FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Dick Radatz wanted to be a starter. His minor-league manager had different plans.
Johnny Pesky turned him into a reliever in 1961 with Seattle of the Pacific Coast League, and Radatz became one of baseball's most feared and dominant relievers in the early '60s with the Boston Red Sox.
"The season opens," Pesky said. "We played five games. He's in four of them and he saves all four games. From that time on he liked it."
The 67-year-old Radatz, who struck out Mickey Mantle 44 of the 63 times he faced the New York Yankees slugger, died Wednesday after falling down a flight of stairs at his home in Easton, Mass., and suffering a severe head injury, police said.
The Bristol County district attorney's office ruled that Radatz's death was accidental.
Radatz spent two years with Triple-A Seattle, then joined Boston in 1963 and was managed by Pesky in his first two seasons there. The right-hander went 49-32 with 104 saves and a 2.66 ERA in 286 games with Boston. He had 646 strikeouts in 576.1 innings.
Pesky, now a special assignment instructor in Boston's spring training camp, recalled on Thursday when he brought in Radatz to replace Earl Wilson with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth against the Yankees.
"He says (to Wilson), `go on in, crack a couple of cold ones. I'll be up in 10 minutes,"' Pesky said. "He strikes out (Roger) Maris, Mantle and the catcher, Elston Howard. Nine pitches. And that was the best pitching I had ever seen."
At 6-foot-6 and about 250 pounds, Radatz, known as "The Monster," was an overpowering reliever.
"He was the forerunner, so to speak, of the great closers," said Mike Port, the Red Sox vice president of baseball operations. "I think the nickname, `Monster' and his demeanor sometimes on the mound really belied the type of guy that he was because he was, to me anyway, so friendly and so outgoing and just a very, very nice man.
"He was a member of the baseball family in so many respects. It's just a sad day."
The Red Sox traded Radatz to Cleveland on June 2, 1966. The Indians traded him to the Chicago Cubs on April 5, 1967 and he later played for Detroit and Montreal, which released him on Aug. 26, 1969. In seven seasons, he was 52-43 with a 3.13 ERA, 122 saves and 745 strikeouts in 693 2/3 innings.
Radatz holds the major league record for strikeouts in a season by a relief pitcher with 181 in 1964. He struck out five batters in two innings in the 1963 All-Star game and five in 2 2/3 innings in the 1964 All-Star game. He often pitched several innings, unlike modern closers.
knoxjackson 
