Meet The Most Underrated Pitcher of the Steroid Era 

So much Twins nostalgia in this video. Radke was the sole bright spot for a few years. Even the Twins fanbase underrate him to this very day. I was at the game where he was going for his 13th win in a row. That was the most people I’d ever seen at a Twins game in my life up until that point.

Never forget that the real reason the Twins were under contraction talks was because Selig thought it'd open the Minnesota market to his Milwaukee Brewers. Yes, you heard that right.

There’s just nothing like an SRS video with a bowl of Cheerios.

No shit, Ive been saying for the longest time Brad Radke is one of those guys who fell through the cracks of baseball history & never got the shine they deserved for the performance he brought. Incredibly hyped for this video. Those late 90's to early 2000's Twins were a fun squad with a lot of electric players to watch growing up. Also, everyone might hate on it, but the Metrodome brings back so many great memories, its dearly missed. Jason Kubel would also be a great, weird career video to cover. He has two unique grand slams in his time playing Edit: Yo, you nailed how to pronounce Hennepin. 10/10 video

Ah I was hoping for Roy Oswalt. From 2001-2010 in 2015 IP: - 150 wins - 3.18 ERA - 135 ERA+ - 3.57 SO/W - 3.34 FIP - 1.184 WHIP - 49.1 WAR - Top 5 in CYA 5 times - 7 years with 200+ IP - His September splits are some of the best of his career - He just barely missed the BB/9 list with 2.1 Toss in stellar performances in the playoffs including the 2005 NLCS MVP. Remember that huge Pujols HR in that series? Yea Oswalt shut them down in the next game and Houston won the series. I'm biased but he's definitely one of the most underrated players ever.

Will Clark deserves a video. A man that played for a long time but arguably retired early if you look at his final season’s stats they’re ridiculous. One of the best SF Giants of all time but somehow was snubbed from the Hall of Fame.

Also he was the best pitcher on Backyard Baseball, because unlike Randy Johnson he wasn’t a liability on offense. They gave him 7 or 8/10 speed, so he was a pretty effective baserunner

Radke is an illustration of the classic " very good/great pitcher on a crappy team " scenario. And he was a PITCHER, not someone who just threw the crap out of the ball for as long as he could(as too many " pitchers " do today).

Can we please show Mike Sweeney some love one of the most forgotten players of the 90’s early 00’s

I always liked his effortless pitching style. So simple. Almost looked like he was pretending to be a guy who could throw super hard, but no one ever noticed. He was a cool guy too.

I think about his torn labrum season whenever I need a little motivation. That season for the Twins was the first I followed super closely and remember the stories about Radke not using his right arm to wash his hair. I think about that weekly lol

Brian Dozier should get a video. One of the most underappreciated infielders of the 2010s. Right there with Rod Carew for best 2nd baseman in team history.

I remember Radke being like clockwork. He'd give up a HR in the first two innings and then completely shutdown the opposing team for the next 2 times through the roster. There's even a locally famous moment where KFAN broadcaster Dan Cole "The Common Man" predicted the inning, batter, count, runners on base, time, and location of the HR he'd give up.

Radke was my first favorite baseball player, so thanks for the video. He was a joy to watch. Actually, when we were going to games in the 1990s, I tried to make my dad make sure we were going to a Radke start. He made good hitters look really, really bad, consistently. You could pretty much see their frustration when they got duped by that changeup and that big, looooong power stroke yielded nothing better than a soft line drive against Radke. A few things to add to this: Radke's changeup -- which was arguably the best changeup in the league while he was pitching -- was actually a circle change, which very few pitchers were throwing as their number 2 pitch. Radke, being from Eau Claire Wisconsin, was basically considered a "hometown kid" in the Twin Cities (Eau Claire is maybe 30 minutes from the easternmost edge of the metro area). He kept a house in the area and was very active in the community. In the 2004 off-season, Radke received a better offer from I believe the Yankees and possibly the Red Sox, as well. My memory is failing me a bit, but one thing I am certain about is that he gave the Twins a "hometown discount" to stay here. I'm surprised that you didn't mention this, but one of Radke's stated reasons for retiring when he did is that black mold was discovered in his home in Florida, and he felt bad about not being able to be around all of the time to look after his children and his family's health. Anyway, those are just a few more fun facts about Brad Radke.

Make a video on Philip Humber’s perfect game, there’s surprisingly few videos on it, he had a career ERA over 5 and only pitched 2 full seasons worth of innings, but somehow pitched a perfect game.

