CHICAGO (AP) -- Former Negro Leagues star Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, believed to be the oldest living professional baseball player, died Thursday. He was 103.
Radcliffe, given his singular nickname by sports writer Damon Runyon after catching Satchel Paige in the first game of a doubleheader in the 1932 Negro League World Series and pitching a shutout in the second game, died from complications after a long bout with cancer, the Chicago White Sox said.
Radcliffe was frequently in the crowd at U.S. Cellular Field and occasionally visited the White Sox clubhouse. He made it a tradition in recent years to throw out the first ball on his July 7 birthday.
Two weeks ago, he was scheduled to travel to Alabama for a ceremony at 95-year-old Rickwood Field, where he played for the Birmingham Black Barons in the mid-1940s, but fell ill and was hospitalized in Chicago.
"Double Duty shared such a love for baseball and a passion for life," White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. "We all loved to see him at the ballpark, listen to his stories and share in his laughter. He leaves such a great legacy after experiencing so much history and change during his long life. He will be missed by all of us with the White Sox."
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