John Wathan
| John Wathan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Catcher / Manager | |
| Born: October 4, 1949 Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| May 26, 1976, for the Kansas City Royals | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 6, 1985, for the Kansas City Royals | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .262 |
| Home runs | 21 |
| Runs batted in | 261 |
| Managerial record | 326–320 |
| Winning % | .505 |
| Teams | |
| As player
As manager
| |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
John David Wathan (/ˈwɒθən/; born October 4, 1949) is an American former professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach.[1] He played his entire career in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals from 1976 to 1985. Wathan was a member of the world champion 1985 Kansas City Royals team.
After his playing career, he worked as a coach before serving as the Royals manager from
California Angels in 1992. Wathan is notable for setting the single-season stolen base record for catchers in 1982 when, he stole 36 bases to break the previous record set by Ray Schalk in 1916.[2][3]
Baseball career
Wathan, nicknamed "The Duke" for his dead-on impersonations of
1971 MLB Draft from the University of San Diego, where he played college baseball for the Toreros in 1968–70.[4]
Wathan played ten seasons with the Royals from
RBIs, and 105 stolen bases. Wathan had his best season in 1980
in which he played in 126 games, and had a .305 batting average with 6 home runs and 58 RBI.
After he retired, Wathan coached for the Royals in 1986 before becoming the manager of Kansas City's AAA
farm club. He was promoted to manager for the big-league Royals on August 28, 1987. He managed five seasons in Kansas City, having two winning seasons in 1988 and 1989 and finishing second in the American League West both times. He was fired early in the 1991 season after a 15–22 start.[5]
In
farm system, and in 2008
he served the Royals as a special assistant to the director of player development.
Two of John's sons, Derek and
minor league baseball from 1998 to 2008, while Dusty played briefly for the Royals in 2002 and is the current third-base coach of the Philadelphia Phillies
.
See also
References
- ^ "John Wathan Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
- ^ A catcher with the soul of a thief
- ^ Royals' Wathan out with ankle injury
- ^ "University of San Diego Baseball Players Who Made it to a Major League Baseball Team". Baseball-Almanac.com. Archived from the original on 18 February 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
- ^ Royals fire John Wathan
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
- John Wathan at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
- The 100 Greatest Royals of All-Time- #41 John Wathan