Darrell Ray Porter (January 17, 1952 – August 5, 2002) was an American
professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Mod ...
catcher
Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...
.
He played in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB) from 1971 to 1987 for the
Milwaukee Brewers,
Kansas City Royals,
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
, and
Texas Rangers.
The four-time
All-Star was known for his excellent defensive skills and power hitting ability.
He struggled but was never able to overcome a
substance abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...
problem, yet went on to become the most valuable player of the
1982 World Series
The 1982 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1982 Major League Baseball season, 1982 season. The 79th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National Leag ...
with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Porter died from an accidental drug overdose in 2002 at the age of 50.
Biography
Playing career
Born in
Joplin,
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
, Porter was drafted by the
Milwaukee Brewers in the first round (4th overall) of the
1970 Major League Baseball Draft out of
Southeast High School in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
, OK. He made his major league debut on September 2,
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).
The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.
Events
Ja ...
, with the Brewers at age 19.
He finished third in the
Rookie of the Year voting. Porter was selected to the
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
All-Star team in
1974.
On December 6, 1976, the Milwaukee Brewers traded Porter along with
Jim Colborn
James William Colborn (born May 22, 1946) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. The right-handed Colborn pitched for the Chicago Cubs (-), Milwaukee Brewers (-), Kansas City Royals (-) and Seattle Mariners (1978).
Biography
After graduatin ...
to the Kansas City Royals for
Jamie Quirk
James Patrick Quirk (; born October 22, 1954) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1975 to 1992. Quirk was a member of the world champion 1985 Kansas City Royals team. ...
,
Jim Wohlford and
Bob McClure.
Porter replaced
Buck Martinez
John Albert "Buck" Martinez (born November 7, 1948) is an American former professional baseball catcher and manager, and is currently the television play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays. He played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball ( ...
as the Royals starting catcher. He had the best season of his career in
1979 when, he posted a .291 batting average along with 20 home runs, 112 runs batted in, and led the league with 121 walks.
He became only the sixth catcher in Major League history to score 100
runs and have 100
runs batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...
.
[Darrell Porter Joins a Select Group of Catchers](_blank)
''Baseball Digest'', January 1980, Vol. 39, No. 1, The feat had previously been accomplished by
Mickey Cochrane,
Yogi Berra
Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and coach. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1946–1963, 1965), all but ...
,
Roy Campanella
Roy Campanella (November 19, 1921 – June 26, 1993), nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player, primarily as a catcher. The Philadelphia native played in the Negro leagues and Mexican League for nine years before entering the minor lea ...
,
Johnny Bench
John Lee Bench (born December 7, 1947) is an American former professional baseball player. He played his entire Major League Baseball career, which lasted from through , with the Cincinnati Reds, primarily as a catcher. Bench was the leader of t ...
, and
Carlton Fisk—all in the
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
. Only Porter and Cochrane had 100 walks, 100 runs, and 100 RBI in a single season. He ended the 1979 season ranked third in
Wins Above Replacement
Wins Above Replacement or Wins Above Replacement Player, commonly abbreviated to WAR or WARP, is a non-standardized sabermetric baseball statistic developed to sum up "a player's total contributions to his team". A player's WAR value is claimed to ...
behind
Fred Lynn
Fredric Michael Lynn (born February 3, 1952) is an American former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1974 through 1990 as a center fielder with the Boston Red Sox, California Angels, Baltimore Orioles, Det ...
and his Royals teammate
George Brett
George Howard Brett (born May 15, 1953) is an American former professional baseball player who played all of his 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a third baseman for the Kansas City Royals.
Brett's 3,154 career hits are second-mo ...
. With the Royals, he was selected to three consecutive American League All-Star teams.
Drug problems
Porter told the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
that during the winter of 1979–1980, he became
paranoid
Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy c ...
, and he was convinced that
baseball commissioner
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the associated Minor League Baseball (MiLB) – a constellation of leagues and clubs known as "organized baseball". Under the direction of the Commiss ...
Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kent Kuhn (; October 28, 1926 – March 15, 2007) was an American lawyer and sports administrator who served as the fifth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, 1969, to September 30, 1984. He served as legal counsel for Ma ...
—who was known to be tough on drug use—knew about his drug abuse. Porter said he believed that Kuhn was trying to sneak into his house and planned to ban him from baseball for life. Porter found himself sitting up at night in the dark watching out the front window, waiting for Kuhn to approach while clutching billiard balls and a shotgun.
During spring training in 1980, former
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
pitcher
Don Newcombe
Donald Newcombe (June 14, 1926 – February 19, 2019), nicknamed "Newk", was an American professional baseball pitcher in Negro league and Major League Baseball who played for the Newark Eagles (1944–45), Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers (1949–1 ...
paid a visit to the Kansas City clubhouse. He asked the players ten questions, the point of which being if a player answered three or more of the questions with an affirmation, the player might have a problem with drugs or alcohol. Porter affirmed all ten questions and checked himself into a rehabilitation center, admitting he had abused
alcohol,
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
,
Quaaludes
Methaqualone is a hypnotic sedative. It was sold under the brand names Quaalude ( ) and Sopor among others, which contained 300 mg of methaqualone, and sold as a combination drug under the brand name Mandrax, which contained 250 mg met ...
, and
marijuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
.
