Duane B. "Duke" Sims (born June 5, 1941) is an American former

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 catcher ...

. He played eleven seasons 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 (AL) ...

(MLB) from 1964 to 1974 for 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) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brookly ...

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...

, and Texas Rangers."Duke Sims Statistics and History"
Retrieved June 5, 2017. From 1964 through 1970 he was a mainstay of the Cleveland Indians and caught Indians pitcher

Sam McDowell Samuel Edward Thomas McDowell (born September 21, 1942), is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a starting pitcher from 1961 to 1975, most notably for the Cleveland Indians. A six-time All-Star, ...

through his minor and major league career. The Indians pitching staff of 1965-1970 was recognized as one of the best 4 men staffs in an era with starters going every fourth day. After posting his best offensive year in 1971 playing left field, right field, first base and catching, Sims was traded 2 for 1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Alan Foster and

Ray Lamb Raymond Richard Lamb (born December 28, 1944 in Glendale, California, USA) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball for two teams, and a highly regarded commercial sculptor of fantasy miniature figurines. Major league pitcher During college, ...

and hit a career high .274 in 1971. Placed on waivers by the Dodgers,

Billy Martin Alfred Manuel Martin Jr. (May 16, 1928 – December 25, 1989), commonly called "Billy", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman and manager who, in addition to leading other teams, was five times the manager of the New York Yan ...

took him to the Detroit Tigers in August 1972. His first game as a Tiger resulted in a 3 for 5 day with a game-tying double and the game-winning single off of

Gaylord Perry Gaylord Jackson Perry (September 15, 1938 – December 1, 2022) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right-handed pitcher for eight different teams from 1962 to 1983. During a 22-year ba ...

, who would win the

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Ha ...

that year. He subsequently hit .316 with 10 game-winning or game-tying hits while catching for the Tigers for the rest of that season, in which the Tigers won in the A.L. East Championship. Sims played in all 5 games in the championship series, both in left field and catching. He was the catcher in Game 2 when

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...

shortstop

Bert Campaneris Dagoberto Campaneris Blanco (born March 9, 1942), nicknamed "Bert" or "Campy", is a Cuban American former professional baseball shortstop, who played Major League Baseball (MLB) for four American League (AL) teams, primarily the Kansas City / ...

threw the bat at Tigers pitcher

Lerrin LaGrow Lerrin Harris LaGrow (born July 8, 1948) is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played 10 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Detroit Tigers (), (–), St. Louis Cardinals (), Chicago White Sox (–), Los Angeles Do ...

after being hit on the ankle. Duke left the Tigers in September 1973, and caught the final game in

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

before it was torn down and gutted. He joined the Yankees in the 1974 season in which they played their home games at

Shea Stadium Shea Stadium (), formally known as William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York City.

before being traded to the Texas Rangers on May 7 for

Larry Gura Lawrence Cyril Gura (; born November 26, 1947) is a left-handed former pitcher in Major League Baseball from to . He won a national championship at Arizona State University and spent 16 years in the Major Leagues. He played for the Chicago Cub ...

and cash. Sims retired at the end of that 1974 season. Duke holds the distinction of finishing his career with exactly 100

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 is ...

, the current record for a player hailing from the state of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. Sims is also credited as the last person to hit a home run in the original Yankee Stadium in 1973. He did it as a member of the Yankees in an 8–5 loss to the Detroit Tigers on September 30.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, Duke Living people 1941 births Major League Baseball catchers Cleveland Indians players Los Angeles Dodgers players Detroit Tigers players New York Yankees players Texas Rangers players Baseball players from Salt Lake City North Platte Indians players Selma Cloverleafs players Burlington Indians players (1958–1964) Charleston Indians players Nashville Vols players Portland Beavers players