Darren Arthur Daulton (January 3, 1962 – August 6, 2017), nicknamed "Dutch", was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the cat ...

who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

(MLB) for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

(, –) and Florida Marlins (1997). While with the Phillies, Daulton was a three-time MLB All-Star and won the

Silver Slugger Award The Silver Slugger Award has been awarded annually since 1980 to the best offensive player at each position in both the American League and the National League, as determined by the coaches and managers of Major League Baseball. These voters ...

. He won the 1997 World Series with the Marlins.

Professional career

Philadelphia Phillies

The

selected Daulton in the 25th round of the

1980 Major League Baseball draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1980 Major League Baseball draft. Compensation Picks Other notable players *Tim Teufel, 2nd round, 38th overall Minnesota Twins * Dan Plesac, 2nd round, 41st overall ...

. On September 25, 1983, he made his major league debut for the Phillies. Daulton had three at bats for the Phillies in 1983. Through , he played sparingly, due chiefly to the presence of all-star catchers Ozzie Virgil Jr. and Lance Parrish. Daulton became the Phillies' full-time catcher in . Throughout his early career, his primary value to the team was as a defensive catcher — his cumulative batting average of .206, through the 1988 season, was barely above the Mendoza Line — and he never appeared in as many as 60 games, in any single season. Daulton's breakout season was , his first as his team's primary backstop; that year, he batted .268, with 57

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) 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 the b ...

(RBI) — which, when coupled with his skills behind the plate, earned him a three-year contract worth $6.75 million. Daulton caught Terry Mulholland's

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

, on August 15, 1990. Following a slump in that saw his batting average fall below .200, Daulton led the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(NL) in RBIs for 1992 with 109. He also finished in the top 10 in

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

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, ...

OPS In ancient Roman religion, Ops or ''Opis'' (Latin: "Plenty") was a fertility deity and earth goddess of Sabine origin. Her equivalent in Greek mythology was Rhea. Iconography In Ops' statues and coins, she is figured sitting down, as Chthon ...

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 i ...

, walks,

runs created Runs created (RC) is a baseball statistic invented by Bill James to estimate the number of runs a hitter contributes to their team. Purpose James explains in his book, ''The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract'', why he believes runs created is ...

, and extra base hits. Daulton earned his first All-star appearance, the NL Silver Slugger Award, and sixth place in NL MVP voting. Daulton was one of the catalysts of the NL pennant-winning 1993 Phillies. Although the Phillies lost the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

, Daulton was again named an All-star, drove in more than 100 runs for the second consecutive season, and finished seventh in NL MVP voting. He once again finished in the league's top 10 in on-base percentage, RBIs, walks, and extra base hits. Daulton also finished in the top 10 in

times on base In baseball statistics, the term times on base (TOB), is the cumulative total number of times a batter has reached base as a result of a hit, base on balls, or hit by pitch. This statistic does not include times reaching base by way of an error ...

and intentional walks. Knee injuries soon caught up with Daulton. In , he was hitting .300, with 15 home runs, and 56 RBIs, through 67 games, when he was injured. In , Daulton was named to his third all-star team; however, he played in only 98 games, and finished the year with just nine home runs. Daulton never caught another big league game after August 25, 1995. Daulton missed nearly the entire season due to injury; he played in only five games, all as an

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 cat ...

. In , he returned to the outfield in an attempt to keep his still-productive bat in the line-up, despite his chronic injuries. Daulton also played 42 games as a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

Florida Marlins

On July 21, 1997, after 17 years with the Phillies organization, the club traded Daulton to the Florida Marlins for Billy McMillon. By that time, Daulton's knee injuries had escalated even further, limiting his usage to playing

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and

pinch hitting In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, America ...

. He ended the 1997 campaign with a .263 batting average, 14 home runs, 63 RBI, and 68 runs scored, in 395 at bats. Daulton batted 7-for-18 (.389) in the 1997 World Series, as the Marlins defeated the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

. Daulton announced his retirement, after the series.

