Ted Radcliffe
Theodore Roosevelt Radcliffe (Ted Radcliffe) called Double Duty (born July 7, 1902 in Mobile , Alabama , † August 11, 2005 ibid) was a professional baseball player and formerly a star of the Negro Leagues .
Life
Ted Radcliffe grew up as one of ten children in Mobile. Together with his brother Alex Radcliffe and their friends Satchel Paige and Bobby Robinson they learned to play baseball with a ball they made from rags. As teenagers, the brothers hitchhiked to Chicago in 1919 , where an older brother already lived. The rest of the family followed shortly afterwards. A year later, Radcliffe signed his first semi-professional contract with the Illinois Giants , receiving $ 50 for 15 games each and 50 cents a day for food. So he got a monthly income of around $ 100. A few seasons he stayed with the Giants before moving to the also semi-professional team of the Gilkerson's Union Giants .
His professional career began in 1928 with the Detroit Stars in the Negro National League . He then played with 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 the Kansas City Monarchs . In 1937 he took over the training of the Cleveland Tigers , 1938 the Memphis Red Sox and finally in 1943 the Chicago American Giants.
He played for over 30 different teams, had more than 4000 hits, 400 home runs , won around 500 games with 4000 strikeouts . He played as a pitcher and catcher , became a coach and in later years a popular ambassador for the sport of baseball. Most recently he lived in Chicago.
Damon Runyon coined the nickname "Double Duty" because Radcliffe played as both catcher and pitcher in the double header games between the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Monroe Monarchs of the 1932 Negro League World Series.
Web links
- Baseball Library (English)
- Pitch Black Baseball (English)
- Simply Baseball Notebook: Legends ( Memento from February 29, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Radcliffe, Ted |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Radcliffe, Theodore Roosevelt; Double Duty (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American baseball player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 7, 1902 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mobile , Alabama |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 11, 2005 |
| Place of death | Mobile , Alabama |