theodore Roosevelt "Double Duty" Radcliffe (born July 7, 1902 – died August 11, 2005) was a famous baseball player in the Negro leagues. He was known as a "two-way player" because he was great at both pitching and catching. Later, he became a manager and a beloved person who shared stories about baseball. Ted was one of the few baseball players who lived to be over 100 years old!
A sportswriter named Damon Runyon gave Ted the nickname "Double Duty." This happened after a game in 1932. Ted played as a catcher in the first game of a doubleheader. Then, he pitched in the second game. He helped his team win both games without letting the other team score. Runyon wrote that Ted was "worth the price of two admissions." Ted thought his time with the 1932 Pittsburgh Crawfords was a highlight of his career.
Ted played in six East-West All-Star Games. He pitched in three of them and caught in three. He also played in other All-Star games. He was a strong hitter when playing against major league players.
Contents
Ted Radcliffe's Baseball Career
Early Life and Start in Baseball
Ted Radcliffe grew up in Mobile, Alabama. He was one of ten children. His brother, Alex Radcliffe, also became a famous baseball player. They played baseball with friends, including future All-Stars like Satchel Paige.
In 1919, Ted and Alex moved to Chicago. Their family soon followed. A year later, Ted started playing for a semi-pro team called the Illinois Giants. He earned about $100 a month. He played for a few semi-pro teams before joining the Negro National League in 1928.
Playing in the Negro Leagues
Ted played for many teams during his career. These included the Detroit Stars, St. Louis Stars, Homestead Grays, and Pittsburgh Crawfords. He also managed teams like the Cincinnati Tigers and Memphis Red Sox.
Radcliffe was known for being a clever and talkative player. He was a great catcher and could also distract batters when he pitched. One writer guessed that Ted had a .303 batting average, 4,000 hits, and 400 home runs in his 36 years of playing.
Ted was 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 210 pounds. He had a strong throwing arm and was good at catching. He also knew how to throw many tricky pitches. Records show he hit .273 over eight of his 23 seasons.
With the Detroit Stars, Ted started as a catcher. When the pitchers got tired, he began pitching and helped the team win a championship. His best batting average was .316 in 1929.
Ted believed the 1931 Homestead Grays were the best team ever. It included famous players like Josh Gibson and Oscar Charleston. Ted and his friend Satchel Paige often changed teams for better pay. They also formed special All-Star teams to play against white major league stars. By the end of his career, Ted had played for 30 different teams.
In 1934, Ted Radcliffe was a player-manager for the Jamestown Red Sox in North Dakota. This team had both black and white players. This made him the first black man to manage white professional players. He also played for the Chicago American Giants that year.
In 1935, Ted joined the Bismarck Churchills, another team with black and white players. With Satchel Paige and others, Ted helped the team win the first National Semipro Championship.
Ted managed the Memphis Red Sox in 1937 and 1938. In 1943, at age 41, he rejoined the Chicago American Giants. Even at his age, Ted won the Negro American League MVP award that season. A year later, he hit a home run into the upper deck of Comiskey Park during an All-Star game.
In 1945, Ted played for the Kansas City Monarchs and shared a room with Jackie Robinson. In 1948, he helped integrate two semi-pro leagues by signing both black and white players. In 1950, Ted managed the Chicago American Giants again. He was told to sign white players, and he brought in at least five young white players.
In 1951, playing for the Elmwood Giants, Ted batted .459 and had a 3–0 pitching record. In 1952, at age 50, he batted .364. A poll of Negro league experts named Ted the fifth greatest catcher and 17th greatest pitcher in Negro league history. He stopped playing and managing in 1954.
In the 1960s, Ted worked as a baseball scout for teams like the Cleveland Indians.
Facing Challenges
Throughout his career, Ted Radcliffe faced racial segregation. In most cities, he and his teammates had to stay in separate hotels and eat in separate restaurants. It was also hard to get taxis at night. He sometimes faced unkindness from other players. Ted remembered a gas station owner telling them, "Put that hose down—that's for white folks to drink." Ted said, "After that, I refused to buy gas from him."
Life After Baseball
After leaving baseball, Ted and his wife faced tough times. In 1990, they were robbed and hurt in their home. A news report about this reached the Baseball Assistance Team, a group that helps former players. They helped Ted and his wife move to a safe place for older people.
A writer named Kyle McNary met Ted in 1992. Ted suggested that Kyle write his life story, which was published in 1994. Ted traveled a lot to baseball games and was known for his fun personality.
Even after having strokes and other health issues, Ted stayed active. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the state of Illinois. He was also honored by the mayor of Chicago. He even visited the White House three times as a guest of U.S. Presidents. A TV show about Ted's life won an Emmy Award. In 2002, he was added to the Illinois Department of Aging Hall of Fame.
In 1997, Ted was honored at County Stadium in Milwaukee. In 1999, at age 96, he became the oldest player to appear in a professional game. He threw one pitch for the Schaumburg Flyers. After his 100th birthday, Ted threw the first pitch each year for the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. On July 27, 2005, he threw the first pitch at Rickwood Field in Alabama. Two weeks later, Ted Radcliffe passed away in Chicago on August 11, 2005, from cancer.
Raelee Frazier made bronze sculptures of Ted Radcliffe's hands in 2003. These were part of a series of baseball sculptures that traveled the United States.