Career statistics

In 14 MLB seasons, Daulton hit .245, with 137 home runs, 588 RBIs, and 511 runs scored, in 1,161 games played.

Bill James George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. ...

ranked Daulton as the 25th-greatest major league catcher of all-time, in the 2001 edition of his '' Historical Baseball Abstract''. On August 6, 2010, Daulton was inducted into the

Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame The Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame is a collection of plaques, mounted on a brick wall next to the Left Field Gate at Citizens Bank Park, the ballpark of the Philadelphia Phillies. From 1978 to 2003, the Phillies inducted one figure from th ...

Post-playing career

Arrests

Daulton was arrested several times on vehicle-related charges. He was arrested for

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

(DUI) in

Pinellas County, Florida Pinellas County (, ) is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 959,107. The county is part of the Tampa– St. Petersburg– Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistic ...

, in 1988, and his

driver's license A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a publi ...

was suspended for a year after he refused to take a

breathalyzer A breathalyzer or breathalyser (a portmanteau of ''breath'' and ''analyzer/analyser'') is a device for estimating blood alcohol content (BAC), or to detect viruses or diseases from a breath sample. The name is a genericized trademark of the Br ...

test. His license was again suspended in the late 1990s due to unpaid

speeding ticket A traffic ticket is a notice issued by a law enforcement official to a motorist or other road user, indicating that the user has violated traffic laws. Traffic tickets generally come in two forms, citing a moving violation, such as exceeding th ...

s; he received at least five speeding tickets during that time period, including one for driving in excess of in a zone. While under his second license 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 again charged with DUI and also with driving with a suspended license and failing to appear in court. Two years later, Daulton was arrested a third time for driving with a suspended license and DUI, after again refusing to be tested for alcohol. He was arrested a fourth time for

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

against his wife. He served two and a half months in jail and spent another two and a half months in

drug rehabilitation Drug rehabilitation is the process of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin or amphetamines. The general intent i ...

Daulton Foundation

In the years following his arrests and jail time, Daulton began to turn his life around, acknowledging his shortcoming and doing work within the local community and charity. In 2013, Daulton founded The Darren Daulton Foundation with his wife Amanda. The foundation, which went on to issue grants to over 100 people totaling over $250,000, provided financial assistance to those who suffer from primary

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seco ...

s. The foundation is still active to this day.

Author

Daulton authored a book on

occultism The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

and

numerology Numerology (also known as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in ...

, ''If They Only Knew'', published in 2007. In the book, he writes about numerous aspects of occultism, referencing experts in the field, and addressing his own personal experience with the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

Radio show

From 2010 to 2016, during the Philadelphia Phillies season, Daulton hosted the radio show "Talking Baseball with Dutch" from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on ...

station WPEN in Philadelphia.

Illness and death

On July 1, 2013, Daulton underwent surgery for resection of two brain tumors related to

glioblastoma Glioblastoma, previously known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is one of the most aggressive types of cancer that begin within the brain. Initially, signs and symptoms of glioblastoma are nonspecific. They may include headaches, personality ...

at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

. On February 23, 2015, Daulton announced that he was cancer-free. The cancer returned in early 2017, and Daulton died from brain cancer on August 6, 2017, aged 55.

Publications

* * William C. Kashatus (2017) ''Macho Row: The 1993 Phillies and Baseball's Unwritten Code''. University of Nebraska Press.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daulton, Darren 1962 births 2017 deaths People from Arkansas City, Kansas Writers from Kansas Baseball players from Kansas Clearwater Phillies players Deaths from brain cancer in the United States Deaths from glioblastoma Florida Marlins players Helena Phillies players Maine Guides players Major League Baseball bullpen coaches Major League Baseball catchers National League All-Stars Peninsula Pilots players Philadelphia Phillies players Portland Beavers players Reading Phillies players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons players Silver Slugger Award winners Spartanburg Phillies players Tampa Bay Devil Rays coaches Tigres de Aragua players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela