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From AP-
MINNEAPOLIS – Brad Radke could have made millions more as free agent in baseball’s exploding market this winter. His mind was made up, though, and the Minnesota Twins are losing one of the franchise’s most consistent pitchers — and most important players.
“There’s not enough money in the world that’s going to bring me back,” Radke said at a news conference Tuesday to officially announce his retirement after a 12-year career in the majors, all with Minnesota.
Though the 34-year-old right-hander left little doubt during this past season that he would be calling it quits, it wasn’t until this summer when he realized his shoulder injury would keep him from coming back.
Radke has pitched with a torn labrum for the last two years, and a stress fracture in the joint added to the pain. Surgery would have been required to continue, and he wasn’t interested in a lengthy rehabilitation.
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Radke reached 20 wins once, in 1997, and his lone All-Star game appearance came in 1998. He finished 148-139 with a 4.22 ERA and allowed a lot of home runs for someone who wasn’t a power pitcher, but his impact on the team went beyond simple statistics.
I never saw Radke pitch but do have a memory of him. From 1996-2002 I played in these tournaments and Brad was part of my October 2000 Orlando squad. Down 3 games to 1, Brad pitched me a 4-hitter for a 9-0 victory. I went on to win the tournament, my first of two lifetime wins. That’s my Brad Radke moment.
Good luck in retirement Brad.
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| Saturday, October 28, 2006 |
Joe Niekro has died.
Former major league pitcher Joe Niekro, Houston’s career victory leader, died Friday, Astros president Tal Smith said. He was 61.
The two-time 20-game winner suffered a brain aneurysm Thursday and was taken to South Florida Baptist Hospital in nearby Plant City, where he lived. He later was transferred to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he died.
“It came as a real shock to us,” Smith said. “He was a great guy. He had a real spark and a great sense of humor.” Smith said Niekro did not have an active role with the Astros but kept in contact with many of his former Houston teammates.
Niekro, father of San Francisco Giants first baseman Lance Niekro, won 221 games in his career but never became as well known as his Hall of Fame brother, Phil.
Like his older brother, who won 318 games, Joe Niekro found success after developing the knuckleball and pitched into his 40s. They had a combined 539 major league victories, a record for brothers.
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Niekro won a franchise-best 144 games in 11 seasons with the Astros from 1975 to 1985, when he was traded to the New York Yankees. He was an All-Star in 1979, when he went 21-11 with a 3.00 ERA and followed up with a 20-12 record in 1980. He beat the Dodgers in a one-game playoff that clinched Houston’s first postseason berth in 1980. Seven years later, in his 21st season, he finally appeared in the World Series with the Minnesota Twins.
“You are always in shock when you hear something like that, mainly when it hits close to home, a teammate who you have spent a lot of years with,” Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, a former teammate of Niekro’s, told Houston’s KRIV-TV. “It certainly surprises you when it happens to somebody who has kept themselves in shape and lives a very active life. The last time I saw Joe he looked like he was a picture of health,” Ryan said.
Niekro was born Nov. 7, 1944 in Martins Ferry, Ohio. A third-round draft pick of the Cubs in 1966, he broke into the majors in 1967 and appeared in 702 games, including 500 starts, in 22 years with the Cubs, Padres, Tigers, Braves, Astros, Yankees and Twins. Niekro, who once was suspended for getting caught on the mound with a nail file in his back pocket, pitched his final game in April 1988 — at age 43. He finished 221-204 with a 3.59 ERA, including 144-116 with a 3.22 ERA for the Astros.
Truly a shame.
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| Wednesday, May 31, 2006 |
Roger Clemens will be pitching for the Astros again this year.
Roger Clemens is coming out of retirement for the third time, agreeing to a contract to pitch for the Houston Astros for the rest of 2006. The 43-year-old Clemens, who will be entering his 23rd major league season, is agreeing first to a minor league contract that pays $322,000 over the five-month minor league season, and his first start is likely to be June 6 at Lexington, Ky., the Class A team where his oldest son, Koby, plays. If all goes well, his second minor league start would be June 11 at Double-A Corpus Christi, Texas, followed by a start June 16 at Triple-A Round Rock, Texas.