I remember crying as a child during Radkes last game and it being a loss, some nostalgia here. Thank you for the video!

I'd love to see a video about pitcher Jamie Moyer. He had 4 different changeups. Kind of a journeyman for the teams he played on and played until about when he turned 50 years old, 25 seasons. A legend thats really forgotten due to all the fireball pitchers out there. But a great story to tell.

Brad Radke with the Twins was like Reggie Miller with the Pacers in that he could've left multiple times, but his heart was with the team he started and ended his career with. I started watching baseball in 2002 when the Twins were beginning their reign in the AL Central. I even got to see Radke crush another solid starter in the day C.C. Sabathia back in 2005. Radke was a really good pitcher and was a huge part of the Twins emergence as a perennial playoff contender. Great video.

Chuck Finley and Kevin Appier are always names that come to mind of pitchers that just weren't appreciated during that era

Thank you so much for putting this together. I spent my formative, baseball-loving teenage years during this era, and Radke has always been my favorite Twin of all time. This video brought me back to that time, and I'm mildly emotional watching him get love 20 years later.

Brad Radke. Ain’t heard his name in awhile! Thanks SRS! May I suggest a video on Eric Karros? Much like Brad, good player but severely underrated!

Brian Dozier should have a video, he was one of my favorite players that many people forget about. Another one I want to see is glen perkins

Shawn green, mark mulder, and Tim Hudson are all underrated/undertalked about players you could do a vid on

What an underrated pitcher on those Twins teams during the lean years when they were playing at the dome. Also he was on the old Sega world series baseball commercial.

Please cover Warren Spahn next! In my opinion, the greatest most winning left handed pitcher to ever do it

You should do Paul kernerko He won the 2005 World Series playing for the White Sox’s

I am glad you did this video. Radke's arm was hanging on with scotch tape and safety pins at the end. He was a warrior, and while not a Hall of Famer, I would sure like to see 22 hanging in left field.

A very underrated pitcher from the 90’s has gotta be Rick Helling. Very interesting career statistically and a 2003 WS champ

How about video about Eric Byrnes? A modern day Charlie Hustle. The most unexpected 40-40 season in MLB. Now the newest manager of the Savannah Bananas.

I loved Brad Radke! He was so underrated.

Robin Ventura deserves a video. Probably one of the best defensive third basemen of the 90s and was the grand slam KING. He had 18 for goodness sake (tied with Willie McCovey). 56.1 WAR with 1.8k hits and 6 HR's shy of 300. 6x gold glove and almost won MVP in 99 if he hadn't gotten hurt. He also hit the grand slam single, too.

I’d love to see a video on Hunter Pence. He was a huge part of both the Astros’ fall from grace and the Giants’ rise to becoming a dynasty.

HOLY [redacted]!! How am I just seeing this video now?? Thanks for the shoutout, this was excellently done.

Great video. Watched him pitch multiple times at the dome. His last year the Twins went 16-2 in interleague play which turned their season around and propelled them to the playoffs.

Great vid!! And I took a quick look but surprisingly to me there isn’t a deep dive video on Jorge Posada one of my favorite catchers of all time. I was wondering if you could do something on him!

this is the first video of yours that I've seen and id really like to see you make a video about Kyle Hendricks' career. I'm a huge cubs fan so there's some bias there but he's also truly one of the last of a dying breed when it comes to slow-ball pitchers. I think he deserves a nice deep dive into how he's been so successful

Nice to see Radke getting some love. Always enjoyed watching him play.

Loved this video. Would love a video on BJ Surhoff. My favorite player growing up and the player picked before Bonds

Thanks for the awesome video! Radke was underrated for sure.

Love your videos. Would love to see one on Paul Konerko one day

Radke was one of my favorite pitchers to torch in triple play. He throw slow and that twins lineup had no power hitters. Only began to appreciate him later on when I became really drawn to the effective soft tossers of the era

Mark Grace, Fred McGriff, Keith Hernandez perhaps. thanks for all your work.

