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Theodore Roosevelt "Double Duty" Radcliffe (July 7, 1902 – August 11, 2005) was an American professional baseball player in the Negro leagues. An accomplished two-way player, he played as a pitcher and a catcher, became a manager, and in his old age became a popular ambassador for the game. He is one of only a handful of professional baseball players who lived past their 100th birthdays, next to Red Hoff (who lived to 107) and fellow Negro leaguer Silas Simmons (who lived to age 111).

Key Information

Newspaperman Damon Runyon coined the nickname "Double Duty" because Radcliffe played as a catcher and as a pitcher in the successive games of a 1932 doubleheader between the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the New York Black Yankees.[1] In the first of the two games at Yankee Stadium, Radcliffe caught the pitcher Satchel Paige for a shutout and then pitched a shutout in the second game. Runyon wrote that Radcliffe "was worth the price of two admissions." Radcliffe considered his year with the 1932 Pittsburgh Crawfords to be one of the highlights of his career.[2]

Of the six East–West All-Star Games in which he played, Radcliffe pitched in three and was a catcher in three. He also pitched in two and caught in six other All-Star games. He hit .376 (11-for-29) in nine exhibition games against major leaguers.[2]

Career

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Early life

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Ted Radcliffe grew up in Mobile, Alabama as one of ten children. His brother Alex Radcliffe also achieved renown as a ballplayer playing third base. The boys played baseball using a taped ball of rags with their friends including future Negro league All-Star ballplayers Leroy "Satchel" Paige and Bobby Robinson.

In 1919, teenagers Ted and Alex hitchhiked north to Chicago to join an older brother. The rest of the family soon followed to live on the South Side of Chicago. A year later Ted Radcliffe signed on with the semi-pro Illinois Giants at $50 for every 15 games and 50¢ a day for meal money. This worked out at about $100 a month. He travelled with the Giants for a few seasons before joining Gilkerson's Union Giants, another semi-pro team with whom he played until he entered the Negro National League with the Detroit Stars in 1928.

Pro ball

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After a brief tenure with the Detroit Stars, Radcliffe played for the St. Louis Stars (1930), Homestead Grays (1931), Pittsburgh Crawfords (1932), Columbus Blue Birds (1933), New York Black Yankees, Brooklyn Eagles, Cincinnati Tigers, Memphis Red Sox, Birmingham Black Barons, Chicago American Giants, Louisville Buckeyes and Kansas City Monarchs.[2] Ted Radcliffe managed the Cincinnati Tigers in 1937, Memphis Red Sox in 1938 and Chicago American Giants in 1943.[2]

Radcliffe was known as a glib, fast-talking player. Ty Cobb reported that Radcliffe wore a chest protector that said "thou shalt not steal" during one exhibition game. He could call a clever game as a catcher and his banter from the pitching mound distracted some hitters. Biographer Kyle P. McNary estimates that Radcliffe had a .303 batting average, 4,000 hits and 400 homers in 36 years in the game (see Baseball statistics).[2]

Standing 5 ft 9 in and weighing 210 pounds (95 kg) Radcliffe had a strong throwing arm, good catching reflexes and great cunning. Even with these strengths, he also mastered many illegal pitches including the emery ball, the cut ball and the spitter. Statistics for the Negro league baseball are incomplete, but available records show him hitting .273 over eight of his 23 seasons.[2]

With the Detroit Stars, he was the regular catcher for the first half of the season. When the pitching staff grew tired, he began pitching and led the team to championship. His career high for batting average was .316 for the 1929 Detroit Stars.[2]

Radcliffe (kneeling, 3rd from right) with 1931 Grays

Radcliffe believed the Homestead Grays 1931 team to be the greatest team of all time. The side included Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Jud Wilson, and Smokey Joe Williams. Gibson and Charleston joined him in the 1932 Pittsburgh Crawfords. Radcliffe and his close friend Satchel Paige were easily persuaded to change sides by offers of higher earnings and both moved frequently. They also formed several Negro league all-star teams to play exhibition games against white major league stars. By the end of his career Radcliffe had played for 30 different teams; in one season alone, he played on five different teams.[2]

Radcliffe was player-manager of the integrated Jamestown Red Sox of North Dakota from May to October 1934.[3] This made him the first black man to manage white professional players. He also played for the Chicago American Giants in that season. During that postseason, he managed a white semi-pro North Dakota team that toured Canada playing a major league all-star team gathered by Jimmie Foxx. Radcliffe's team won two games out of three before Foxx was hit on the head by a Chet Brewer pitch and the tour cancelled.[2]

In the next season, Radcliffe had trouble securing his release from the Brooklyn Eagles of the Negro leagues, but on June 21 he joined the integrated Bismarck Club. Along with Satchel Paige, Moose Johnson, and others, Radcliffe helped to lead the club to the first National Semipro Championship. This North Dakota team was owned by Neil Churchill, a car dealer. Other Negro leaguers on the team included Chet Brewer, Hilton Smith, Barney Morris and Quincy Trouppe.[2]

Radcliffe managed the Memphis Red Sox in 1937 as well as catching and pitching for them. He stayed there for 1938 and in 1943, aged 41, he rejoined the Chicago American Giants. Despite his age, Radcliffe won the Negro American League MVP award that season and a year later he struck a home run into the upper deck of Comiskey Park for the highlight of that season's East-West All-Star game.[2]

In 1945 Radcliffe played for the Kansas City Monarchs and roomed with Jackie Robinson. He integrated two semipro leagues, the Southern Minny (Minnesota) and the Michigan-Indiana League in 1948, by signing black and white players. In 1950 Radcliffe managed the Chicago American Giants of the Negro American League. The team's owner, Dr. J. B. Martin, was concerned about black players joining Major League teams; he instructed Radcliffe to sign white players. Radcliffe recruited at least five young white players, including Lou Chirban and Lou Clarizio.[2]

As player-manager with the Elmwood Giants in the Manitoba-Dakota League in 1951, Radcliffe batted .459 with a 3–0 pitching record; in 1952, at the age of 50, he batted .364 with a 1–0 pitching mark. A 1952 Pittsburgh Courier poll of Negro league experts named Double Duty the fifth greatest catcher in Negro league history and the 17th greatest pitcher. He retired two years later as a player-manager in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His peak earnings had been $850 a month; the top rate for a major league player of the time was $10,000, paid monthly to Hank Greenberg in 1947.[2]

In the 1960s, Radcliffe was employed as a baseball scout including for a time with the Cleveland Indians.[4]

Segregation

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Throughout his career, Double Duty had to endure racial segregation. In every city except Saint Paul, Minnesota, he and his colleagues had to stay in segregated hotels and eat in segregated restaurants. It was difficult to get cabs at night. He also faced racist hostility from players and has said that, among others, "Ty Cobb didn't like colored people". Radcliffe also recalled stopping the team car to buy gas in Waycross, Georgia. When the players tried to drink water from the car wash hose, the owner of the gas station told them, "Put that hose down—that's for white folks to drink." Radcliffe told a Boston Globe interviewer: "After that, I refused to buy gas from him. About four miles down the road, the gas ran out and we had to push the car five miles."[2]

Retirement

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After leaving baseball, Radcliffe and his wife returned to a life of poverty until 1990, when they were robbed and beaten in their housing project on Chicago's South Side. A news report of this came to the attention of the Baseball Assistance Team, a charity that helps needy ex-players. With the help of the mayor's office, the team helped the couple move into a church-run residence for the elderly.[4]

Frontispiece of McNary's biography of Radcliffe autographed by its subject

Writer Kyle McNary met Radcliffe in 1992 when he was trying to learn more about black baseball in his home town of Bismarck, North Dakota. Radcliffe subsequently suggested that McNary should write his biography and the result was self-published by McNary in 1994. Radcliffe would travel widely to ballgames and became known for his lively good humor and gentle clowning.[2]

Despite two strokes and other age-related health problems, Radcliffe continued to be active in his community. He received the state of Illinois Historical Committee's Lifetime Achievement Award and was honored by Mayor Richard Daley as an outstanding citizen of Chicago. He has been the guest of three U.S. Presidents at the White House. A WGN documentary about Radcliffe's life, narrated by Morgan Freeman, won an Emmy Award. The Illinois Department of Aging inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 2002.[5]

In 1997, Radcliffe was inducted into the "Yesterday's Negro League Baseball Players Wall of Fame" at County Stadium in Milwaukee. In 1999, aged 96, he became the oldest player to appear in a professional game just ahead of Buck O'Neil and Jim Eriotes. He threw a single pitch for the Schaumburg Flyers of the Northern League. After his 100th birthday, Double Duty celebrated each year by throwing a ceremonial first pitch for the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. On July 27, 2005, he threw the first pitch at Rickwood Field, Birmingham, Alabama.[6] Two weeks later, Radcliffe died in Chicago on August 11, 2005, due to complications from cancer.

Radcliffe's stories were entertaining but not always reliable. His claim to have seen Fidel Castro with a cigar at a winter game in Cuba and his observation that the man "couldn't play" seems unlikely given that Castro would have been just 14 at the time.

Raelee Frazier cast Ted Radcliffe's twisted broken hands in bronze as part of the 2003 Hitters Hands series of baseball sculptures that toured the United States in Shades of Greatness, an exhibition sponsored by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.[7]

Bibliography

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References

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Ted Radcliffe

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Ted Radcliffe was an American professional baseball player known for his extraordinary versatility as both a pitcher and catcher in the Negro leagues, earning the nickname "Double Duty" for his frequent feat of catching one game and pitching the next in doubleheaders. [1] [2] Born Theodore Roosevelt Radcliffe on July 7, 1902, in Mobile, Alabama, he grew up playing sandlot ball alongside future legend Satchel Paige and moved to Chicago as a teenager, where he began his professional career in semipro leagues before entering the Negro leagues with the Detroit Stars in 1928. [2] Over a career spanning more than three decades, Radcliffe played for numerous prominent teams, including the St. Louis Stars, Homestead Grays, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Memphis Red Sox, Birmingham Black Barons, and Chicago American Giants, often serving as a player-manager and winning multiple championships. [3] [2] He appeared in the Negro leagues' East-West All-Star Game six times—three as a catcher and three as a pitcher—and was celebrated for his durability, leadership, and competitive spirit, even as he frequently switched teams for better opportunities in an era of unstable Negro leagues rosters. [1] His two-way excellence made him one of the most distinctive and respected figures in Negro leagues history, and he remained connected to baseball long after his playing days ended, scouting for Major League teams and attending games into advanced age. [2] Radcliffe lived to 103, passing away on August 11, 2005, in Chicago, and his legacy endures through honors such as the Chicago White Sox's annual Double Duty Classic, which celebrates inner-city baseball in his name. [1]

Early life

Birth and family background

Theodore Roosevelt Radcliffe was born on July 7, 1902, in Mobile, Alabama, to James Radcliffe and Mary Radcliffe. [2] [4] His father worked as a contractor for the shipyard company, building houses for shipyard workers. [2] Radcliffe was one of ten children in the family—five boys and five girls. [2] He grew up in Mobile's African American community, living five blocks from future Negro leagues star Leroy "Satchel" Paige. [2] As children, Radcliffe, Paige, and Bobby Robinson played baseball together informally from around age eight or nine, using a taped rag ball on a local lot. [2] His younger brother Alex Radcliffe shared this early interest in the game and later became a notable third baseman in the Negro leagues. [2] [4]

Relocation to Chicago and early baseball exposure

In 1919, Ted Radcliffe hopped freight trains with his brother Alex from Mobile, Alabama, to Chicago to live with an older brother. This move, undertaken at age 17, shifted him from his childhood environment in the segregated South to the more urban and opportunity-rich setting of Chicago, where African American baseball leagues were more active and accessible. Upon arriving, Radcliffe began his semi-professional baseball career around 1920 with the Illinois Giants. He later played for Gilkerson's Union Giants, continuing to develop his skills in Chicago's competitive semi-pro circuit before entering fully professional ranks. These early experiences in semi-pro ball provided crucial exposure and seasoning as he transitioned toward a professional career.

Negro leagues career

Entry into professional baseball and playing roles

Ted Radcliffe entered the Negro leagues in 1928 with the Detroit Stars, where he began his professional career primarily as a catcher. [3] [5] He quickly demonstrated exceptional versatility as a two-way player, handling both pitching and catching duties effectively, a rarity in the era. [6] Radcliffe's career was marked by frequent team changes, as he moved between clubs for better opportunities and pay. [5] He had multiple stints with the Chicago American Giants, played for the St. Louis Stars in 1930, joined the Homestead Grays in 1931 and again in 1946, suited up for the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1932, and appeared with numerous other teams, with estimates suggesting involvement with around 30 franchises overall. [5] [3] Due to the incomplete nature of Negro leagues records from the era, career statistics remain partial, but available data show a .271 batting average alongside a 32–24 pitching record and 3.68 ERA. [3] [6] His dual-role proficiency defined his playing style throughout his Negro leagues tenure. [5]

