"Double Duty" Radcliffe: 36 Years of PItching & Catching in the Negro Leagues

By Kyle McNary

"Double Duty" Radcliffe is the biography of one of the most unique baseball stars in history. Nicknamed "Double Duty" because he was an all-star pitcher and catcher, Radcliffe played from 1919-1954 in the Negro Leagues with teams such as the Chicago American Giants, Homestead Grays, Kansas City Monarchs, Birmingham Black Barons, New York Black Yankees and Memphis Red Sox. In this book, called "amazing" by Sports Illustrated, Radcliffe's own words are intertwined with background information and interviews with more than 30 ex-teammates. Radcliffe won more than 300 games on the mound, belted more than 300 homers, pitched and caught multiple no-hitters, was named league MVP at age 41, threw a complete game shutout past age 50, and played with and against every black and white player you can think of, including Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Honus Wagner, Jimmie Foxx and Bob Feller! The braggadocious Radcliffe was known almost as much for his talking as for his playing, but, his opponents said, "he could back his words up." Radcliffe was a wonderful baseball player, but may have made more contributions to the game after retirement as he lived to age 103 and helped educated the public on the Negro Leagues and its players.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kyle McNary
• Release date: Dec 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9780964200227

Kyle McNary

Kyle McNary was born on November 17, 1967 in Mitchell, South Dakota and grew up in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park, Minnesota. While playing baseball and studying journalism in college, McNary became hooked on the subject of Negro League baseball. Since 1990, McNary has interviewed more than 50 ex-Negro Leaguers, has written two books and many articles, and has made more than 500 speeches to grade schools, high schools, colleges and civic organizations about the Negro Leagues and the integration of baseball. McNary still lives in St. Louis Park, works as an insurance agent, and is married with a son, daughter and basset hound. McNary has run the website, www.pitchblackbaseball.com, for more than 12 years, and is working on producing a movie about Negro League baseball.

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Prologue

In 1994, the original edition of this book was published when Double Duty was 91 years old. I remember, after spending time with Double Duty, telling my wife, You know, Double Duty has so much energy, he could live to be 100!

Well, Double Duty lived to be 103, and I got to share many great experiences with him over the last 12 years of his life. With the advent of e-books, I decided to publish the second edition of my book. The following book has additional material from the original edition, with information about Double Duty’s life as he approached and passed 100 years of age, and all statistics in the appendix have been updated to reflect box scores I have uncovered since the original publishing date.

Several years after my original book was published, I came across the quote below by Double Duty. I think these words accurately portray the way Double Duty approached his life for more than a century, and I think these words are a great guide for all to live by.

Someday you will be old like me, and you will be sitting around telling stories about your life. If you want your stories to be good ones, that people will want to listen to, then you’ve got to make your life a good one first.

–Ted Double Duty Radcliffe

Chapter 1:

Introducing Double Duty

I grew up in a baseball family. Not a hockey family, or a football family, or a fishing family, but a baseball family. We watched baseball, played baseball, loved baseball.

My dad was a very good player growing up in Mitchell, South Dakota, I was a pretty good player in high school and college in Minnesota, and my son is now a fine player at a private college in the Twin Cities.

Going to see the Minnesota Twins play was always a special treat growing up, and I watched every World Series starting in 1971 when Roberto Clemente led the Pittsburgh Pirates over the Baltimore Orioles. My first heroes were Clemente, who played with a flair like no other, Graig Nettles, an amazing third baseman, and Rod Carew, the best pure hitter I ever saw. My mom loved Clemente and Tony Conigliaro, and my dad was a huge fan of Pete Rose and Joe Morgan.

While playing college baseball in the Mississippi River town of Winona, Minnesota, I majored in journalism and worked on the school newspaper; my beat was non-traditional students. My favorite interview was with Dr. Younger, a 91-year-old Winona native who was still auditing classes more than a half-century after finishing his medical degree. I was fascinated with Dr. Younger, one of the town’s better-known citizens, who told great stories about Winona in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. Over the years, more than a dozen students had written articles about Dr. Younger, but he said mine was the best; I don’t know whether that was true or not, but it was nice to hear, and Younger was the first of dozens of senior citizens I would interview over the years.