I was going to suggest Magglio Ordonéz but it looks like Jolly Olive just did a video on him. Magglio was 6 time all star between the White Sox and Tigers. I can’t speak much to his Sox career but when he came to the Tigers he was a huge catalyst in the Tigers successes the next decade. Received many MVP votes. Lead an underdog tigers to the WS in 2006. In 2007 he lead the league with a .363 batting average, just losing out on MVP to ARod, but preventing him from earning a triple crown. Also has a very interesting political career in Venezuela following his MLB career

Another great vid, I suppose if we’re to provide any recommendation… Any kid born in Baltimore, likely did so b/c we had parents from Balto. Which means, any generation born b4 1990 prob never saw a good baseball team while having (grand)parents regale us in stories of Boog, Brooks, Cakes, Cal, Eddie, 4 20 game winners in one season, etc…you get the idea. Yet we grew up watching Rodrigo López, Daniel Cabrera, Sidney Ponson, & Jeremy Guthrie act as staff “aces” We got tricked a couple times in the mid 2000s, Brian Roberts, young Markakis, Palmeiro, Tejada, Javy Lopez, Sosa, etc….but those teams were never real contenders. Then… We traded Erik Bedard for Adam Jones, Chris Tillman, & George Sherrill. This was the catalyst for a stretch between 2011-2015 where the Orioles has the best record in the MLB (crazy, right?) Adam Jones and/or Nick Markakis were the guys who broke Baltimore back into MLB relevancy and would make for a great video.

After his rookie season, Brad Radke was featured in the advertising campaign for Sega’s World Series Baseball II (for the Sega Saturn). The commercial ended with the tag line, “Authentic as Wrigley. Real as Radke.” It highlighted him giving up 32 HRs in 1995 and featured a conga line of opposing hitters. … He went from being a tag line to being quietly great.

One of my favorite players growing up. Thank you for this video

This channel is just as good as any other sports channel on RU-vid, if not better. It deserves 1 million subs at least!

Brian Jordan was very underrated as a fielder and an above-average hitter. Never won a Gold Glove, but amassed 10.4 dWAR in 871 defensive games played between 1995 and 2001. Also led NL with 2.2 dWAR in 1996. Darrin Jackson also put up huge dWAR for a few years but never won a Gold Glove. His 3.9 dWAR in 1992 appears to be the highest single season dWAR ever for a NL outfielder. Maybe you could do a video about Jordan or Jackson.

Seen twins and was a little excited..love to see a vid on Joe Nathan or Santana both scary twins pitchers in their own right.

Have you covered Joe Carter? Joe was an Iron Man for 6+ years capable of hitting 30+ home runs and 100+ RBIS AND is responsible for both final plays in the 1992 AND 1993 World Series where the Toronto Blue Jays went back-to-back. He is a legend in Toronto and yes I am biased but 30 years on STILL my favourite player of all time.

Videos on Jose Bautista with the jays, josh Donaldsons 2016 mvp season or Marcus stromans career would all be dope videos !

Jon Lester NEEDS more content for sure, heavily underrated

Whites Sox fan here.... Sawrrr plenty of Radke. Props.

Radke was great, super reliable for us. 7 innings and 3 runs, that was his signature start that you could count give or take.

Mike Mussina is the most underrated pitcher of the steroids era. Even with being named to HoF he played his entire career in the AL East when the Yankees, RSx & Blue Jays all had monstrous lineups.

Troy Glaus during his Angels career, especially 2000 and 2002 😊

Mark Prior was my favorite pitcher when I was young. Would make a wonderful video.

Really solid and underrated career great video

Steve Finley and Mark Grace are both very underrated. Great video Radke was an animal but he had trouble with Jim Thome though.

If he could escape the 1st inning you knew he was going to pitch great the rest of the game. Loved Radke!

Love the vid. As a life long Phillies fan I would love if you made a video about dick allen. He is one of the most underrated players of all time and deserves to be in the hall. Thanks

Tommy John. 26 season. Career WAR: 62. Career ERA: 3.34. ERA+: 111 Over 4,500 IP. 288 wins.

I think a video about Paul O'Neil would be a great watch...9 great years with the Yankees and number is retired without actually being retired. Except for 2 weeks when a relief pitcher wore it lol

I'd love to see a similar video on Jamie Moyer! That might be a big ask being he played so long that a similar video would be 45 minutes long

Tim Wakefield. 200 wins which is most amongst Red Sox, (while also having the highest ERA amongst 200-game winners). He was a bullpen salve, dare I say an INNINGS EATER as a knuckleballer - so he could definitely pitch some ugly games (a complete game loss while letting giving up 5, 4 in the first three innings in 2005 comes to mind), while also spinning 7 and 8 scoreless with regularity. Baseball writers and most of the fans I knew in Boston grew anxious when Wake took the mound, you could see when his knuckler was floating and unhittable or when it was batting practice - and then he pitched for 19 years. He also created some of the coolest and weirdest stories, such as needing to trade for and escort Doug Mirabelli 3000 miles from San Diego to Boston in one day in 2006 because no one else could catch Wake at the time, sympathies to Josh Bard and Jason Varitek because they were tortured by the knuck. Everything seen and said by Wake has been that he's a genuine good dude who also continued to mentor other knucklers, even after retirement.

