Harrisonburg Turks

Member of the Valley Baseball League and NACSB.

  • 1955 VBL Champions
  • 1958 VBL Champions
  • 1959 VBL Champions
  • 1962 VBL Champions
  • 1964 VBL Champions
  • 1969 VBL Champions
  • 1970 VBL Champions
  • 1971 VBL Champions
  • 1977 VBL Champions
  • 1991 VBL Champions
  • 2000 VBL Champions
  • 2012 VBL Champions
  • 2023 VBL Champions

Turks go local to find pitching coach

The Harrisonburg Turks are proud to announce their selection for the 2012 Pitching Coach, Harrisonburg native and former Harrisonburg Turk, John Radosevich.

Radosevich was born and raised in a small coal mining town in southwest Pennsylvania. He attended West Virginia University, graduating in 1965 with a biology degree. He was a three year starter for the Mountaineers. In those days, freshmen could not play varsity sports. In three years, his record was 25 wins and 4 losses.

He still holds several pitching records for the Mountaineers. He is the only pitcher in Mountaineer history to record over 300 strikeouts, holding the career strikeout record with 339 strikeouts. He holds the single season strikeout record with 123 in 1964. In 1963, he led the nation in average strikeouts per nine inning game, an average of 15 strikeouts per nine inning game. This mark still ranks as the eighth best all time average in NCAA history. Radosevich also holds the record of most strikeouts in a game, 22. He started 29 games for the Mountaineers and was not pulled from a single game, completing all 29 starts. John Radosevich was inducted into the West Virginia University Hall of Fame in 2010.

John Radosevich played in the Valley Baseball League for the Harrisonburg Turks during the summers of 1963 and 1964. In 1963, he won 16 games while losing only one game, and was voted the most valuable player. He pitched the opening game for the Turks in 1965 before being drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fifth round.

In three seasons with the Dodgers organization, Radosevich recorded a record of 16 wins and 12 losses. At the end of the 1966 season, with a record of 9-4 for the Jamestown Dodgers in the New York-Penn League, he was given a Triple A contract. The following spring, at the end of spring training, he was sent back down to Class A in Santa Barbara, due to a shoulder injury. He had a 4-0 record but the shoulder injury resulted in an end to his career in 1968.

Radosevich returned to Harrisonburg in the fall of 1968 and began his high school teaching career. He retired after thirty nine years of teaching biology at Broadway High School. John and his wife, the former Diane Dickson (married in 1967) still live in the Harrisonburg area.

The Harrisonburg Turks organization welcomes Coach John Radosevich back to Veterans Memorial Park. Even though it’s not quite the same as when he played, the Turks play at the new beautiful James Madison University facility, we know that Coach Radosevich will be at home back on the baseball field with the support of our amazing Turks fans! Everyone come out and support your 2012 Harrisonburg Turks!

Opening night is Friday, June 1st at Veterans Memorial Park as the Turks host the Covington Lumberjacks. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

The 2011 Turks were ranked 4th in the country among all the summer league teams. With a 32-12 regular season record the Turks held first place in the VBL most of the season. They came up short in the play-offs losing in the quarter-finals to the Rockbridge Rapids.