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Brad William Radke (born October 27, 1972) is an American former
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...
pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
who played his entire 12 season career with the
Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...
. Radke won 148 career games and was one of the most consistent pitchers in the Twins organization during the late 1990s.


Biography

Radke was born in
Eau Claire, Wisconsin Eau Claire (; ) (French for "clear water") is a city mostly located in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat, and with a small portion in Chippewa County, Wisconsin. It had a population of 69,421 in 2020, making it the stat ...
and graduated from
Jesuit High School of Tampa , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
where he set a single-season school record with a 0.31 earned run average. He also played for the school's
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
team. He accepted a scholarship to play
college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...
at
South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...
.


Minnesota Twins

Radke was not considered a top prospect before being drafted in the 8th round of the 1991 amateur draft by the Twins. Once he was in the
majors Jonathan Michael Majors (born September 7, 1989)Majors in is an American actor. He rose to prominence after starring in the independent feature film ''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' (2019). In 2020, he garnered wider notice for portraying ...
though, he was valued highly and the Twins were offered a large amount of talent for him, but they never gave him up. In his debut season (1995), he finished 11-14 with a 5.32
ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...
. In 1997, he finished an excellent season with a 20-10 record and a 3.87 ERA in 239
innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...
. During the year, he won 12 consecutive games in 12 consecutive starts, becoming only the 3rd player since 1950 (along with
Bob Gibson Robert Gibson (born Pack Robert Gibson; November 9, 1935October 2, 2020) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1959–1975). Nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot" ( ...
and
Pat Dobson Patrick Edward Dobson, Jr. (February 12, 1942 – November 22, 2006) was an American right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Detroit Tigers (1967–69), San Diego Padres (1970), Baltimore Orioles (1971–72), Atla ...
) to accomplish the feat. He finished third in American League Cy Young Award voting. From 1998-2001, Radke averaged 12 wins a year and 32 starts each season. He pitched over 210 innings a season for the Twins. In 2002, for the first time in his big league career, he failed to pitch in 30 games and fell one win short from finishing with 10 wins for the eight straight season. His ERA for the first time since his rookie season in 1995 was over 4.50, finishing with a 4.72 ERA. In 2003 and 2004, Radke came back to form, notching 14 and 11 wins respectively. He was known for being one of the best
control pitcher In baseball, a control pitcher, also known as a finesse pitcher, is a pitcher who succeeds mostly by using accurate pitches, as opposed to a power pitcher who relies on velocity. By issuing a below average number of bases on balls he exhibits good ...
s of the modern era, walking an average of only 41 batters a year, in an average of 34 games a year. He was, however, also known for giving up
home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s, yielding as many as 40 in a single season, and he was often plagued by first-inning troubles. This had the effect of making his ERA totals sometimes seem deceptively high, as his first-inning ERA was sometimes more than a full run higher than his ERA's for the rest of the game. His susceptibility to home runs was lampooned in a commercial for
Sega Sports or Sega Sports R&D is a defunct development division of the Japanese video game company Sega. It was previously known as Smilebit, one of nine semi-autonomous studios which Sega established in 2000. Smilebit was previously known as R&D6 or AM6 w ...
' ''
World Series Baseball II ''World Series Baseball II'' is a video game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. Gameplay ''World Series Baseball II'' is a baseball game which features every major league stadium, and arcade-style pitching. Reception '' Next G ...
'' in 1995, and featured Radke watching as home runs sailed out of the park. Radke had hinted that he might retire following the 2006 season, citing a torn labrum (through which he had been pitching the 2006 season). A stress fracture in his shoulder suffered in late August sidelined him as of September 2. On September 12, he threw catch from a distance of (slightly less than twice the distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate) without pain, an important step in the way to his return for the last week or two of the season and the Twins' playoff drive, and even more important with
Francisco Liriano Francisco Liriano Casillas (born October 26, 1983) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, ...
's season appearing to be over with the reappearance of pain in his left elbow on September 13. On September 28, Radke returned to action, pitching five innings and surrendering one unearned run, earning no decision in a 2-1 Twins victory over the
Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...
. It was Radke's last regular season start. He finished the season with a 12-9 record in 28 starts. In his last major league appearance, he pitched in the third game of the
division series The Division Series is the quarterfinal round of the Major League Baseball playoffs. Four series are played in this round, two each for both the American League and the National League. 1981 season The first use of the term "Division Series" date ...
against the
Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...
, giving up four runs on two two-run home runs in four innings. He officially announced his retirement from baseball on December 19, 2006. On July 11, 2009, Radke was inducted into the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame. On April 12, 2010, Radke was selected to raise one of the Twins pennant flags in left field at Target Field.


