Tom Dukes

From BR Bullpen

Thomas Earl Dukes

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 2", Weight 185 lb.

Debut August 15, 1967
Final Game September 20, 1972
Born August 31, 1942 in Knoxville, TN USA

[edit] Biographical Information

Tom Dukes appeared in 161 major league games, all as a reliever, in a six-year period. He had been pitching in the minors as a starter until partway through 1966 when he was converted into a starter. By the summer of 1967 he was up in the majors.

Dukes began in the minors at age 17 at St. Petersburg, going 0-7, but stuck anyway and over the next several years his ERA dropped each year. In 1966, starting most of his games in half a season with Austin, he sported a 2.70 ERA but his future was as a reliever and in 1967 with Oklahoma City his ERA as a reliever was 2.45.

A bit later, in 1969 with Elmira, he had 14 saves with an ERA of 2.67.

In the majors, he made his debut with the 1967 Astros. His age was 24 while the team's average age was 25.9. Teammates Joe Morgan and Rusty Staub were both 23. Dukes had 23 strikeouts in 23.2 innings, the best strikeout/inning percentage on the team.

In 1969 Dukes moved to the 1969 Padres, in their inaugural year. He was the same age as teammate Walt Hriniak, who would later become a well-known hitting coach.

1971 found him with the 1971 Orioles, a team which won 101 games. He was three years older than teammate Jim Palmer.

His last major league season was with the 1972 Angels, for whom he had a 1.64 ERA in seven games after arriving in a trade for Frank Estrada. He was four years older than teammate Nolan Ryan, who had a 2.28 ERA.

Dukes pitched in the minors in 1972 with a 2.57 ERA.

The book Baseball: An Illustrated History mentions that at one point in the 1960's Dukes pitched in nine straight games in the majors.

The website of the Lancaster Jethawks indicates that Dukes, while with Columbus in 1964, set the record (since tied several times) of five strikeouts in one inning in the minors.

On April 15, 1968, the Astros played a 24-inning game. Due to an injury to Mike Cuellar, Dukes had been called up and spent the day driving from Tennessee (where his team was playing) to Dallas. Hearing that the game was going on forever, he kept driving to Houston but didn't quite reach the Astrodome when the game finally ended. Source: A Long Goodnight

For those fans of the song "Duke of Earl", it's amusing that Dukes' middle name is "Earl".