"Double Duty" nickname and two-way performances

Radcliffe earned the nickname "Double Duty" in 1932 from sportswriter Damon Runyon after a standout two-way performance in a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium while with the Pittsburgh Crawfords.[7] In the first game, he caught a shutout thrown by Satchel Paige, and in the second game, he pitched a shutout himself.[8] This rare feat of excelling as both catcher and pitcher in successive games of the same doubleheader led Runyon to declare Radcliffe worth the price of two admissions, cementing the "Double Duty" moniker that reflected his versatility throughout his career.[7] His two-way prowess was further evidenced by his selection to six East–West All-Star Games in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1943, and 1944, where he alternated roles between pitching and catching across appearances.[2] In 1935, Radcliffe joined the integrated Bismarck Club in North Dakota mid-season and contributed to their undefeated run in the inaugural National Semipro Championship Tournament in Wichita, Kansas, where the team defeated the Halliburton Cementers in the final.[2] One of his notable All-Star highlights came in the 1943 East–West All-Star Game, when he hit a home run into the upper deck of Comiskey Park.[2]

Managing roles and later playing years

Ted Radcliffe took on several managing positions in the Negro leagues during the late 1930s and 1940s while continuing to play. He managed the Cincinnati Tigers in 1937, the Memphis Red Sox from 1938 to 1939 and in 1941, and the Chicago American Giants in 1943. [2] [9] In 1938, he led the Memphis Red Sox to the Negro American League pennant. [2] In 1943, at age 41, Radcliffe was named the Negro American League MVP while serving as player-manager for the Chicago American Giants. [5] [10] He continued his playing career in semi-professional leagues into the 1950s, including posting a .459 batting average in the 1951 Manitoba-Dakota League. [2]

Later life and advocacy

Retirement, scouting, and personal challenges

Ted Radcliffe retired from regular playing and managing in the mid-1950s, with his final stint occurring in Winnipeg. In the 1960s, he worked as a baseball scout, including a period with the Cleveland Indians. [11] [4] Following retirement, Radcliffe and his second wife, Alberta, lived in poverty in a Chicago housing project. [4] [12] In 1990, the couple was robbed and beaten in their home, an event that drew public attention to their financial struggles. [12] [13] The incident prompted assistance from the Baseball Assistance Team (BAT), which provided financial support and helped facilitate their relocation to an assisted living facility, including a church-run home near Comiskey Park, along with enrollment in a pension program for former Negro League players. [12] [13] His enduring passion for baseball later contributed to his emergence as a prominent ambassador for the Negro leagues. [13]

Role as Negro leagues ambassador

In his later years, Ted Radcliffe emerged as a prominent ambassador for the history and legacy of the Negro leagues, actively sharing his experiences and receiving recognition for his contributions to baseball starting in the early 1990s. [14] Following earlier hardships that included a 1990 robbery and assault prompting assistance from baseball support organizations, growing public interest in Negro leagues history allowed him to travel to games and events where he recounted his career and advocated for the recognition of Black baseball pioneers. [13] Radcliffe received several honors in Illinois, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the State of Illinois Historical Committee, official recognition as an outstanding Chicago citizen by Mayor Richard M. Daley, and induction into the Illinois Department of Aging Hall of Fame in 2002. [14] [15] He was invited to the White House as a guest of three U.S. Presidents in acknowledgment of his role in the sport. [13] He participated in ceremonial first pitches at professional games, including an appearance on July 27, 2005, at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. [16] In 1999, at age 96, Radcliffe became the oldest person to appear in a professional baseball game when he threw a single pitch for the Schaumburg Flyers of the Northern League on June 19. [17] Radcliffe remained a frequent presence at Chicago White Sox games into his final years, attending dozens each season and engaging with players and fans to preserve and promote the stories of the Negro leagues. [14]

Film and television appearances

Documentary and historical features

Ted Radcliffe appeared in several documentaries and historical television programs, contributing as an interviewee and through archival footage to preserve and share the history of the Negro leagues. [18] He was credited as Ted 'Double Duty' Radcliffe in the 1991 video documentary The Story of America's Classic Ballparks. [19] In 1992, he appeared as Double Duty Ted Radcliffe in the TV movie The Playing Field. [20] Radcliffe featured in one episode of Ken Burns' acclaimed 1994 mini-series Baseball as 'Double Duty' Radcliffe. [21] Later, he was the focus of the 2003 episode "Double Duty" in the TV series The Living Century, credited as 'Double Duty' Radcliffe. [22] Archival footage of Radcliffe appeared in the 2023 documentary The League, where he was credited as Self. [23] These appearances highlighted his firsthand accounts as a key figure in Negro leagues history. [18]