In 1990, I came across a magazine article about Negro League baseball and I fell in love with the subject, realizing that for every Major League legend there was a Negro League equivalent, and that there were thousands of teams, players and games that I was unfamiliar with. I went to the local library and bookstores, but there were only a few books about the Negro Leagues at the time such as Only the Ball was White by Robert Peterson and Voices From the Great Black Baseball Leagues by John Holway—both fantastic books, but not enough to satisfy my intense hunger for information.

I ended up taking out my old typewriter and wrote to every library and historical society in the country, requesting any information they had on the Negro Leagues, and soon my mail box at school was being filled with articles, box scores and photographs from all over the United States. One particular article changed my life. It was a Chicago Tribune article from the 1940s in which Satchel Paige said that the greatest team he ever saw was an integrated semi-pro team in Bismarck, North Dakota that he pitched for in 1935. It read in part:

It was in Bismarck, North Dakota. There was a white man out there named Neil Churchill who liked baseball. He was an auto distributor and he wanted a ball team for Bismarck. He was fulla ambition for baseball for his town. He’s been mayor ever since and I guess someday he’ll be governor of North Dakota. That’s my team of all-stars. Never was such a team. Man, couldn’t beat that team. Hit and field and, boy, did we have the pitchers. We was a mixed team, colored and white. That was the best team I ever saw, the best players I ever played with. But who ever heard of them?

Despite having lived in Bismarck for a few years as a kid, I had never heard of this team, and I immediately called my dad to see if he was familiar with this great club. My dad was aware that Bismarck fielded minor-league teams over the years, but never a team that anyone would consider the best of all-time. After hanging up the phone with my dad, my journey to document this team began.

The Bismarck team became an obsession with me, and since I was graduating soon, I planned a trip to Bismarck in the spring to do research at the North Dakota Historical Society, and perhaps interview townspeople about the team from years gone by. Now, here’s where it gets interesting—a few weeks before my trip to Bismarck, an acquaintance, who knew of my interest in the Negro Leagues, told me he had the home address of a former Negro Leaguer and asked if I wanted it. I told him I did, and that player was Ted Double Duty Radcliffe, someone I had never heard of before, but one of the black players on the ‘35 Bismarck team!

I wrote to Double Duty and asked him if I could interview him, and the day before I left for Bismarck a handwritten letter arrived in my mailbox. It read:

Dear Kyle,

I got your letter today. Always glad to hear from people like you. Satchel and I were born in Mobile, Alabama. He and I played together for more than 30 years. I am the oldest player living today. I would like for you to call me and I can explain things to you. Call me at 12 o’clock at night or Sunday morning. I wish you luck. Excuse the paper, I’m almost out of it.

Smiles, Double Duty

I called Double Duty a few days later, around midnight, from a hotel in Bismarck. After a few rings, a deep baritone voice answered, Hello?

I said, Is Double Duty there?

Who’s this? he said.

Kyle McNary, from Minneapolis.

Who?

Kyle McNary, from Minneapolis. I wrote you a letter.

Who?

Kyle McNary, from Minneapolis, I wrote you a letter and you wrote me back a few days ago.

Oh, yeah! Mac, how you doin’?

Over the next half hour, I got a few words in, but mostly I listened to Double Duty tell me about the Negro Leagues, Satchel Paige, Bismarck, and the one player he considered the greatest in history—himself!

After a few more phone conversations over the next month, Double Duty asked me, Why are you doing this, asking me all these questions?

I don’t know, I said. I just love learning about the Negro Leagues and the Bismarck team, and maybe someday I’ll write an article or book or something.

Why don’t you write a book about me? Double Duty asked. Everyone would want to read it! We could print up a million copies and charge $20 a copy!

My first thought was that Double Duty couldn’t have been that good because I’d never heard of him. Of course, I’d really only heard of a few Negro Leaguers—Satchel, Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell. Double Duty’s charm got to me, though, and I agreed to write his life story. When I told him that I could come to Chicago to interview him and work on the book, he said, No, I want to come to Minneapolis. I haven’t been there since I played, and I want to bring two ballplayers with me—Lester Lockett and Jimmie Crutchfield.

Should I send you airplane tickets? I asked.

No, I don’t want to fly. We’ll take the train, he said.

Why don’t you want to fly? I asked.

They say you don’t go until it’s your time, but what if it’s the pilot’s time and not mine? he explained.

I couldn’t argue with that logic, so I bought train tickets for the guys to come to Minneapolis around Thanksgiving. In the meantime, I did as much research as I could, made lists of players Double Duty had played with and against, and arranged for the guys to do a few autograph signings when they visited so they could make some money.

A few weeks before the guys were to come, Crutchfield got sick (he would die from cancer four months later) and Double Duty told me he was bringing another great player, Bobbie Robinson, instead. Though I would have loved to have met Crutchfield, who was a fantastic player and wonderful person, Robinson would become one of the greatest men I ever met, and I will cherish the time I spent with him forever.

My son was born in September, two months before the visit, and I called Double Duty to tell him the good news. His first comment was that I should name him Double Duty, but when I told him my wife and I had already picked out the name Ryne, he said, Well, then the most I can wish for your son is that he grows up to be as beautiful as I am!

On a cold night in November in 1992, I drove my '74 Plymouth Valiant to the train station in St. Paul to pick up 90-year-old Double Duty Radcliffe, 89-year-old Bobbie Robinson, and 83-year-old Lester Lockett. All I could think about was, How in the world am I going to entertain three old men for 10 days? I found out quickly that these particular men did not need to be entertained.

The train arrived at about 11pm, and passengers started to depart. One person after another walked by, talking about the man they had met on the train, the man who had been the catcher for Satchel Paige! Finally, the last three passengers came off the train, my three guests.

To save a little money, I found a hotel in Minneapolis that rented executive suites by the week, but I needed to put the guys up in another hotel for the first three days, and found a newer Motel 6 in a suburb of Minneapolis. On the way to the hotel, Double Duty mentioned that he was hungry, so we stopped at Perkins for a late dinner, and I finally dropped the guys off at the hotel at 1am. I got home and was too excited to sleep, and told my wife about how amazing the guys were. I ended up finally falling asleep after two in the morning, and at 6am my phone rang. Where you at? Double Duty asked me over the phone. We got stuff to do. Let’s go! That’s the way it was for 10 days. Non-stop!

Over the next 10 days I got a chance to interview all three men extensively, ate Thanksgiving dinner with them at my mother-in-law’s, and went to a pair of autograph signings with them. The 10 days were full of great memories, but I’ll only mention a few highlights.

When I picked up the guys on the third day to take them from the hotel to the suite downtown, Double Duty said, Don’t ever put us in that hotel again! The hotel was only a few years old, very nice and clean, and I immediately thought, Oh, no, did someone treat them badly?

What was wrong with the hotel? I asked Double Duty.

That hotel had the worst lobby in the world! was his reply.

The lobby? I questioned. It had a TV, a nice couch, coffee maker. What was wrong with it?

We were in that lobby for three days, and not one pretty girl walked through that lobby that whole time! That was how Double Duty judged lobbies! I would learn later that Negro Leaguers were some of the greatest lobby-sitters of all time. Sitting on a couch in a big lobby was cheap entertainment, and if someone left a newspaper or a pretty girl walked by it was all the better.

When we got to the suite, we took the elevator to the top floor, I opened the door and Double Duty walked in. The suite had an amazing view of the Minneapolis skyline, and Double Duty was looking at that view when he missed a single step down to the living room and fell face-first onto the floor. Oh, God, I’ve killed Double Duty! I thought.

