Scott Radinsky

Scott David Radinsky (born March 3, 1968) is an American left-handed former relief pitcher in Major League Baseball, who had an 11-year career from 1990–1993 and 1995–2001.

Radinsky is also the lead singer of the punk rock band Pulley, former lead singer of the bands Scared Straight and Ten Foot Pole and co-owner of the skate park which houses the Skateboarding Hall of Fame.

Radinsky finished his playing career with a 42–25 record, a 3.44 ERA, and 358 strikeouts in 481 2⁄3 innings pitched.

Radinsky also only gave up 33 home runs throughout his career, an average of 1 every 14.5 innings.

He graduated from Simi Valley High School, for whom he played baseball, in Simi Valley, in 1986.

In his senior year in high school, he was 14-1 with an ERA of 0.72, and had 180 strikeouts in 100.1 innings.

Radinsky was drafted by the Chicago White Sox at the age of 18 in the third round in 1986 out of Simi Valley High School.

Radinsky pitched in the minor leagues from 1986–1989, and parts of later years.

In 1989, he had 31 saves, a 1.75 ERA, and averaged 5.7 hits allowed and 12.1 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched as he was voted a Midwest League All Star.

He made his major league debut for the White Sox on April 9, 1990, retiring the one batter he faced (Greg Brock of the Milwaukee Brewers) on a pop up to short.

He was the first pitcher in six years—since Dwight Gooden—to go straight from Single A to the Major Leagues.

He picked up the win with 1 1⁄3 innings of relief the following day.

He was unconventional; he blasted punk music in the clubhouse, rode his bicycle to and from Comiskey Park, was a fan favorite, and was known as his teammates as "Rad."

He told a sportswriter: " I love the five minutes I'm actually in the game. Those five minutes are why I come to the ballpark and put up with the writers, the dress code, the team meetings, the authority of the dugout, the major corporation that is baseball."

In 1990, he posted a record of 6–1 with four saves in his rookie season.

In 1991, Radinsky enjoyed his finest year with the White Sox, going 5–5 with 8 saves and a 2.02 ERA.

In 1992, he was seventh in the AL, pitching in 68 games, and had a 2.73 ERA and a career-high 15 saves.

From that point through 1993, he was a fixture in a White Sox bullpen that also included hardthrowing Bobby Thigpen and Roberto Hernández.

In 1993, he was second in the league, pitching in 73 games, and won a career-high eight games while saving four.

During the 1993–94 off-season, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease, a type of lymphoma.

The treatment for the disease forced Radinsky to miss the entire 1994 baseball season.

He remembered:

"Oh, it sucks to have a doctor tell you that you have cancer, but in the same breath, he told me that with aggressive treatment they can treat this particular disease. Thank God I didn't have Internet back then, so I couldn't get all wrapped up in it. I didn't have access to see how bad it could be. They told me I had to go through six months of this and five weeks of that, and that's all I really looked at: the end."

He underwent surgery at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, and months of radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

During spring training in 1994 his White Sox teammates wore a patch of Radinsky's # 31 on their jersey.

He won the 1995 Tony Conigliaro Award.

Radinsky was born in Glendale, California, later lived in Simi Valley, California, and is Jewish.

His parents were Marshall L. Radinsky (from West Virginia) and Barbara (Kornetsky) Radinsky (from Boston).

In his 1995 return to the White Sox, his ERA ballooned to 5.45, prompting the White Sox to release him after the season.

In December 1995 Radinsky was honored with the Tony Conigliaro Award.

His release from the Sox paved the way for his return home to Southern California to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers, with whom he signed as a free agent in January 1996.

He enjoyed three excellent years (1996–98) in Los Angeles, with his ERA never exceeding 2.89.

Out of the bullpen, he worked as a set-up pitcher for Todd Worrell and Jeff Shaw, the Dodgers' closers.

Radinsky's home-town status, excellent on-the-field performance, blue collar attitude, and at times fiery personality made him an instant fan favorite in Los Angeles.

For the 1996 season, he was 5-1 with a 2.41 ERA.

In 1997, he pitched in a career-high 75 games, 7th in the NL, and was 5-1 with a 2.89 ERA.

However, after the 1998 season, in which he was 6-6 with 13 saves and a 2.63 ERA, the Dodgers and Radinsky decided to cut ties.

He went on to play for the St. Louis Cardinals, with whom he signed as a free agent in November 1998.

He was 10th in the league with 67 appearances.

He held batters to a .116 batting average with runners in scoring position.