Brad Radke won't go to the Hall of Fame, but there's no shame in that

I came across an article on the Baseball Hall of Fame website about how former Minnesota Twins pitcher Brad Radke is on the ballot for the first time this year.

The idea seemed laughable, but I kept reading, and Samantha Carr. who wrote the piece, sold it pretty well: already a member of the Twins' Hall of Fame, the 20 wins in 1997, a mainstay of three playoff teams, including in 2006 with an injured arm, the kind words from teammates.

"It's pretty amazing to watch him make these picture-perfect pitches time after time," said Twins second baseman Chuck Knoblauch. "He's getting some well-deserved recognition for what he's done, especially with the team we have."

For a brief moment, I thought that maybe Radke was one of those guys who did enough in his career that perhaps he had statistics relatively close to someone who had been enshrined or was at least in a conversation about it.

Then I kept reading.

"Finishing his career with 148 wins, a 4.22 ERA, 10 shutouts and 1,467 strikeouts, Radke was one of the most consistent pitchers in the game. When he retired, he ranked fourth in Twins franchise history in strikeouts, third in wins, second in games started and fourth in innings pitched."

Nope, that's not going to get it done. It may not even be enough to stay on the ballot by getting more than 5 percent of the vote. Frankly, it would shock me if he got a single vote.

And in his time, Brad Radke was a really good pitcher. It just goes to show how good someone has to be to even be on the outer fringes of Hall of Fame discussion.