I am familiar with Radke, but I was shocked when I looked him up to find he had an over 45 career WAR.

Eric Byrnes. As an Oakland fan, he was the mascot of many different A’s teams (good and bad teams)

Hideki Matsui deserves a video had one of the greatest World Series performances of all time yet he’s so overlooked!

I think that you should do a video on José Valverde next because he was super good but doesn’t get much recognition

Brian Dozier’s insane peak and rapid decline deserves a video.

Fred McGriff would be my nod for most underrated player in the steroid era, but not to take away from Radke he had great command could chew up innings and paint a corner

I loved me some Tony Fernandez one of greatest baseball players I ever watched live and I seen many but he always stood out

Well as a lifelong MN twins fan, I did not wake up this morning expecting to see a Brad Radke video

Now this is the video we’ve all been waiting for!

I think Paul O’Neil would be an interesting vid. One of the greats but severely misunderstood and underrated. Won chips too!

Can you cover the Anthony Rendon on the 2019 nationals coming from a Nats fan he was the best offensive player on that roster was super clutch and played amazing defense

You should make a video on Kyle Seager. He’s going to always be overlooked by fans since his brother is so great, but Kyle was important to every Mariner fan during the dark times of the playoff drought

I would like to see a video on Phil Coke because he was a very interesting player but it probably wouldn’t be very interesting to much people

Jason Giambi is my all time favorite baseball player, dude has to get some HOF votes, he was making clubs and hitting homers after age 40

I dont think youve done it yet, but Dustin Pedroia would be a big recommendation. From his rookie season, to his unfortunate end of his career, it all seems like a good video idea

Exceptional video.

Matt Cain. Spent most of his career in the shadow of Tim Lincecum, pitched the most dominant perfect game ever, and ended his career with a losing record. If you're looking for a similar player to highlight.

One of those gentlemen of the game who left his team and the game better than when he found it. I have to admit I had no idea he was as effective as he actually was. I thought it was hilarious to see a 114 ERA+ on a guy with a 4.57 ERA in 1997.

Talking about players that racked up wins on bad teams, you should really cover Steve Carlton's 1972 with the Phillies. In his first season in Philly, he threw 346 innings and recorded 27 wins on a 59 win team...which are legitimately numbers that don't sound real.

John Valentin! He needs some recognition! Johnny V!

Brad Radke and Bob Tewskbury were two pitchers I always think of who were congenitally unable to walk batters. Their DNA wouldn't allow it. They just couldn't do it. No walks for you. Work fast, throw strikes. Good stuff.

I grew up as a Jays fans in the early 2000s and I think those teams had a lot of guys like this partially because they were never a good team, but they were also never bottom of the league, they always had some young talent to be hopeful about and secondly at that time the American media really didn't give the Jays any attention so they lived in a bubble, but you could look at guys like Shaun Marcum, Vernon Wells, Adam Lind, Brandon Morrow (I know one of the big baseball youtubers already did a video on him), Aaron Hill or Ricky Romero (he became a Canadian and for hardcore fans of that time is still loved). Could also talk about Roy Halladay but he was actually getting some attention outside Toronto he was so good so doesn't really count in the category of player I'm talking about.

Please do a video on Steve Finley. The journeyman of all journeymen, played everywhere and did it well.

How about Eric Chavez? He was a star on that squad Radke stopped the 20 game winning streak for, and doesn’t get nearly enough love

There’s also another twin with a very random season. Dennys Reyes with a sub 1 era in 2006 in 50.2 innings

I remember Brad Radke from Backyard Baseball 2003.

What about a video on Brian McCann? I feel like a lot of people don’t know who he is and I think he’s underrated cause he was a good player

Still have my Radke autograph from when he did a signing at a target in town.

Radke was amazing as I had on my keepers league

I was 9 in 2001. I loved those Twins and Radke was phenomenal we just didn’t put up runs for him to win more games otherwise he’d be more respected.

I would love to see a video on Mr. Marlin: Jeff Conine!

Take me back to the early 2000s Twins 😢

any of those unsung Giants. Cody Ross, Pat Burrell, Juan Uribe, Marco Scutaro

A true Minnesota legend probably the best to throw for the twins.

Brad Radke was a very solid pitcher!