Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
‘Leader of men’ Daulton dead at 55
Darren “Dutch” Daulton, the leader of the Phillies’ 1993 World Series team, lost his four-year battle with brain cancer Sunday. He was 55.
Daulton underwent surgery July 1, 2013 to remove two tumors related to gioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was declared cancer free in 2015, but the cancer returned.
“Darren was a true leader of men,” Phillies chairman emeritus Bill Giles said in a statement released by the team. “In addition to being an outstanding clubhouse leader, he was also a fighter. He battled through five knee operations to become an All-Star. I really enjoyed watching him for 14 years in uniform. Darren was a super human being. His teammates loved him; I loved him like he was one of my own.
“In fact, he called me ‘Uncle Bill.’”
Daulton, born on Jan. 3, 1962, attended Arkansas City (Kansas) High School. He went from a 25thround draft pick in 1980, No. 628 overall, to become the longest tenured catcher in Phillies franchise history. He played 14 seasons with the team (1983; 1985-97) before being traded to the Florida Marlins June 21, 1997, where he would finish out his career. The Marlins went on to win the World Series title that season, with Daulton as their acknowledged inspirational and on-field leader.
His hard-nosed style quickly made him a fan favorite during a career in which he batted .245 in 1,109 Phillies games with 189 doubles, 134 home runs and 567 RBIs.
Daulton won the Silver Slugger award when he led the National League with 109 RBIs in 1992, just the fourth catcher in league history to win the RBI title. He is the only catcher in Phillies history to drive in 100 runs twice during his career. He followed that 1992 campaign with 105 RBIs in 1993.
Daulton holds the Phillies’ single-season record for a catcher in games played (143), walks (117), doubles (35), putouts (981) and double plays (19). He set all those records in 1993.
Current Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp, a Texasborn player out of the Daulton mold, tweeted this late last night: “Deeply saddened to hear about the loss of Darren Daulton today! You will be missed my friend, always enjoyed your presence at the ballpark.”
Daulton was a threetime all-star (1992, 1993, 1995) and received numerous honors during his career. He was the Players Choice Comeback Player of the Year in 1997 as well as the Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year that season. He was inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame in 2010 and the Reading Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. Daulton also was selected as the starting catcher on the AllVet team in 2003.
“All of us at the Phillies are saddened to hear of Darren’s passing,” Phils chairman David Montgomery said. “From the day that we drafted him until today, he constantly earned our respect and admiration as both a player and person. Darren was the face of our franchise in the early 1990s. Jim Fregosi asked so much of him as catcher, clean-up hitter and team leader. He responded to all three challenges. One of my toughest decisions as team president was to approve his trade to the Marlins in July of 1997. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Amanda, his parents, his brother and his four children. Dutch was truly one of a kind and we will dearly miss him.”
He established the Darren Daulton Foundation in 2011. The mission’s foundation changed in 2013 to raise funds for brain cancer, which also claimed the lives of several other former Phillies, including Johnny Oates, Ken Brett, Tug McGraw and John Vukovich.
Daulton is survived by his parents Carol and Dave of Arkansas City, Kansas; one brother, Dave Jr.; of Arkansas City, Kansas; his wife Amanda of Clearwater and his four children Zachary (27), Summer (17), Savannah (16) and Darren Jr. (15), all of whom reside in the Clearwater area.
Funeral services will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Darren Daulton Foundation Foundation, 1339 Chestnut Street, Suite 500, Philadelphia, PA 19107.