Darren Daulton
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Darren Arthur Daulton (born January 3, 1962 in Arkansas City, Kansas), nicknamed Dutch, is a former catcher in Major League Baseball best remembered for his years with the Philadelphia Phillies.
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[edit] Professional career
Daulton was drafted by the Phillies in the 25th round of the 1980 MLB draft. He was an all-star with the AA Reading Phillies in 1983.
On September 25, 1983, Daulton made his major league debut for the Phillies. Between 1983 and 1988 Daulton played sparingly, due much to the presence of all-star catchers Ozzie Virgil and Lance Parrish. Daulton became the full time catcher of the Phillies in 1989.
Daulton's finest season came in 1992. That season, Daulton led the National League in runs batted in with 109. Daulton also finished in the top 10 in on base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, home runs, walks, runs created, and extra base hits. Daulton's impressive season earned him his first all-star appearance, the National League Silver Slugger award, and sixth place in National League MVP voting.
Daulton was one of the catalysts of the NL pennant winning 1993 Phillies. Although the Phillies lost the World Series, Daulton was again named an all-star, drove in more than 100 runs for the second consecutive season, and finished seventh in National League MVP voting. Daulton once again finished in the top 10 in on base percentage, runs batted in, walks, and extra base hits. Daulton also finished in the top 10 in times on base and intentional walks.
Unfortunately, knee injuries caught up with Daulton. In 1994, Daulton was on pace for his best season yet when he went down for the season. Through 67 games, Daulton was hitting .300 with 15 home runs and 56 RBI. Both his batting average and slugging percentage (.549) were career highs at the time of his injury.
By 1995, injuries had clearly taken a toll on Daulton's playing ability, and although he was elected to his third all-star team, he played in only 98 games, and finished the year with just 9 home runs.
Daulton missed nearly the entire 1996 season due to injury, playing in just 5 games all year.
In 1997, after 17 years with the organization, the Phillies traded Daulton to the Florida Marlins to give him a chance to win the World Series. By this time, Daulton's knee injuries had forced him to change positions. After playing half of the season in Philadelphia as a right fielder, the Marlins used Daulton as a first baseman and pinch hitter. Daulton put up respectable numbers in his final season, hitting .263 with 14 home runs, 63 RBI and 68 runs scored in just 395 at bats. After the Marlins won the crown, Daulton announced his retirement.
In 14 seasons, Daulton hit .245 with 137 home runs, 588 RBI and 511 runs scored in 1161 games. It is important to note that although Daulton's career batting average of .245 was .020 below the league batting average of .265, Daulton's career on base percentage of .357 was actually .024 above the league on base percentage of .333 during that same span. Despite his low career batting average, Daulton actually got on base at a far better than average rate during his career. Daulton married his sweet heart from Philadelphia Jennifer D.
Daulton was ranked as the 25th greatest catcher of all-time by Bill James in the 2003 edition of his Historical Baseball Abstract.
| Preceded by Eric Davis |
NL Comeback Player of the Year 1997 |
Succeeded by Greg Vaughn |
[edit] Legal problems
Daulton has been arrested several times on vehicle-related charges. He was arrested for DUI in Pinellas County, Florida in 1988, and his driver's license was suspended for a year after he refused to take a Breathalyzer test. His license was also suspended in the late '90s due to unpaid speeding tickets; he received at least five during that time period, including one for traveling over 100 miles-per-hour in a 65 zone. While under this suspension, he was involved in a single-vehicle accident on January 3, 2001, causing $20,000 worth of damage to his BMW sedan. He again refused to be tested, and was charged with DUI, driving with a suspended license, and failing to appear in court.[1] Daulton claims the accident was a result of getting run off the road in lieu of a business deal with ties to the FBI and the White House.[2]
Exactly two years later, he was arrested again for driving with a suspended license and DUI, after again refusing to be tested for alcohol.[3]
Daulton was also arrested on domestic violence charges, accused of abusing his second wife Nicole, who subsequently filed for divorce. In 2004, he spent two months in jail in contempt of court after refusing to abide by the terms of a legal agreement related to the divorce.[4]
[edit] Personal beliefs
Daulton holds a series of beliefs related to conspiracies, metaphysics, and numerology. He maintains that the universe is created and sustained by numerical synchronicities, and that all matter is charged with vibrational energy, which has escaped human perception because it is extradimensional in origin. He believes that those who are conscious of this energy can manipulate it to affect reality in different ways, such as altering the weather. He also believes that the pyramids and Mayan temples were created by a lost civilization, and that people with knowledge of the workings of the system will "ascend" at the conclusion of the Mayan calendar on Dec. 21, 2012, at 11:11 a.m. (Greenwich Mean Time), vanishing into a new plane of existence. [5] He recently claimed in a televised interview with ESPN that he has "skipped through time" and undergone "astral travel."
[edit] See also
List of NL Silver Slugger Winners at Catcher
[edit] External link
- Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