Lester helped me get Double Duty to his feet, and we got him into a chair. I noticed that Bobbie was missing, and when I opened the door to the hallway there he stood, in no particular hurry, patiently waiting for me to let him in.

Another incident I’d like to relay is a great example of Double Duty’s ego, sense of humor and friendship with two men he’d known for more than 60 years.

At one autograph signing, at a big baseball card show in Bloomington, Minnesota, the three players sat at a table in a private room. Patrons who wanted an autograph would pay $5 for an index card that they would hand to a player for the autograph, and at the end of the session each player would turn in his index cards for five bucks each. Double Duty was a born salesman, and even though most of the autograph-seekers didn’t know one player from the other, Radcliffe charmed them into his line, thus his pile of index cards dwarfed those of the other two.

Hey, Lester, said Duty. I can’t tell, but it looks like I got about twice as many as you do. How many you got? Double Duty winked at me; Lester and Bobbie laughed. That was Double Duty—he loved to brag, but his bragging always had a playful ring to it.

Lastly, there were a few incidences which highlighted Double Duty’s love for women. He talked about them constantly, admitting that he couldn’t do anything but look at them, but he said he’d look at them until the day he died. On one drive through Minneapolis, Double Duty said, Hey, Bobbie, look at those houses. Aren’t they something?

Sure are, Duty, was always Bobbie’s reply.

None of these houses were here when I was playing here in the 1940s, said Double Duty. Oh, Bobbie, would you look at that girl! Look at the legs on her! Did you see her, Bobbie?

Sure did, Duty.

Another time, while eating at a nice restaurant, Double Duty disappeared, and we found him a few minutes later having a conversation with a 25-year-old woman at another table, bragging about his baseball playing days.

After the fellas returned to Chicago, I started researching in earnest, and spent the next two years writing the book, interviewing more than 40 ex-teammates and opponents along the way.

Before I tell you about Double Duty’s career, I would like to tell you why Radcliffe’s career warrants a book, and explain a few terms that you will find often in the book.

On pitching and catching

Double Duty, nicknamed because he was a top pitcher and catcher, was not your average ballplayer. According to Baseballistics by Bert Sugar, only five men in Major League history ever pitched and caught in the same game. Two of these players, Cesar Tovar and Bert Campaneris, did so as part of publicity events in which they played all nine positions in one game. The others, Roger Bresnahan, Rick Cerone and Jeff Newman, came from behind the plate to pitch in blow-out games because their managers didn’t want to waste a real pitcher in a hopeless game. Double Duty, on the other hand, was a real pitcher and a real catcher and pitched and caught in the same game hundreds of times because Negro League teams carried small rosters for financial reasons, and players who could play multiple positions, like Double Duty, were very valuable. After catching the first seven or eight innings of a game, Double Duty could take off the pads, go to the mound, and get the biggest hitters in black baseball out. In a Pittsburgh Courier poll in 1952, Double Duty was named one of the top six catchers in Negro League history, and one of the top 20 pitchers.

On Longevity

Playing twice as long as most Hall of Famers, 36 years, is hard to put into perspective, but I’ll try. Early in his career, Double Duty played against Honus Wagner who started his Big League career in 1897, and Grover Cleveland Alexander, who first pitched for money in 1905. Toward the end of his career, Double Duty played against Willie Mays who retired after the 1973 season. Double Duty, literally, played against the sons of slaves and the fathers of astronauts.

On Career Statistics

You play 36 seasons of pro baseball, often year-round, and you’re bound to put up some crazy statistics and Double Duty did. Estimates show Radcliffe with 500 pitching victories and 4000 strikeouts on the mound, and 4000 hits, 400 homers and 700 doubles at bat. There were several seasons in which Double Duty won 20 games and hit 20 homers, and during his career he lead his teams various times in homers, RBIs, wins and ERA. In one season Double Duty batted over .350 and won 18 games while allowing only 17 walks. Double Duty played professionally in five decades, pitched and caught multiple no-hitters, won the Negro American League MVP award at age 41, and threw a complete game shutout past age 50.

