Duke Maas

From BR Bullpen

Duane Fredrick Maas

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 5' 10", Weight 170 lb.
Debut April 21, 1955
Final Game April 23, 1961
Born January 31, 1929 in Utica, MI USA
Died December 7, 1976 in Mount Clemens, MI USA

[edit] Biographical Information

Duke Maas spent his 1949 season with the with the Roanoke Rapids Jays of the Coastal Plain League and the Dunn-Erwin Twins of the Tobacco State League and the twenty year old went 6-7 with a 4.62 ERA for the year. Before the 1950 season the Detroit Tigers picked the right-hander up from Dunn-Erwin in an unknown transaction. Maas would spend the 1950 year going 12-7 with the Jamestown Falcons of the class B PONY League before being called into the United States Military Service where he served the next two years (1951-52) during the Korean War.

Duke had a rough return year in 1953, going 6-16 with the Durham Bulls but in 1954, pitching for both the Wilkes-Barre Barons and the Buffalo Bisons, he popped back with an 18-7 record with a 2.37 ERA. This would get Duke his first look at major league hitters and Briggs Stadium in 1955 and the 26 year old would go 5-6 with a 4.88 ERA in 18 appearances. He bombed out in '56, going 0-7 with a 6.54 and followed that up with a 10-14 in '57 that got him traded to the Kansas City Athletics in late 1957.

Maas wasn't with the Athletics long going 4-5 and on June 15, 1958 they traded Maas along with Virgil Trucks to the New York Yankees for Bob Grim and Harry Simpson. Duke would go 7-3 the rest of '58 and helped the Yankees to the World Championship. Duke appeared in only one game in the Yankees 1958 World Series victory over the Milwaukee Braves giving up 2 hits and 3 runs in one-third of an inning.

The Yankees fell off to a third place finish in 1959, but Duke had his best year at 14-8 in 38 outings, working both as a starter and in relief. Duke's 5-1 mark, mainly as a reliever, again helped the Yankees to the American League Pennant in 1960, where they were beaten by the National League Pittsburgh Pirates 4 games to 3 on Bill Mazeroski's blast. Again Maas didn't get into much of the Series, appearing in two innings and giving up one run.

Duke had brought his record to 26-12 in his time in pinstripes, but he was placed in the 1960 expansion draft and was selected by the Los Angeles Angels, who traded him back to the Yankees for infielder Fritz Brickell at the start of the 1961 season. But after just one more relief appearance for the Yankees an ailing pitching arm cut short his baseball career at age 30 with a 45-44 major league record and a 4.19 ERA.

Duke had spent eleven active seasons in pro baseball (1949-61) and had spent several of those years in the minors where he went 52-51 in 157 appearances with a 3.50 ERA. Four of his minor league losses came in 1961 when he returned to the minors with the Richmond Virginians in an attempt at re-habing his ailing pitching arm. Duke died December 7, 1976 at age 45 in Mount Clemens, MI.