Batting

Being in the AL,
interleague play Interleague play in Major League Baseball refers to regular-season baseball games played between an American League (AL) team and a National League (NL) team. Interleague play was first introduced during the 1997 Major League Baseball season. Pr ...
forced him to bat 29 times. He had 3 hits, a .103
batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
. He had no walks, but 5
sacrifice hits In baseball, a sacrifice bunt (also called a sacrifice hit) is a batter's act of deliberately bunting the ball, before there are two outs, in a manner that allows a baserunner to advance to another base. The batter is almost always put out, and ...
.


Postseason

Radke made his first of back-to-back-to-back postseason appearances in . His postseason totals are very solid with an overall 3.19 ERA in 31 innings pitched. His best postseason series was his first, against
Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
. He started 2 games out of the 5, winning both with a 1.54 ERA. Radke only gave up 1 run in the deciding game of the series before the 5-1 Twins lead was almost squandered in the 9th, when
Eddie Guardado Edward Adrian Guardado (born October 2, 1970) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher and current bullpen coach. Guardado played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins (–, ), Seattle Mariners (–), Cincinnati Reds (–) ...
gave up 3 runs. But the Twins won 5-4 and advanced to the
2002 American League Championship Series The 2002 American League Championship Series (ALCS) was a matchup between the Wild Card Anaheim Angels and the Central Division Champion Minnesota Twins. The Angels advanced to the Series after dethroning the reigning four-time AL Champion New Yo ...
. He would go on to lose the only game he pitched against the
Angels In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
, but shut them out for the first 6 innings of that game. In the end, the Twins bullpen and offense failed and they lost 7-1 and lost the series 4-1. He was 2-3 overall in the postseason.


Personal life

In 2002, Radke and his wife, Heather, announced the formation of a charity, the Brad and Heather Radke Family Foundation, which would support the
Hennepin County Medical Center Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) is a Level I adult and pediatric trauma center and safety net hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the county seat of Hennepin County. The primary 484-bed facility is on six city blocks across the street from ...
. Radke's son, Kasey, pitched for the
University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UT) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UT offers more than 200 programs of study, including 22 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, ...
and his son, Ryan, played basketball for Radke's alma mater, Jesuit High School. In 2011, Radke sold his
Greenwood, Minnesota Greenwood is a community on Saint Albans Bay on Lake Minnetonka in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States just northeast of the community of Excelsior, Minnesota. The population was 688 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United St ...
home for $2.4 million (equivalent to $ million in ).


Highlights

* All-Star (1998) *Led league in
strikeout-to-walk ratio In baseball statistics, strikeout-to-walk ratio (K/BB) is a measure of a pitcher's ability to control pitches, calculated as strikeouts divided by bases on balls. A hit by pitch is not counted statistically as a walk, and therefore not counted ...
(5.27-to-1, 2001) *7th in the league in strikeouts (174, 1997) *2nd in the league in complete games (six, 2001, tied with
Mark Mulder Mark Alan Mulder (born August 5, 1977) is an American former professional baseball player. A left-handed starting pitcher, Mulder pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals. He is a two-time All-Sta ...
, behind only Steve Sparks) * Finished 3rd in
Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall ...
balloting in 1997, behind
Roger Clemens William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962), nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Boston Red Sox. Clemens was one of the most dominant pi ...
and
Randy Johnson Randall David Johnson (born September 10, 1963), nicknamed "The Big Unit", is an American photographer and former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (1988–2009) for six teams, primarily the Seattle M ...
. *Ranks #18 in
strikeout to walk ratio In baseball statistics, strikeout-to-walk ratio (K/BB) is a measure of a pitcher's ability to control pitches, calculated as strikeouts divided by bases on balls. A hit by pitch is not counted statistically as a walk, and therefore not counted in ...
br>All-time SO/BB leaderboard from BaseballReference.com
*Ranks #32 in lowest walks per nine innings pitched ratio (1.681
All-time lowest BB/9IP leaderboard from BaseballReference.com


See also

*
List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise The following is a list of former Major League Baseball (MLB) players who played in at least 10 MLB seasons and spent their entire MLB playing careers exclusively with one franchise. In most cases, this means the player only appeared with one team ...


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radke, Brad 1972 births Living people American League All-Stars Minnesota Twins players Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Wisconsin Sportspeople from Eau Claire, Wisconsin Gulf Coast Twins players Jesuit High School (Tampa) alumni Fort Myers Miracle players Nashville Xpress players Kenosha Twins players