04/18/24
August 12, 2005
RIP, Double Duty Radcliffe. : The oldest living professional baseball player, Negro League veteran Ted Radcliffe died yesterday at the age of 103. Radcliffe earned his nickname in a doubleheader in the 1932 Negro League World Series, in which he caught the first game and pitched a shutout in the second game. Following the victory, Damon Runyan said of Radcliffe, "Double Duty was worth the price of two admissions."
A great one has passed.
posted by lil_brown_bat to baseball at 04:57 PM - 11 comments
He was definately one of the best.
posted by tina at 05:32 PM on August 12, 2005
posted by graymatters at 06:23 PM on August 12, 2005
They don't make 'em like that anymore. Vale.
posted by owlhouse at 06:47 PM on August 12, 2005
We shared a birthday. Damn. It's too bad I only heard about him now.
posted by rocketman at 09:45 PM on August 12, 2005
This to me proves one thing, I certainly am a baseball purist. Mr. Radcliffe, I say with certainty Mister to a man that deserves the title and likely never heard it due to the times he played in, leaves behind a large legacy. Pausing for a moment to think today about his passing, I came to the realization he was a true ball player. He played it because he loved the game. His nickname is surely one you could not pencil to the name of a player today. To think of a player today doing what he did to earn his nickname is so far fetched these days. He was a ball player! My love of the game would be exemplified by Mr. Radcliffe not by those players of today. Today you have players that complain about how much they make more than how much they give back to the game. Sure there are great players today but the best players are dying off. When a pitcher hits 100 pitches today well everyone looks to the bullpen to start warming up. I can promise this, Gaylord Perry's record will stand for a lifetime. He threw 346 pitches in one game pitching a complete game, oh and it went 16 innings. Batting records will fall by the wayside with the longevity of players and the steriod era will fall. I would just say one important thing, "Will we ever hear those nicknames like Mr. Radcliffe's again?" It is not just the passing of a man and ballplayer today.... today an era died again! Thank you Double Duty for what you made our game you deserve the 103 years of life and I hope you enjoyed everyone of them.
posted by Rob at 10:17 PM on August 12, 2005
Thats what baseballs all about, he was'nt on the juice, I'm a proud owner of 2 of his BB cards... R.I.P.
posted by maclmn at 10:27 PM on August 12, 2005
he caught the first game and pitched a shutout in the second game Are you kidding me? Today’s starters rarely go more than 6 or 7 and relievers need 2 days rest after pitching one. What happened? The game isn’t that much different than in Radcliffe’s days? Oh, I know what happened...the players are paid and pampered; a far cry from the “old days” when the “National Pass Time” got its name.
posted by tommysands at 12:33 AM on August 13, 2005
I think this is the first time I have ever read about a player splitting time as both a pitcher and a catcher. Interesting. My one question is, why is this the first time I am hearing about him?
posted by usfbull at 04:23 AM on August 13, 2005
Awsome post! My has our game changed. Some of the guy's playing now should read this.
posted by volfire at 08:33 AM on August 13, 2005
...the way Buck O'neal got a chance in Ken Burns' Baseball. I agree, only not to the exclusion of Buck, or any of the others from that era--God Bless'em! I fully believe that Ken could well put together an entire mini-series based solely upon the Negro league. I'd buy that one as well. The stories give me great pause for reflection.
posted by GalLiTeR at 11:58 AM on August 13, 2005
Thanks for posting this. People like a 103 ex-Negro Leaguer make me think the self-indulgence of blogs might not be totally awful. I wish we had a repository of stories from Double Duty, the way Buck O'Neil got a chance in Ken Burns' Baseball.