John David Wathan (; born October 4, 1949) is an American former professional
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
player,
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
and
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
.
He played his entire career 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), ...
as a
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 ...
for the
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...
from 1976 to 1985. Wathan was a member of the world champion
1985 Kansas City Royals
The 1985 Kansas City Royals season was the 17th season in Royals franchise history. It ended with the Royals' first World Series championship over their inter-state rivals, the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals season, St. Louis Cardinals. The Royals won ...
team. After his playing career, he worked as a coach before serving as the Royals manager from 1987 to 1991. He also managed the 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
Raymond William Schalk (August 12, 1892 – May 19, 1970) was an American professional baseball player, coach, manager and scout. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox for the majority of his career. Known f ...
in 1916.
Baseball career
Wathan, nicknamed "The Duke" for his dead-on impersonations of
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...
, was drafted in the first round, fourth overall in the
1971 MLB Draft from the
University of San Diego
The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...
, where he played
college baseball
College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...
for the
Toreros in 1968–70.
Wathan played ten seasons with the Royals from to where he played in 860 games, averaging a career .262
batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
with 21
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s, 261
RBIs
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 ...
, and 105
stolen base
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...
s. Wathan had his best season in 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
Omaha Royals
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...
farm club
In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...
. He was promoted to manager for the big-league Royals on August 28, . He managed five seasons in Kansas City, having two winning seasons in and and finishing second in the
American League West
The American League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. The division has five teams as of the 2013 season, but had four teams from 1994 to 2012, and had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams curr ...
both times. He was fired early in the season after a 15–22 start.
Royals fire John Wathan
/ref>
In , Wathan began the season as the third-base coach of the California Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...
, but he was named acting manager midway through the campaign when Buck Rodgers
Robert Leroy "Buck" Rodgers (born August 16, 1938) is a former catcher, manager and coach in Major League Baseball. He managed three major league teams: the Milwaukee Brewers (1980–1982), Montreal Expos (1985–1991) and California Angels ( ...
was badly hurt in a bus accident and took a medical leave of absence. Wathan led the Angels to a 39–50 record until Rodgers was well enough to return. He spent as a Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
coach, worked as a color analyst
A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...
on Royals telecasts in and , and has worked as a scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
**Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
**Scouts BSA, sectio ...
and minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...
instructor for a number of organizations since. In - 07, Wathan was a roving baserunning and bunting
Bunting may refer to:
Animals Birds
* Bunting (bird) or Emberizidae, a family of Eurasian and African passerine birds
* New World buntings or ''Passerina'', a genus of American passerine birds in the family Cardinalidae
* Blue bunting, a species ...
instructor in Kansas City's farm system
In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...
, and in 2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
he served the Royals as a special assistant to the director of player development.
Two of John's sons, Derek and Dusty
Dusty may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Dusty, New Mexico, an unincorporated community
* Dusty, Washington, an unincorporated community
* Dusty Glacier, Washington
People
* Dusty (given name)
* Dusty (nickname)
* Slim Dusty, Austra ...
, played professional baseball. Derek played 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
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...
.
See also
*
References
External links
John Wathan
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
The 100 Greatest Royals of All-Time- #41 John Wathan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wathan, John
1949 births
Living people
Baseball players from Iowa
Boston Red Sox coaches
California Angels coaches
California Angels managers
Jacksonville Suns players
Kansas City Royals announcers
Kansas City Royals coaches
Kansas City Royals managers
Kansas City Royals players
Kansas City Royals scouts
Major League Baseball catchers
Major League Baseball bench coaches
Major League Baseball bullpen coaches
Major League Baseball third base coaches
Minor league baseball managers
San Diego Toreros baseball players
Sportspeople from Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Tiburones de La Guaira players
American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela
University of San Diego alumni