Clemens announced his return Wednesday at a news conference. “The ball’s in my court now,” he said. “This was a difficult decision on my part in a number of situations. I have to now take the next step and get my body ready to come back, get effective, win games.”
When he is added to the major league roster, he’ll get a one-year, $22 million contract — actually, the contract would be worth $22,000,022 (Clemens’ uniform number is 22). But because he won’t be playing the full season, he’ll receive a prorated percentage of that, which would come to about $12.25 million if he rejoins Houston in late June. The tentative goal is to have him start against the Minnesota Twins on June 22; if he’s put on the big league roster that day, he would earn $12,632,307.
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Clemens won his seventh Cy Young Award in 2004, going 18-4 with a 2.98 ERA. He went 13-8 with a 1.87 ERA last year, winning the major league ERA title for the first time since 1990.
Clemens is already the greatest pitcher of his generation–and I say that as a Braves/Greg Maddux fan and has all the accolades and championships anyone could ask for. Still, there’s no reason for him to hang it up while he’s still a truly dominant pitcher, even if he is geriatric by Major League standards.
OTB
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| Monday, March 6, 2006 |
Minnesota Twins legend Kirby Puckett has died following a stroke yesterday. He was 44.
Kirby Puckett died Monday, a day after the Hall of Fame outfielder had a stroke at his Arizona home, a hospital spokeswoman said. He was 44.
Puckett died at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Kimberly Lodge said. He had been in intensive care since having surgery at another hospital following his stroke Sunday morning.
Puckett carried the Twins to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991 before his career was cut short by glaucoma. His family, friends and former teammates gathered at the hospital throughout Monday. The hospital said Puckett was given last rites and died in the afternoon.
”On behalf of Major League Baseball, I am terribly saddened by the sudden passing of Kirby Puckett,” baseball commissioner Bud Selig said. ”He was a Hall of Famer in every sense of the term. ”He played his entire career with the Twins and was an icon in Minnesota. But he was revered throughout the country and will be remembered wherever the game is played. Kirby was taken from us much too soon — and too quickly,” he said. The buoyant, barrel-shaped Puckett broke into the majors in 1984 and had a career batting average of .318. Glaucoma forced the six-time Gold Glove center fielder and 10-time All-Star to retire when he went blind in his right eye. ”This is a sad day for the Minnesota Twins, Major League Baseball and baseball fans everywhere,” Twins owner Carl Pohlad said.
Indeed it is. Puckett had some personal issues after leaving the game but was one of the most beloved figures in the game during a period when baseball was in trouble.
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| Monday, March 6, 2006 |
Puckett in Critical Condition after Stroke, Surgery
Hall of Fame outfielder Kirby Puckett was in critical condition early Monday after undergoing surgery for a stroke he had on Sunday. Puckett, 44, remained in intensive care at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Kimberly Lodge said. Puckett was moved to the hospital after undergoing surgery at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn.
“Tough day,” former Twins manager Tom Kelly said Monday at the Twins’ training camp. “It could get worse.”
Puckett had surgery to drain blood and relieve pressure resulting from bleeding in the brain, two sources familiar with the situation told The Star Tribune of Minneapolis.
The Twins announced from their spring training camp in Fort Myers, Fla. that Puckett had a stroke at his Arizona home Sunday and was taken to a hospital for surgery. The 44-year-old Puckett, who led the Twins to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991, had surgery at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn, the team said, and was later moved to St. Joseph’s. “The Minnesota Twins and major league baseball ask fans to keep Kirby and his family in their thoughts and prayers,” the team said in a statement.
Ron Shapiro, who was Puckett’s agent, said he had been in contact with Puckett’s family Sunday but would not confirm his whereabouts. “We’re all praying for his recovery,” Shapiro said.
Sad. Puckett left the game an icon but he had been in a tailspin in recent years.
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