True, all of Double Duty’s games were not against Major League-caliber teams, but conditions in the Negro Leagues were much tougher than in the Majors. Double Duty played as many as five games in a day, played year-round in 20 of his 36 seasons, traveled much of his career in cramped cars and buses without air conditioning, and was generally not allowed eat or sleep in first class restaurants or hotels.

Someone once asked me, Do you think Double Duty would have been a star had he played in the Major Leagues? I honestly don’t know. In the Major Leagues, Double Duty would have had to choose one position, so he probably would have been a full-time catcher. My guess is that he would have been one of the best defensive catchers in the Majors, plus would have batted in the .280-range with 15 to 20 homers and 80 to 100 RBIs.

As relevant a question might be, Would Ted Williams have been a star had he played in the Negro Leagues? In the Majors, Williams played 154 games over six months, took regular batting practice every day, and extra batting practice whenever he needed it. He traveled by train, had hours to talk hitting and strategy with his teammates, got medical attention when needed, ate in the best restaurants and slept in the best hotels. He made enough money that he didn’t need to play in the winter, in fact, the Red Sox’ owner, Tom Yawkey, told Williams that if he didn’t barnstorm in the off-season he would pay him extra! In the Negro Leagues, Williams would have rarely had regular batting practice, would have eaten more than his fill of bologna sandwiches and soda pop, would have slept in bed bug-ridden hotels in one horse towns, and would have done so year round.

In my opinion, Williams was one of the best Majors Leaguers ever, Double Duty was one of the best Negro Leaguers ever, and no one knows how each would have done under the others’ circumstances. Double Duty did, however, play very well against Major Leaguers in barnstorming exhibitions, batting over .400, and never losing a pitching decision.

Negro League baseball is a relatively unknown subject to even the biggest baseball fans, so it’s important to understand the basics. According to Sol White’s Official Base Ball Guide, the first all-black professional baseball team in the United States was organized in 1885. The team was a group of waiters from New York’s Argyle Hotel who played games to entertain hotel guests, and spoke gibberish on the field, pretending they were Spanish-speaking Cubans.

For several years prior to this, blacks had played on amateur teams, and a handful of exceptional players played with early Minor and Major League teams.

In 1882, Moses Fleet Walker was a catcher with Toledo in the American Association, then a Major League, and in 1887 George Stovey was a pitcher with Newark of the Eastern League when Hall of Famer Cap Anson, the biggest name in the Majors at the time, refused to let his Chicago Cubs play against Newark if Stovey pitched. Word traveled fast in baseball circles that Anson wouldn’t play against any team that had black players, and the unwritten rule of the Majors and Minors soon became no blacks allowed. The color line had been drawn, and 60 years would pass before blacks again played in the Major Leagues.

Black players soon formed their own teams and leagues, and the first successful all-black league was the original Negro National League, formed in 1920 by Rube Foster, manager of the Chicago American Giants. The league was organized at the Black YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri, and included the American Giants, Indianapolis ABCs, Chicago Giants, St. Louis Giants, Detroit Stars, Kansas City Monarchs, Dayton Marcos and Cuban Stars. It was Foster’s dream that a successful black league would eventually gain the respect of the Major Leagues, and would culminate in the admission of entire Negro League teams into the Majors.

Foster, as President of the Negro National League, went to great lengths to ensure the league’s strength, and he demanded all players behave like gentlemen on and off the field. If a team was weak, Foster would help find them better players or give them some of his own players, and J.L. Wilkinson, owner of the Monarchs, often loaned money to owners who had trouble making payrolls.

In 1923, another black league was formed, the Eastern Colored League, made up of teams such as the New York Lincoln Giants, Philadelphia Hilldale Giants, Baltimore Black Sox, Brooklyn Royal Giants and Atlantic City Bacharach Giants. Soon the two leagues were bitter rivals, with teams from one league hiring