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Rob Ducey

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Rob Ducey
Outfielder
Born: (1965-05-24) May 24, 1965 (age 59)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Batted: Left
Threw: Right
Professional debut
MLB: May 1, 1987, for the Toronto Blue Jays
NPB: April 1, 1995, for the Nippon-Ham Fighters
Last appearance
NPB: September 24, 1996, for the Nippon-Ham Fighters
MLB: July 22, 2001, for the Montreal Expos
MLB statistics
Batting average.242
Home runs31
Runs batted in146
NPB statistics
Batting average.248
Home runs51
Runs batted in120
Teams
Member of the Canadian
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction2013

Robert Thomas Ducey (born May 24, 1965) is a Canadian former professional baseball outfielder who played for six teams in Major League Baseball (MLB).[1] In 2020, Ducey was named hitting coach for the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).[2]

Career

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Born in Toronto, Ontario and raised in Cambridge,[3] Ducey graduated from Seminole Community College, and was first signed by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1984.[1] After playing in the Blue Jays' organization from 1987 to 1992, he moved on to the California Angels (1992), Texas Rangers (1993–1994), Seattle Mariners (1997–1998), Philadelphia Phillies (1999–2000, 2000-2001) and Montreal Expos (2001), with a brief return to Toronto in 2000. He ended his 13-year major league career with a .242 batting average and 31 home runs in 703 games.

Ducey was part of a Major League anomaly in 2000, when he was traded by the Phillies to the Blue Jays on July 26 for minor league pitcher John Sneed, and was then traded by the Blue Jays back to the Phillies on August 7 for Mickey Morandini.[4][5]

Ducey served as a designated hitter for Team Canada in the 2004 Summer Olympics, which finished in fourth place. As a result, he became the first Canadian to have played for both of Canada's MLB teams, Expos and Blue Jays, in addition to the Canadian Olympic team.[6] Matt Stairs, Denis Boucher and Shawn Hill are the only other Canadian ballplayers to achieve such distinction.

Subsequently, Ducey spent one year each in the New York Yankees' and Expos organizations as a minor league hitting coach,[7] before being hired in 2006 by the Blue Jays as a talent scout.[6] His responsibilities included covering both the major and minor leagues, as well as spring training camp before moving to the Pacific Rim department. In October 2009, he was dismissed by then-new Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos when coverage of Asia was not a priority for the organization.[8]

Afterwards, Ducey was hired to scout for the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2011 season,[9] then joined the Phillies minor league system in 2014, again serving as a hitting coach.[7]

Highlights

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In 1986, Ducey was honored with the prestigious Tip O'Neill Award, and later was inducted in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013. Following his induction, Ducey joined Terry Puhl and Larry Walker as the only Canadian baseball players to achieve both of those milestones.

In between, Ducey gained induction into the Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.[10]

Personal life

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Rob currently lives in Tarpon Springs, Florida, with his wife Yanitza and their sons Thomas and Aaron and their daughter Jenaka.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Rob Ducey Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  2. ^ https://www.fubonguardians.com/content/info/PlayersDetail?id=lIZxFr5z1ro%3D
  3. ^ Brown, Josh (August 2, 2008). "Rob Ducey: Cambridge native's back – as a coach". news.therecord.com. Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
  4. ^ Stark, Jayson (August 12, 2000). "Ducey for Ducey? Not quite, but close enough". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  5. ^ "Sneed battles self, Altoona". Reading Eagle. August 10, 2000. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Blue Jays add Ducey to scouting staff". MLB.com. January 9, 2006. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  7. ^ a b Karbach, Kirsten (April 6, 2015). "Legg Returns to Lead New-Look Staff". MILB.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ Griffin, Richard (October 10, 2009). "Blue Jays struck by winds of change". Toronto Star. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  9. ^ Gill, Cliff (February 11, 2011). "An accomplished athlete in baseball and basketball". The Tampa Tribune. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. ^ Rob Ducey Biography. Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame Website. Contributed by Alvaro E. Madrigal, AEM. Retrieved on January 21, 2017.
  11. ^ "Take 5 With Rob Ducey". Baseball Canada. Retrieved January 21, 2017.
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