RIP Darren Daulton

bigegypt0417 2017-08-07 02:29:32 UTC #1

Condolences to the family of Darren Daulton, who died tonight after a long battle with brain cancer. R.I.P., Dutch.

phillychuck 2017-08-07 02:32:06 UTC #2

RIP Darren Daulton, I'll always remember you in Reading where I first saw you play.

Lucky_Beagle 2017-08-07 02:45:30 UTC #3

RIP Dutch

bkeich 2017-08-07 02:47:01 UTC #4

RIP, a great player and sadly a troubled guy. Terrible disease.

Florida_Sunshine 2017-08-07 12:03:07 UTC #5

I ran into him a few times in my local Starbucks, he was always a pleasure to chat with. Seemed like a really good guy. RIP Darren....

VoteForKalas 2017-08-07 13:05:11 UTC #6

Such terrible news after a hard battle against brain cancer. RIP Dutch, one of my favorites.

Have loved the Phillies C during my lifetime: Boone, Virgil, Diaz, Dutch, Leiby, Ruiz

Philsmania 2017-08-07 14:17:35 UTC #7

R.I.P., Dutch, the heart and soul of the '93 Phillies. Would have been a HOFer if not for the string of knee injuries in the '80's. Oh man, if he came up to stay in say '85 and produced the way he did from '90-'94 instead of losing the better part of six seasons either to recovery, rehabilitation or trying to get his career back on its feet.. What could have been.

I saw Dutch play as a September recall at Fan Appreciation Night (the regular season's penultimate game back then) in 1983. He went 1 for 3 as the Phillies' recalls put on a show in a 5-3 Phillies win in which they came back and beat the Pirates in the late innings, late innings in which the Phillies had recalls playing almost all the way around the horn with the exception of Von Hayes and Juan Samuel (who was just an August callup himself). Jeff Stone went 2 for 3 with two triples including the game-winning hit. Porfi Altamirano got the win while Don Carman got the save. The Phillies were prepping for the NLDS and, at the same time, the future seemed so bright that night. Though that game was not Dutch's ML debut, it did feature his first ML at-bats.

This is shaping up to be a rough year for the Phillies phamily between the poor season on the field, the Rose fiasco and the passings of Green, Bunning and now Daulton.

fish 2017-08-07 14:37:18 UTC #8

He had a pretty remarkable career to have spent so many of his first years struggling and injured and to have finally made himself into the really good player he was for 3 years or so. Besides the injuries, the memory that sticks out the most to me before he became good was that he was such a tremendous pull hitter it seemed like half of his struggles was learning how to keep the ball fair.

I really enjoyed his radio show - it felt like it was just picking up steam before he became ill.

Always sad when the stars of your youth pass on.

California_Dreamin 2017-08-07 19:35:52 UTC #9

Also caught the last game [and pitch] that Steve Carlton ever threw with the Phillies in 1986. That also was the game where Daulton tore up his knee in a plate collision, in the last inning [5th] that Carlton ever pitched as a Phillie.

Ironically, Daulton played the rest of the game and his injury was not diagnosed until after the game.

Was trying to think of the greatest Phillie leaders in years as a phan and Daulton was certainly in the top 5. Maybe #1. Others who came to mind...Jim Bunning, Dave Cash, Jimmy Rollins.

andyb 2017-08-07 19:46:55 UTC #10

I have always wondered how good he could have been with a healthy age 24-28 period. I think he could have put up some 900 OPS years with 20+ HRs and even SBs (look at the 28 SB he had for Reading). We never really saw him fully healthy ever even though he did put together two really great years in 1992 and 1993.

DougLindsay 2017-08-07 19:57:54 UTC #11

How was he troubled?

bkox 2017-08-07 20:06:32 UTC #12

Numerous arrests for DUI, and driving with a suspended license. Arrest for Battery against his wife in which he spent a a few months in jail followed by a couple months in rehab. And then there was his infamous book on numerology and the occult .

Honestly it appeared he turned his life around even way before his cancer diagnosis. Most of that stuff was from 2004 and earlier

bkeich 2017-08-07 20:19:47 UTC #13

I won't add to what BKox said and I didnt mean to start a conversation of the problems Dutch had. No one seems to speak ill of him (maybe his ex-wife) and hopefully he did turn his life around from some of the issues he was having a few years ago. He was a great team leader and teammate, universally praised for those things and a really good player and clutch guy. He was one of my favorites (and I think many people say that).

Philsmania 2017-08-08 13:44:51 UTC #14

It could also be said that Daulton was the uniformed player bridge between the two golden ages of Phillies history. He was drafted in 1980 and, in his early years, he was either a teammate or at least went to spring training with Schmidt, Bowa, Luzinski, Maddox, Carlton, McGraw and Rose among others and, in his last season, he was a teammate of Rolen and Lieberthal and went to spring training with Rollins (and was traded to the Marlins three days shy of Burrell being signed).

VoteForKalas 2017-08-08 20:40:32 UTC #15

Very good point

phillychuck 2017-08-09 19:39:55 UTC #16

Freddy Galvis!! Always under appreciated...

zambonir 2017-08-09 20:00:18 UTC #17

Let's not forget Rico Brogna

FMcB 2017-08-11 17:01:56 UTC #18

Rest in Peace Dutch. My wife's favorite Phillie ever.

FMcB 2017-08-15 16:37:52 UTC #19

Phillies Unnerved by Possible Brain Cancer Pattern After Darren Daulton Death

In 2013, when Daulton was originally diagnosed, The Philadelphia Inquirer analyzed 533 Phillies players who played within 33 seasons at Veterans Field and found that the incidence of brain cancer among Daulton, McGraw, Vukovich and Oates was three times higher than the rate of the general male population.

Philsmania 2017-08-15 18:15:15 UTC #20

At this point, all we have is an eerie coincidence. I don't think that all of these fellows dying of the same thing even rises to the level of anecdotal evidence, not without medical evidence. There isn't any corresponding evidence of Phillies front office personnel, city stadium employees, Eagles players or front office personnel or Sixers (who had their offices there for a number of years) front office personnel having unusual incidences of brain cancer. The only plausible theory I have heard is that when the astroturf got hot--and baeball players played on it when it got hot, not football players--it exhausted toxic fumes and vapors that contributed to brain cancer. However, as of now we have no link to that.