Television interviews and archive footage

Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe made notable television appearances in his later years, primarily sharing firsthand accounts of his Negro leagues career as a non-professional interviewee rather than in scripted acting roles. In 2003, he appeared as himself on the ABC late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, credited under his famous nickname in a segment highlighting his longevity and baseball experiences. [18] [24] In 2001, Radcliffe recorded an oral history interview for The HistoryMakers, a nonprofit archive dedicated to preserving African American life stories, where he discussed his playing, managing, and two-way performances in the Negro leagues. [9] He was the subject of a WGN-TV documentary profiling his life and contributions to baseball, narrated by Morgan Freeman and recognized with an Emmy Award. [25] [14] After his death in 2005, archive footage of Radcliffe has been incorporated into historical documentaries, including the 2023 film The League, where he appears as himself in clips related to the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Negro leagues history. [26]

Death and legacy

Final years and death

In his later years, Radcliffe remained remarkably active well into his centenarian period, regularly attending Chicago White Sox games and serving as a living link to baseball history through ceremonial appearances, including throwing out first pitches on occasions such as his birthday.[1][27] He was known to maintain a socially engaged lifestyle, reportedly still dating at age 100 as highlighted in documentary features profiling his enduring vitality.[22] Radcliffe died on August 11, 2005, in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of 103, with the cause reported as complications from cancer.[28][7] At the time of his passing, he was believed to be the oldest living former Negro leagues player.[27][2]

Posthumous recognition and impact

Ted Radcliffe's legacy as a pioneering figure in Negro leagues baseball endures through his unparalleled versatility as a two-way player, his early contributions to integrated baseball, and his role as a longtime historian and ambassador for the sport. [2] Historians have described him as a "true baseball icon and ambassador," emphasizing that while others may have excelled in single roles, no player matched the breadth of his talents across pitching, catching, hitting, and managing. [2] His unique career inspired assessments that he "never received the full credit due him for his contributions to baseball" and remains "unique in baseball annals." [5] Radcliffe was a trailblazer in racial integration in semi-professional baseball, serving as player-manager for the Jamestown Red Sox in 1934, an integrated team in North Dakota where he posted a 17-3 pitching record and .355 batting average while recruiting other Black players to join the squad. [2] This role marked him as the first Black manager of non-Black players in such a setting. [4] His hands served as the inspiration for a bronze statue exhibited at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, symbolizing his enduring physical and historical imprint on the game. [4] The 1994 biography Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe: 36 Years of Pitching and Catching in Baseball’s Negro Leagues by Kyle P. McNary preserved his extensive recollections and stories, cementing his status as a key chronicler of Negro leagues history. [2] [4] Through this work and his continued engagement in interviews and events, Radcliffe's impact persists as a testament to versatility, resilience, and advocacy for the recognition of Black baseball pioneers. [2]

References

  1. https://www.mlb.com/history/negro-leagues/players/ted-radcliffe
  2. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ted-double-duty-radcliffe/
  3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/radclte01.shtml
  4. https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/radcliffe-theodore-double-duty/
  5. https://nlbemuseum.com/history/players/radcliffet.html
  6. https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=radcl01ted
  7. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-aug-12-me-radcliffe12-story.html
  8. https://www.mlb.com/history/negro-leagues/features/negro-leagues-best-nicknames
  9. https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/ted-double-duty-radcliffe-39
  10. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/aug/31/guardianobituaries.usa
  11. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ted-Radcliffe
  12. https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/radcliffe-theodore-roosevelt-ted
  13. https://bhamwiki.com/w/Ted_Radcliffe
  14. https://www.nlbpa.com/news/august-11-2005.html
  15. https://chicagobaseballmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/Radcliffe-Obit.pdf
  16. https://www.baseballhistorycomesalive.com/ted-double-duty-radcliffe-a-great-ballplayer-not-in-the-hall-of-fame/
  17. https://funwhileitlasted.net/2014/11/21/1999-2010-schaumburg-flyers/
  18. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1182233/
  19. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406238/
  20. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3127510/
  21. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108700/fullcredits/
  22. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0927334/
  23. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15514684/fullcredits/
  24. https://imdb.com/title/tt1443622/
  25. https://ilaging.illinois.gov/resources/newspublicationsandreports/hall-of-fame/hall-of-fame/2002.html
  26. https://watch.plex.tv/person/double-duty-radcliffe
  27. http://www.espn.com/classic/obit/s/2005/0811/2131415.html
  28. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/12/sports/baseball/ted-radcliffe-star-of-the-negro-leagues-is-dead-at-103.html
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