Elijah David Dukes, Jr. (born June 26, 1984) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player. A right-handed

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

, he played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

for the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. They are one of two major league clubs based i ...

and

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

Early life

Dukes attended Hillsborough High School in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

his junior and senior years, after spending his first two years of high school at

Jefferson High School This is a list of memorials to Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and third president of the United States and the author of the United States Declaration of Independence. Buildings Elementary schools *Jefferson Elementary School, in Cammack Villa ...

, C. Leon King High School, and

George D. Chamberlain High School George D. Chamberlain High School is a public high school in Tampa, Florida, United States. It was opened in 1956 on North Boulevard (on the corner of Busch Boulevard). The school is named in honor of George D. Chamberlain, who served for several ...

. He lettered for all four years in football and baseball and two years in basketball and track. In football, as a junior, he started at both tailback and middle linebacker, was named a Class 3A All-State selection as a linebacker, and rushed for over a thousand yards on offense. His Hillsborough Terriers made the state regional football semifinals during his junior year, and the quarterfinals his senior year. After finishing his high school career, he signed a national letter of intent to play football for

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

Professional career

Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2003–2007)

Dukes was drafted by the Devil Rays in the third round of the

2002 Major League Baseball Draft The 2002 Major League Baseball draft, was held on June 4 and 5. It is featured in Michael Lewis (author), Michael Lewis' 2003 book ''Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Moneyball''. First round selections Supplemental first r ...

. On April 2, 2007, in his first official at bat, Dukes got his first major league hit with a solo home run to center field in the fifth inning against the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

. In his second game, he hit his second home run en route to a victory versus the Yankees. On December 3, 2007, Dukes was acquired by the

for left-hander Glenn Gibson, a fourth-round draft pick in 2006 who was ranked among the Nationals' Top 10 prospects according to various baseball sources, including prospect authority ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' (BA) is a sports publication company that covers baseball at every level, including Major League Baseball (MLB), with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) college, high school, and inte ...

''.

Washington Nationals (2008–2010)

Dukes injured his right hamstring on Opening Night and was placed on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 Major League Baseball season, 2019 season, it was known as the disabl ...

, returning on May 9, 2008. He struggled offensively throughout May, batting a low .167 for the month. Dukes rebounded in June, hitting .292 with 4

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

for the month, before injuring his knee on July 5, 2008, in a game against the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

. He had surgery on his knee, and then returned on July 31, 2008, much earlier than expected. Dukes landed on the disabled list yet again with a calf strain shortly thereafter, on August 7, 2008. Dukes returned to the Nationals on August 26, 2008, and hit .267 with 7 home runs and 26 RBI over his last 29 games. Overall, Dukes hit for a .264

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, with a .386

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

, .478

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

, 13

and 44

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

with a total of 276

at bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

in 81 games during the 2008 season. Dukes was released by the Nationals on March 17, 2010.

Newark Bears (2010)

Following his release from the Nationals, Dukes reportedly agreed to a deal with the Tabasco Olmecas of the

Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

in early April, but backed out after not showing up for a reporting date. Dukes signed with the

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American independent league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Bas ...

of the

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, and the headquarters are l ...

on July 2, 2010. In 28 games he hit .366/.422/.584 with 5 home runs, 19 RBIs and 2 stolen bases.

Off-the-field problems

In 1996, Dukes' father was convicted of second-degree murder. One year later, Dukes was arrested for the first time. Dukes has been arrested at least three times for battery, and once for assault.

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radio broadcast,

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, September 10, 2008. According to court records, he fathered at least five children with four women between 2003 and 2006. On May 23, 2007, Dukes's wife NiShea Gilbert sought a restraining order against him after he threatened her life and the lives of their children.Encina, Eduardo, and Abbie Vansickle.
Ballplayer's wife: He threatened me, kids
, The St. Petersburg Times, May 23, 2007. On May 2, Dukes had sent a photo of a gun to her cell phone and left her the following voicemail: "Hey, dawg. It's on, dawg. You dead, dawg. I ain't even bulls-------. Your kids too, dawg. It don't even matter to me who is in the car with you. Ni----, all I know is, ni----, when I see your motherf------ a-- riding, dawg, it's on. As a matter of fact, I'm coming to your motherf------ house." On June 12, a 17-year-old foster child who was living in the care of a relative of Dukes accused him of impregnating her.Teen: Dukes got me pregnant
/ref> Police said the sex was apparently consensual. When the girl confronted Dukes to inform him about the pregnancy, he allegedly got angry and threw a bottle of

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. The drink is owned and manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was develope ...

at her. Dukes has received anger-management training. When Dukes was traded to the Nationals, the team also hired an ex-police officer in the role of "Special Assistant: Player Concerns". This person accompanied Dukes everywhere to ensure that he kept himself free of trouble. Dukes was arrested in November 2010 for contempt due to failure to pay child support, on March 2, 2011, for assaulting a pregnant ex-girlfriend. and on January 22, 2013, for driving with a suspended license.Elijah Dukes
florida.arrests.org

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dukes, Elijah 1984 births Living people George D. Chamberlain High School alumni Major League Baseball center fielders Charleston RiverDogs players Bakersfield Blaze players Montgomery Biscuits players Durham Bulls players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Gulf Coast Nationals players Potomac Nationals players Columbus Clippers players Washington Nationals players 21st-century American sportsmen Harrisburg Senators players Syracuse Chiefs players Baseball players from Miami-Dade County, Florida African-American baseball players Sportspeople from Homestead, Florida Newark Bears players Sportspeople from the Tampa Bay area 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen