When cameras showed the celebration inside the Pittsburgh Pirates’ war room after they made their first-round pick Sunday night in the MLB Draft, it showed a room full of people in matching shirts.
That was how the Pirates paid tribute to the area scout who showed up to the draft every year wearing a brand-new Hawaiian shirt, their way of including Dan Radcliff as he misses the draft while battling cancer.
“Dan’s fighting something that’s serious right now,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said late Sunday night. “We want to honor him because we care about him and love him. The shirts were a small way to do that. We tried to keep Dan in the room as much as we can.”
Our draft room is wearing Hawaiian shirts to honor Dan Radcliff, one of our area scouts, who is battling cancer.
Thinking of you and the entire Radcliff family, Dan. ???? pic.twitter.com/jDuhCO9Ruo
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 15, 2024
Classy tribute by Pirates org/MLB tonight, for Dan "DRad" Radcliff, youngest brother of the late great Mike Radcliff, whom I had the pleasure to recruit and coach a year at Iowa Western Community College eons ago and run into on the ivory hunter path a few times!! Love ya Danny!
— Bill Yates (@Bill_MLBScout) July 15, 2024
Radcliff’s areas are Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., southern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. Per MLB.com, Radcliff scouted and signed top-30 prospects such as left-handed pitcher Anthony Solometo, outfielder Lonnie White Jr. and right-hander Carlson Reed since joining the Pirates in 2015.
The Pirates selected three prep prospects on the first day of the draft, taking shortstop Konnor Griffin of Jackson Prep in Florence, Miss., No. 9 overall in the first round, right-handed pitcher Levi Sterling of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, Calif., at No. 37 in the Competitive Balance A round and shortstop Wyatt Sanford of Independence (Texas) High School at No. 47 in the second round.
Classy tribute by Pirates org/MLB tonight, for Dan "DRad" Radcliff, youngest brother of the late great Mike Radcliff, whom I had the pleasure to recruit and coach a year at Iowa Western Community College eons ago and run into on the ivory hunter path a few times!! Love ya Danny!
— Bill Yates (@Bill_MLBScout) July 15, 2024
Pirates amateur scouting director Justin Horowitz credited assistant director of scouting operations Matt Skirving for coming up with the idea to pay tribute to Radcliff by wearing the Hawaiian shirts “just to let him know we’re thinking about him and that we love him and that he was with us in spirit if he wasn’t with us physically.”
Horowitz, in his first year with the Pirates after being hired from the Boston Red Sox, said he feels “so grateful and honored” to work with the scouting department because of their bonds and support system.
“This is a really tight-knit group, this amateur scouting group specifically, some incredible individuals,” Horowitz said. “It showed throughout the spring in supporting Danny and so many others, honestly, that faced some personal challenges this spring. This group has been incredible, stuck together, worked really hard and it all culminated tonight. We wanted to honor Danny in the best way that we could.”
