Don’t Be Fooled: MLB Still Ignores Negro Leagues

Tuesday night during the MLB All-Star Game, once Shohei Ohtani’s third inning drive reached foot 400 on its 400-foot journey into the right field stands at Globe Life Field, the various MLB social media accounts tripped over each other to get the news out:

Shohei Ohtani became the first MLB player to hit a home run in an All-Star Game and get a “win” as a pitcher in an All-Star Game.

I’ve been down this road numerous times. MLB screams “Negro Leagues are Major Leagues!” every time it gets them a good photo op or cash grab, but when it comes down to acknowledging Negro League players and their accomplishments on a day-to-day level, MLB still refuses to, despite daily opportunities to do so.

To wit:

There was little doubt in my mind Tuesday night, that despite MLB’s massive resources, that nobody there bothered to look, or even ask, “Hey – did a Negro League player ever go deep in an East-West All-Star Game, and earn a win as a pitcher in one as well?”

Because Ted Radcliffe, of the Memphis Red Sox then Birmingham Black Barons, did.

(I know this, and now you do too, because the middle-aged guy with a laptop and five minutes of research time who’s not an MLB employee, did bother to check. The man’s nickname was “Double Duty” for crying out loud, you don’t need to be a cyber research tech to know where to begin.)

In 1939, two All-Star Games were played between the East and West Negro League All-Stars. Yes, seeing the financial opportunity post-depression, and given that the East-West games often outdrew the melanin deprived AL/NL games, the Negro Leagues were decades ahead of its counterparts in playing two All-Star Games per summer. (Like how the Negro Leagues also played night baseball first, and also…)

I digress.

The first of the two games in 1939 was played on August 6^th at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe came on to pitch in relief of future Hall of Famer Hilton Smith. Double Duty pitched two innings of scoreless ball against a lineup that featured Willie Wells, Josh Gibson, Mule Suttles and Buck Leonard and earned himself the “W”. (He also singled and scored in the inning in which the West took the lead, making him the pitcher of record.)

Then on August 13^th, 1944, also at Comiskey Park, the now 42-year-old Radcliffe playing catcher for the West Stars, hit a two-run shot off Barney Morris that sealed a 7-4 win for the West Stars. This made him the first MLB player (because “Negro Leagues are Major Leagues!”, right MLB?) to earn a “W” as a pitcher and hit a home run in an All-Star Game – 80 years before Ohtani’s ball landed in the right field seats on Tuesday night.

Since we’re here, it’s a good time to remember that for far too many reasons to delineate now, Negro Leagues were unable to play 154 game seasons, as the privileged AL and NL did. So, if we prorate Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe’s WAR over full seasons, he would have ended up with 67.6 bWAR over his 13 seasons as a pitcher, catcher, outfielder, first baseman and second baseman. (He couldn’t DH on days he wasn’t pitching…)

From 1928 through 1948, the only AL/NL players to accumulate more than 67.6 bWAR were Mel Ott, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Charlie Gehringer, Arky Vaughn, and Luke Appling – all are in the Hall of Fame – Double Duty is not.

And MLB is still ignoring Ted Radcliffe despite an incredible opportunity to include his name in a discussion of all-time greats and All-Star Game history.

In the event you missed my overly officious message, with its complete absence of subtlety, I’ll finish with this: When you see MLB note that (insert player) is the first player to (insert accomplishment), there is a better than average chance that they are referring to AL and NL players only – because a Negro League player probably did it.

And MLB will not tell you about it, but it will pat itself on the back with games at Rickwood Field though.

If you want to know more about the East-West All-Star Games, Larry Lester’s “Black Baseball’s National Showcase: The East-West All-Star Game, 1933 to 1962” is a great place to start.

Also, a big shoutout to seamheads.com, retrosheet.org, and baseballreference.com for being the go-to sites for information like the above.