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Though he was often overshadowed by his older brother Double Duty, Alec Radcliffe was the Mike Schmidt of the Negro Leagues, a power-hitting third baseman with a powerful throwing arm who could run, and played in more East-West All-Star games than any other player–13 (tied with Buck Leonard).
In those All-Star games Radcliffe batted .340, and set career records for at bats (50), hits (17) and consecutive appearances (9). Alec received more East-West votes than any third baseman in history, and represented the Chicago American Giants nine times, the Memphis Red Sox twice, and the Cincinnati-Indianapolis Clowns twice.
“Alec can do everything, and do it well,” the Chicago Defender commented, and the slightly biased Double Duty remarked, “Alec was a good fielder, and there wasn’t a third baseman that could hit with him.”
Alec grew up in Mobile, Alabama and moved to Chicago with his brother Double Duty in 1919 and made the black big time in 1927 with the Chicago Giants as a slugging third baseman.
Radcliffe was a good fielder with a rifle arm, but was known more for his hitting than anything else. He batted in the .350-range during his prime and led the Negro American League in homers once, and was usually among the league leaders. In 1932, Radcliffe led the California Winter League in batting with a .381 mark, beating out some of the top Negro League and Major League players in the country.
Alec played on the pennant-winning Chicago American Giants team of 1932 (they were beaten by Double Duty’s Pittsburgh Crawfords), 1933 and 1934. In 1937 they made the playoffs again but were beaten by the Kansas City Monarchs.
During his prime, Alec spent three seasons (’39-’41) with the semipro team sponsored by the Palmer House hotel in Chicago and player-manager. With Radcliffe at the helm, the Palmer House Stars reached the finals of the Illinois State Semi-pro championship all three years and won the title in both 1939 and 1940. Capturing the state tournament certified the club to play in the National Tournament in Wichita, Kansas, where in 1940 they finished fifth overall.
In 1942, Radcliffe was suspended by his brother, then the player-manager of the Chicago American Giants, after punching an umpire 11 times after a called third strike.
The next season, Double Duty again suspended his brother for “insubordination” but lifted the suspension in time for a game against the Kansas City Monarchs and Satchel Paige. With the score knotted at 0-0, Alec stole home to win the game in front of a packed house at Comiskey Park.
“Satchel was looking up in the sky in his windup and Alec took off, remembered Double Duty. “When the catcher caught the ball, Alec was coming and he ran right over him. Boom! The ball went one way, the catcher the other – knocked him out cold – had to put smelling salts to him.”
Only his quiet demeanor kept him from being as big a name as other Negro League stars, such as boisterous Double Duty, who always seemed to overshadow him. An example of this came in the ’44 East-West game when Alec belted a two-run triple with his mother in the stands and it looked temporarily like he would be the player of the game. But later in the game, Double Duty belted a two-run homer into the upper deck and was carried around the field while money was tossed on the field.
A newspaper wrote after the game: “right now 50,000 fans are drinking a toast to Ted Radcliffe and Alex Radcliffe. Of all the stars who performed here today, the sparkle of these brothers surpasses all others!” The Radcliffe’s had five of the West squad’s 14 hits and two of three extra base hits.
There was one time that Alec got the best of his big brother: In 1932, Alec was with Chicago and Double Duty with the Pittsburgh Crawfords. Double Duty was throwing a no-hitter in the 9th when Alec homered for the game’s only run. “My own damn brother!” recalled Double Duty.
After his baseball days were over, Alec worked as a bouncer at Double Duty’s bar in Chicago. Considering the way Alec abused pitchers with his 40-ounce bat, it’s doubtful he had too much trouble with rowdy customers.
Alec passed away in 1983 at age 76.
