Remembering Mike Radcliff

[Seth Stohs]

Unfortunate news came out Friday evening that long-time Twins executive Mike Radcliff has passed away after a three-plus-year battle with cancer. He was 66. 

Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, USA TODAY Sports

It is fairly easy to remember how long Mike Radcliff has been in the organization. He joined the Minnesota Twins as an area scout in 1987 after four years as a scout for the Major League Scouting Bureau. A native of Kansas City, he became the Twins Midwest Supervisor in 1988. In 1993, Radcliff was named the team’s Director of Scouting and was in charge of all of the area scouts, regional supervisors, and cross-checkers. 

It was in that role that he was ultimately responsible for the Twins draft picks. While no Scouting Director bats 1.000 with their picks, Radcliff had many successes during his tenure. He is the guy who drafted Twins first-round picks such as Torii Hunter (1993), Todd Walker (1994), Mark Redman (1995), Michael Cuddyer (1997), Joe Mauer (2001), Denard Span (2002), Trevor Plouffe and Glen Perkins (2004), and Matt Garza (2005). He found other good players in later rounds as well. 

In 2007, he was promoted to the team’s Vice President of Player Personnel. It was a step up. He continued to work in the scouting group with new Scouting Director Deron Johnson and his staff, but he also worked more with the international scouting and the pro scouting departments. He traveled all over the world to watch baseball talent. He worked with Fred Guerrero in scouting the Dominican and Venezuela. He played a big role in that 2009 international signing class that included Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, and Miguel Sano. 

He has been fighting pancreatic cancer for the past few years but was still involved with Player Personnel decisions. 

Mike Radcliff was always really nice to me. During the early years of SethSpeaks dot net, I would send him questions for Q&As on players, and he was always generous with his responses. He didn’t just give the short answer to get it done with. He always replied. 

From those responses, I learned a couple of things about him. First, he was obviously very knowledgeable about every player in the organization. I get that is his job, but he could provide detail on over 200 players plus past players and players from other organizations that he had watched. 

The other thing I learned from those interactions was that he could be brutally honest. Just because I was a blogger from Nowheresville, it didn’t matter. 

One example from probably 2006 or 2007. There was a prospect who had experienced several ups and downs in his minor-league career. Frankly, his numbers were not great. There was a second minor-leaguer who played the same position and had consistently outperformed the ‘prospect’. So, one of my questions was about the two and if the second player could be better than the higher-profiled prospect. 

Radcliff’s response was basically to say that the prospect was clearly the better player, much more highly thought of, and definitely part of the Twins' future. Brutal honesty, but after I posted the article, I got an e-mail from the second minor leaguer's dad just saying that isn’t what he wanted to read from someone whose opinions carried so much weight in the organization. 

Also, the “prospect” went on to play more than a decade in the big leagues. The other minor leaguer spent parts of three seasons and around 100 games in the big leagues, still a tremendous accomplishment. 

Remember back when Twins Fest was in the Metrodome? Back then, there was a ‘Down on the Farm’ area where fans could get in line and get autographs from Twins minor leaguers. I would primarily stay right around there and talk to some of the players I’d communicated with. But a lot of times, Radcliff was there too. He was just standing in the area, observing the players and interacting with fans that might have a question. 

I would always find him there and stand with him and talk about baseball things but also just other things. But I would come up with questions about prospects and he would answer, again, pretty honestly. 

At Twins Fest 2010, we were standing there talking as one group of players was leaving and a new group was entering the area. Radcliff was observing and said to me, “Danny Valencia... Who would have thought he’d be added to the 40-man roster?” 

Valencia had mashed throughout the minor leagues, but despite a solid college career at Miami, he fell to the 19th round of the 2006 draft. 

Oh, and just try to give him credit for a draft pick he made making it to the big leagues, or becoming a star. Radcliff would stop you short and make sure to credit the area scout who was convicted in his belief in the player. 

I would see Radcliff most years down in Ft. Myers. Not at Hammond Stadium. Not in the press box. But on the back fields watching the minor leaguers. For those familiar with the back fields, there is an observation tower in between the four fields that are together. Radcliff would be up there at times, but usually, he was positioned at ground level, where he would see two fields and a bullpen. 

Radcliff was quiet, and again, just observing, taking it all in. You could tell he loved it, being at the ballpark, watching young players. He had scouted many of them and was now seeing them going through the development process. It’s not an exact science. He always understood that these are people. People with flaws, and people who have a lot of talent. He understood how difficult the game can be. 

Again, standing by him, watching him watching ballplayers was interesting. Trying to figure out what he was observing. But again, I could ask him questions, and he would respond thoroughly. 

It was always funny when a member of the Twins front office staff would throw out a name to him, and without hesitation, Radcliff would respond with “6th round, 2004.” And he was always right.

In 2011, Mike Radcliff was named the Scout of the Year in the Midwest. In 2014, he was inducted into the Professional Scouts Hall of Fame. In September 2021, he was elected to the Killebrew Root Beer Professional Scouts Hall of Fame. You can see his plaque at Hammond Stadium in Ft. Myers. 

In 2016, he was given the George Genovese Lifetime Achievement Award in Scouting (given by the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation). Finally, in 2021, he received the Herb Carneal Lifetime Achievement Award at the Diamond Awards. 

“The Minnesota Twins today mourn the loss of Mike Radcliff. Mike was the heart and soul of our scouting department for over 30 years, a man who was beloved and respected by staff, players, fellow scouts, agents, and his peers alike. One of baseball’s most revered talent evaluators, his character, work ethic, kindness, and sense of humor set the tone for our player development and evaluation processes. His baseball legacy lives on in the number of Twins Hall of Famers, All-Stars, and great teams that bear his fingerprints, while his impact as a person will be forever felt by those that knew him. In the words of his trade, Mike was the epitome of a five-tool player, and he will be greatly missed across Twins Territory. Our deepest sympathies are with his wife Sherry, son Brett, daughter Erin, and the entire Radcliff family during this difficult time.”

In the Twins' 60+ years in Minnesota, few have had as much of an impact on the organization as Mike Radcliff. Best wishes to his family and all his friends in the Twins organization.

 

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[Nashvilletwin]

Prayers for Mike and his family. 🙏

[gunnarthor]

That's a very moving article, Seth. Thank you for sharing it. The Radcliff/Ryan years, to me, will always be a wonderful time in Twins history. Watching those guys work with all the limitations they had, turning the Twins into winners, was absolutely wonderful. And I remember a lot of your articles from sethspeaks back in the day. It was more than nice of Radcliff to give you honest answers. I suspect that he recognized someone else who just loved baseball.

Prayers for his family as well.

[Blyleven2011]

Radcliff had a  passion for the game and excelled at his job  , he probably never felt like it was a job but a kids game when he was on the field with the prospects ...

Condolences to the family and friends  of Mr Radcliff ...

There is baseball in heaven  ... 

[jmlease1]

RIP, Mike. Cancer sucks.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Thank you Seth for an extremely well-written, heartfelt article about a Twins icon, who was a nice person.

[ashbury]

F cancer, kudos to Mike. Sounds like a life well lived.

[jjswol]

Nice job Seth!

[jdgoin]

Thank you @SethStohs for taking the time to remember “Cliffy” on here. He was mentor of mine. He was a kind and generous person, with a mischievous grin and chuckle. Wicked smart. I mean REALLY smart. As we are fond of saying in the baseball world, Mike was a “good human”. He will be missed by many. But mostly by his wife, kids, and grandchildren.