If there was a group of athletes that has a right to hold a grudge against America, it is living former Negro League players.
Their numbers are dwindling down to a precious few, and one of the greatest players in Negro League history, Theodore Roosevelt “Double Duty” Radcliffe, died on Thursday, August 11, at age 103.
He earned the nickname after contributing to a shut-out from both positions of the battery in a double-header for the Pittsburgh Crawfords. In the first game, he caught a shutout from legendary pitcher Satchel Paige. In the second game, Radcliffe pitched a shutout.
Radcliffe recorded an estimated 4,000 hits and 400 home runs in his career. As a pitcher, he also won 500 games and collected 4,000 strikeouts.
Like dozens of other black players who were prohibited from playing Major League Baseball, Radcliffe was better than most of the white players in Major League uniforms.
In May, Radcliffe was among 14 Negro Leagues players honored in a pregame ceremony at RFK Stadium before the Chicago Cubs played Washington. Sitting in a golf cart behind the plate, Radcliffe made the ceremonial first pitch by handing the ball to Nationals coach Don Buford.
Radcliffe noted that the game had changed since he retired in the 1950s, and avoided the race-based attacks on Carribbean players like the rantings of 86-year-old Bob Feller and terminated San Francisco sports radio talk show host Larry Krueger.
“It ain’t like it used to be. There used to be some good pitchers. There aren’t ballplayers like there used to be. It’s a shame,” he said.