Later career
After checking into the rehab center, Porter became a
born-again Christian, married, and became a spokesman for the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international non-profit Christian sports ministry founded in 1954 and based in Kansas City, Missouri. It has staff offices located throughout the United States and abroad.
History
FCA was found ...
. His production on the field declined after rehab, and he never again approached his 1979 levels. He went on to play in three World Series—in
1980 with the Royals and in
1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
and
1985 with the
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
. Porter won both the
1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
National
League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award
The League Championship Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players deemed to have the most impact on their teams' performances in each of the two respective League Championship Series tha ...
and the 1982
World Series MVP Award
The Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is given to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the World Series, which is the final round of the MLB postseason. The aw ...
.
At the time, Porter was only the second player in baseball history to win both awards in a single postseason;
Willie Stargell
Wilver Dornell Stargell (March 6, 1940 – April 9, 2001), nicknamed "Pops" later in his career, was an American professional baseball left fielder and first baseman who spent all of his 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) ( 1962– 1982 ...
of the
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...
won both awards in 1979. After the
1985 season, the Cardinals released Porter, and he wound up his career with two seasons with the
Texas Rangers as a catcher and designated hitter. In 1986 Porter led Major League Baseball with a home run every 12.9 at bats, the best ratio that season for any player with 10 or more home runs. He also broke his ankle during the 1986 season and was on the disabled list for eight weeks. He appeared in his final major league game on October 4, 1987, and retired at the age of 35.
Career statistics
In a 17-year major league career, Porter played in 1,782
games, accumulating 1,369
hits in 5,539
at bats
In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...
for a .247 career batting average along with 188 home runs, 826 runs batted in and a .354
on-base percentage
In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...
.
He ended his career with a .982
fielding percentage
In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...
.
As of the 2009 season, he ranked 21st on the all-time list for home runs by a catcher and 20th all-time for RBI by a catcher. Porter caught two
no-hitter
In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...
s during his career—
Jim Colborn
James William Colborn (born May 22, 1946) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. The right-handed Colborn pitched for the Chicago Cubs (-), Milwaukee Brewers (-), Kansas City Royals (-) and Seattle Mariners (1978).
Biography
After graduatin ...
in
1977 and
Bob Forsch
Robert Herbert Forsch (January 13, 1950 – November 3, 2011) was an American professional baseball player who spent most of his sixteen years in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the St. Louis Cardinals (1974–1988) before finishing his pl ...
's second career no-hitter in
1983. Porter was also notable for being one of the few Major League catchers of his time to wear eyeglasses behind the plate at a time when most players needing vision correction were using contact lenses.
Personal life
Porter was married twice. His first marriage, in 1972 to the former Teri Brown, ended in divorce in 1976. On November 29, 1980, Porter married Deanne Gaulter. The couple had three children: Lindsey, Jeffrey, and Ryan.
In
1984, Porter wrote an autobiography titled ''Snap Me Perfect!'', in which he detailed his life in baseball and his struggles with substance abuse.
Later life and death
In 2000, Porter was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall Of Fame. He dabbled in both
broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...
and the
antique business on and off during his post-baseball years.
On August 5, 2002, Porter left his home in
Lee's Summit, Missouri
Lee's Summit is a city located within the counties of Jackson (primarily) and Cass in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As of the 2020 census its population was 101,108, making it the sixth-largest city in bo ...
, saying he was going to buy a newspaper and go to the park. That evening, he was found dead outside his vehicle in
Sugar Creek, Missouri
Sugar Creek is a city in Clay and Jackson counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 3,271 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area.
Geography
Sugar Creek is located at (39.118014, -94.435630).
Accord ...
, a suburb of Kansas City.
An
autopsy
An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any di ...
found he had died of "toxic effects of cocaine." The autopsy indicated that the level of cocaine in Porter's system—consistent with recreational use—induced a condition called
excited delirium
Excited delirium (ExDS), also known as agitated delirium (AgDS), is a controversial diagnosis sometimes characterized as a potentially fatal state of extreme agitation and delirium. It is typically diagnosed postmortem in young adult males, dispr ...
that caused his heart to stop.
''Doctor says Porter did not die of an overdose'', ESPN.com, August 13, 2002
/ref> Police theorized that Porter's car went off a road and got caught on a tree stump in La Benite Park in Sugar Creek. Police say Porter got out of the car, walked to the nearby Missouri River, and then walked back to his car. Authorities had initially speculated that he overheated while trying to push the car off the stump in high heat and humidity, but there was no evidence to indicate that he tried to move the car. The exact events surrounding his death are still unknown.
References
Bibliography
*''Snap Me Perfect!: The Darrell Porter Story'', T. Nelson, 1984. . (With William Deerfield.)
External links
''Dallas News'': "Darrell Porter's Sad Final Chapter"
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Darrell
1952 births
2002 deaths
American evangelicals
American League All-Stars
Baseball players from Missouri
Clinton Pilots players
Cocaine-related deaths in Missouri
Danville Warriors players
Drug-related deaths in Missouri
Evansville Triplets players
Kansas City Royals players
Leaders of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes
Louisville Redbirds players
Major League Baseball broadcasters
Major League Baseball catchers
Milwaukee Brewers players
National League Championship Series MVPs
People from Lee's Summit, Missouri
St. Louis Cardinals players
Sportspeople from Joplin, Missouri
Texas Rangers players
World Series Most Valuable Player Award winners