Forgotten Stars Pt. 7: Dick Radatz

When a team that has as long a history as the Red Sox it is natural to have players who have been largely forgotten. These are some players who simply do not get mentioned anymore or are largely forgotten.

In keeping with the closer theme, we come to Dick Radatz, who was without a doubt one of the most dominating relievers of all time.  For a few years anyway.  Red Sox fans remember the Monster but by and large Radatz is a mostly forgotten player as the closer role became more and more defined.  The Monster was an imposing presence, 6'6" and 230 lbs. in his playing days.  And he threw hard.

Radatz was converted into a relief pitcher in the minor leagues by his manager Johnny Pesky.  Pesky wanted to turn Radatz into a weapon, and he did.  Radatz made his Major League debut in 1962 and lead the American League in games (62), games finished (53), and saves (24).  Radatz was 9-6 with a 2.24 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 124.2 innings.  Radatz finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting.  The best was yet to come.

In 1963, Radatz went 15-6 with a 1.97 ERA and 25 saves.  He struck out 162 in 132.1 innings.  Radatz was named to the All Star game and was the first pure reliever to make the team.  Radatz finished fifth in the AL MVP voting that season.  In 1964, he was 16-9 with a 2.29 ERA and once again lead the league in saves (29).  He struck out 181 in 157 innings.  He was once again an All Star and finished ninth in the AL MVP vote.  Unfortunately his numbers would decline from this point.

Radatz slumped in 1965, finishing with a record of 9-11 with a 3.91 ERA.  He saved 22 games but only struck out 121 in 124.1 innings.  1966 saw Radatz start the season slowly, saving four games with a 4.74 ERA before being traded to the Indians.  Radatz bounced around to several teams after that, never again reaching the incredible highs of the 1962-1964 seasons. 

For his career, Radatz saved 122 games, 104 with the Red Sox.  He was one of the first pure closers.  Pesky succeeded in turning him into a weapon.     

Feature: Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Lineups

Link.

This is one of my favorite baseball books. I can spend a long time on any given day just pouring over it. Unfortunately, it's a little out of date. It was released during the 2003 season and some of the information is even a little older than that. That said, it is a valuable resource.

Well, I recently dug it back out and reviewed the Red Sox information. Since it may be awhile before it gets updated, if ever, I figure I will add to it. I also have a couple of minor quibbles that I wanted to touch on.


ALL-TIME TEAM

DH: Neyer listed Jim Rice. At this point, I think the All-Time DH has to be David Ortiz. The most obvious reason is that Ortiz has played nearly twice as many games as Rice at DH. Of course, Ortiz being a regular DH for his entire career with the Red Sox also means that he has had his best seasons at DH, compared to Rice. I do not even need to discuss stats here, it is just obvious that Ortiz has taken over here.

RP: Neyer listed Dick Radatz here and I will make the argument that with Jonathan Papelbons first five seasons as a closer, that he may be taking over, assuming he continues to pitch well. Last year was not a good year, but Radatz was not nearly as good his last couple of years either. Papelbon was still at least decent last year. Provided he is not traded or continues to decline, it may be time to put Papelbon in this spot.


NUMBER TWO TEAM

DH: Neyer listed Carl Yastrzemski. Since Jim Rice fell off the All-Time Team, he will push Yaz back a spot.

C: Neyer listed Wally Schang. Schang was a great catcher, but played for a short amount of time for the Red Sox. I would list Jason Varitek, who has the Red Sox all-time record for games by a catcher and has beaten Carlton Fisk's club record for home runs by a catcher. Fisk was a better all around hitter and better defender, but Varitek is reasonably close, at his peak.

2B: Neyer listed Pete Runnels. Runnels was a better contact hitter than Dustin Pedroia, but Pedroia is pretty great himself and is a better fielder. I think Pedroia takes over here, due in major part to his 2008 AL MVP.

RP: Neyer listed Ellis Kinder. If Papelbon dethrones Radatz on the All-Time Team, then Radatz moves to the No. 2 team and knocks Kinder down a spot.


SINGLE-SEASON TEAM

DH: Neyer listed Jim Rice 1977. Pick a David Ortiz season. I think I will go with 2006, when Ortiz hit 54 home runs and drove in 137 RBIs. His slash line was .287/.413/.636/1.049. 2005 and 2007 are also great choices.

RP: Neyer listed Ellis Kinder 1953. I am inclined to go with Jonathan Papelbon's 2006. 0.92 ERA. Rookie year. Enough said.


ALL-ROOKIE TEAM

2B: Neyer listed Jody Reed 1988. Boston has not had a ton of great rookie second-basemen, but Pedroia did win the Rookie of the Year in 2008 and clearly deserved it. Automatically qualifies based on that.

SS: Neyer listed Johnny Pesky 1942. I have always considered this a bit of a mistake. Pesky had a great 1942, hitting .331 and leading the league in hits with 205. But Nomar Garciaparra also lead the league in hits in 1997, his rookie year, with 209. He also lead the league in triples and whereas his .306 average was not nearly as high as Pesky's, Garciaparra hit 30 home runs, drove in 98 runs, and stole 22 bases. Garciaparra's 1997 season was one of the greatest rookie seasons of all time, it should have been listed.


HOMEGROWN TEAM

2B: Neyer listed Jody Reed. For obvious reasons, Dustin Pedroia has taken over here.

RP: Neyer listed Sparky Lyle. I think Papelbon could eventually knock Lyle off the list. I am not sure he is there quite yet though.


TRADED AWAY TEAM

I do not have any changes to this team.


GOLD GLOVE TEAM

RF: Neyer picked Trot Nixon. I never agreed with this one either. I think Dwight Evans was one of the greatest defensive right fielders ever, and Nixon did not have nearly the arm strength Evans had. I think even Neyer has come to change his mind on this.


IRON GLOVE TEAM

I do not have any changes to this team.


ALL-BUST TEAM

C: Neyer listed Marc Sullivan. I am not sure Sullivan was a bust. He was never really expected to be a great player. John Marzano was selected in the first round of the 1984 draft, 14th overall, and never developed into even a regular catcher. Javy Lopez was brought in during the 2006 season to bring some stability to the position after Varitek went down with an injury and tanked. I think Marzano should be listed here because of the big expectations and near total letdown. Sorry Mr. Marzano. R.I.P.

CF: Neyer listed Carl Everett. I do not totally disagree, as Everett had a world of talent, but he was great in 2000. He was bad in 2001 and traded for Darren Oliver due to his personality clashes with management. However, Coco Crisp looked to be a big star when he was acquired and never came close to matching his expectations. At least Everett was great one year. Crisp was never even a good player for Boston, outstanding catches notwithstanding.


USED-TO-BE-GREAT

LF: Neyer listed Al Simmons. I have to go with Rickey Henderson here. Simmons was also a Hall of Famer, but Henderson was one of the greatest of all time.


ALL-NAME TEAM

2B: Neyer listed Pete Runnels, whose first name was really Thomas. Poor Runnels has been completely driven out of this book, because I am going with "Laser Show" Dustin Pedroia.

Most Wins Without Starting a Single Game

When I get bored, I look at statistics, particularly on this site. Recently, I was curious as to the most wins by a relief pitcher who never started a game with the Red Sox. I can't quite remember why I thought of this, perhaps it had to do with looking at the early 1990's and how bullpen use has changed so much. At any rate, I know victories don't really tell us much as an individual stat, but I wanted to look into it anyway. So here we go, with a cutoff of 10 wins, the most victories by a Red Sox pitcher who did not start a single game that year:

Dick Radatz - 1964 - 16 W (It does not surprise me to see him on this list at all. The Monster was truly one of a kind. He lead the team in victories that year.)
Dick Radatz - 1963 - 15 W
Mark Clear - 1982 - 14 W (Clear actually led the team in victories that year)
Bill Campbell - 1977 - 13 W
Bob Stanley - 1982 - 12 W (How about 1982? Two relief pitchers with more than 10 Ws without starting a single game. Weird.)
Ellis Kinder - 1953 - 10 W
Mike Fornieles - 1960 - 10 W
John Wyatt - 1967 - 10 W

NOTES
-As I mentioned, I am not at all surprised to see Radatz. He won 49 games in just a few years with the Red Sox, and never started a single game.

-The modern exclusive relief pitcher is a fairly recent concept, so I am not surprised to not see anybody pre-1950.

-Most of the names are not terribly surprising. Radatz, Stanley, Fornieles, Campbell, and Kinder were all fairly well-known relief pitchers in their time. Clear and Wyatt are probably the most surprising. Clear was an All Star that year and Wyatt was an underrated and forgotten key component to the 1967 A.L. Champs.

-1982 was apparently an unusual year. The Red Sox had four pitchers with more than 10 wins, two of whom were Clear and Stanley. The other two were Dennis Eckersley and John Tudor, each of whom only had 13 wins. Clear lead the team in victories and he and Stanley each had 14 saves.

-I wonder what the record is? Is Radatz close? Unfortunately, without a colossal investment of time, I'm not sure how to check.