Robert Thomas Ducey (born May 24, 1965) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

and coach who played for six teams in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB).

Career

Ducey was raised in

Cambridge, Ontario Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand River (Ontario), Grand and Speed River, Speed rivers, in the central part of the Ontario Peninsula. The city had a population ...

and graduated from

Seminole Community College Seminole State College of Florida is a public college based in Sanford, Florida, United States. It is part of the Florida College System. History Established by the Florida Legislature in 1965 as Seminole Junior College, the school began operat ...

. The

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

signed Ducey as a free agent in . He debuted in MLB with the Blue Jays in and played with the team until the end of July . He then played in MLB for the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

(1992), Texas Rangers (–),

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

(–),

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

(–, 2000-), and

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

(2001), with a brief return to Toronto in 2000. He ended his 13-year major league career with a .242

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 ...

and 31

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s in 703 games. He also played for the Nippon-Ham Fighters in

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

in 1995 and 1996, hitting 51 home runs, topping his 31 home runs in MLB. 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. Ducey served as a

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, which finished in fourth place. As a result, he became the first Canadian to have played for two Canadian MLB teams, the Expos and Blue Jays, and the Canadian Olympic team. Matt Stairs, Denis Boucher, and Shawn Hill are the only other ballplayers to achieve such distinction. Subsequently, Ducey spent one year each in the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

' and Expos organizations as a minor league

hitting coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisi ...

, before being hired in 2006 by the Blue Jays as a talent scout. 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 A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Alex Anthopoulos when coverage of Asia was not a priority for the organization. Ducey was hired to scout for the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

in the 2011 season, then joined the Phillies minor league system in 2014, again serving as a hitting coach through 2017. In 2020, Ducey was the hitting coach for the

Fubon Guardians The Fubon Guardians () are a professional baseball team in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan. The team is owned by Fubon Financial Holding Co. and play their home games at Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City. ...

of the

Chinese Professional Baseball League The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...

(CPBL). Ducey also coached Canada in the 2006 World Baseball Classic,

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

, and 2015 WBSC Premier12.

Awards

In 1986, Ducey won the Tip O'Neill Award, given annually to the top Canadian baseball player. He was inducted in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013. When he was inducted, Ducey joined Terry Puhl and

Larry Walker Larry Kenneth Robert Walker (born December 1, 1966) is a Canadian former professional baseball right fielder. During his 17-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he played with the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies, and St. Louis Cardinals. I ...

as the only Canadian baseball players to achieve both of those milestones. Corey Koskie, Jason Bay, Ryan Dempster, Justin Morneau, and Russell Martin have since garnered both honors. Ducey was also inducted into the Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

Personal life

Ducey lives in Tarpon Springs, Florida, with his wife Yanitza and their sons Thomas and Aaron and their daughter Jenaka. In 2021, Ducey began working as a life insurance agent in Florida.

References

External links

Rob Ducey
at Sports Reference Olympic Sports {{DEFAULTSORT:Ducey, Rob 1965 births Living people Adirondack Lumberjacks players Baseball players from Toronto Baseball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Black Canadian baseball players Black Canadian sportsmen California Angels players Canadian baseball coaches Canadian expatriate baseball players in Japan Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Cardenales de Lara players Canadian expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Florence Blue Jays players Knoxville Blue Jays players Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball players from Canada Medicine Hat Blue Jays players Minor league baseball coaches Montreal Expos players Nippon Ham Fighters players Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders Oklahoma City 89ers players Olympic baseball players for Canada Philadelphia Phillies players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons players Seattle Mariners players Seminole State Raiders baseball players Sportspeople from Cambridge, Ontario Syracuse Chiefs players Tacoma Rainiers players Tampa Bay Rays scouts Texas Rangers players Toronto Blue Jays players Toronto Blue Jays scouts Ventura County Gulls players Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees 20th-century Canadian sportsmen

Career

Awards

Personal life

See also

References

External links