Brad Radke - Biography

Biography

Radke was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and graduated from Jesuit High School of Tampa where he was known as a scholar-athlete.

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 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. In 1997, he finished an excellent season with a 20-10 record and a 3.87 ERA in 239 innings. During the year, he won 12 consecutive games in 12 consecutive starts, becoming only the 3rd player since 1950 (along with Bob Gibson and Pat Dobson) to accomplish the feat.

He was known for being one of the best control pitchers 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 runs, 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 1995's Sega Sports World Series Baseball II, 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 110 feet (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'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. It was Radke's last regular season start. In his last major league appearance, he pitched in the third game of the division series against the Oakland Athletics, giving up four runs on two two-run home runs in four innings.

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.