Alert reader Todd pointed me in the direction of this piece in Fangraphs about Vlad Guerrero and Mariano Duncan (If you come across any Philly sports history pieces, please email them to me at johnny@johnnygoodtimes.com or by posting on our facebook wall). The piece, which was written yesterday, talked about how Guerrero hadn’t drawn a walk all year in 113 ABs. (Last night Vlad drew his first walk of the season.) Even still, Guerrero couldn’t hold a candle to former Phillie Mariano Duncan:
On June 19th, 1994, the Phillies beat the Expos 13-0. In the process, Mariano Duncan started at third base and contributed a single, a double, and a pair of walks. They would be the last two walks of his Phillies career, which wouldn’t be so notable except that he wasn’t claimed off waivers by Cincinnati until August 8th, 1995. He then spent another three weeks with his new franchise before drawing his first walk as a member of the Reds, and the first walk he’d taken in 14 months.
Because of the work stoppage in 1994, Duncan’s streak “only” covers 86 games, but in those games, Duncan came to the plate 314 times, and he hit .268/.269/.382. He was hit by two pitches during the streak, if you’re curious as to why his BA and OBP aren’t equal. That is some incredible hacking, even for a guy with a career walk rate of just 4.0%.
