Rip Radcliff

Raymond Allen Radcliff

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 170 lb.
• Debut September 17, 1934
• Final Game September 29, 1943
• Born January 19, 1906 in Kiowa, Indian Territory USA
• Died May 23, 1962 in Enid, OK USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Rip Radcliff played ten seasons in the major leagues, all in the American League, with a lifetime batting average of .311. His first six years were with the Chicago White Sox, with whom he hit .335, .325, and .330 in 1936-1938. Traded to the St. Louis Browns for the 1940 season, he hit .342 with them and finished 9th in the MVP voting while playing on a team that was well below .500. After hitting .311 in 1941 for the Browns and the Detroit Tigers, he finished out his career with the Tigers in the war years of 1942 and 1943.

Primarily a left fielder, he made the All-Star team once, in 1936.

Rip's father was an Oklahoma homesteader who gave Rip his nickname, although stories differ as to why. Rip worked as a child in his father's blacksmith shop and played sandlot and semi-pro ball. He passed up a college scholarship because he felt professional ball was the place to make money. He played for Paris, TX, in the minors in 1928, Muskogee, OK, in 1929, Selma, AL, in 1930 (where he won the Triple Crown), Shreveport, LA, in 1931, St. Paul, MN in 1933 and Louisville, KY in 1934. He usually hit well over .300.

He tried for a spot in 1934 with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics, but when Mack mentioned he was interested in a catcher and Rip suggested Hank Erickson, Mack traded Radcliff for Erickson.

Radcliff was traded nine years later to the Athletics but chose to join the Navy instead and fight in World War II. After the war, he played for Chattanooga in 1946 and for Greensboro as a player-manager in 1948.

An Oklahoman by birth, after his playing days he went back to Oklahoma and was a salesman for a road machinery company.

Notable Achievements

• AL All-Star (1936)
• AL Hits Leader (1940)
• AL Singles Leader (1936)
• 100 Runs Seasons: 2 (1936 & 1937)
• 200 Hits Seasons: 2 (1936 & 1940)

Related Sites

• Rip Radcliff at the SABR Bio Project