Chris Duncan is now being packed in bubble-wrap and being shipped to Boston, who then won’t even open the package, but instead ship him to their AAA club in Pawtucket. Duncan’s tenure in St. Louis has been one the most rollercoaster-esque rides we have seen a player be on in a long time. The fans cheered, the fans grumbled, then cheered, then grumbled again, then cheered again, then booed, then went freaking crazy and then he was gone.
Lets take a look back shall we?
Minor Leagues
Chris Duncan was drafted in the first round by the Cards, his father, Dave Duncan’s, then and current employer, in the 1999 amateur draft, making him the 46th pick overall. He started off slow, having batting averages never getting above .271 and getting as low as .214 in rookie ball. By 2004 he was in AA ball with the then affiliate Tennessee Smokies where he had his break out year having 16 home runs and a .289 average in 455 at bats, which got him to AAA Memphis next year. Although he still had no real position, bouncing between first base and the outfield (because St. Louis has a pretty good first baseman), he did have solid power numbers.
Major Leagues
He got is first major league call up later in 2005, but he didn’t stick until 2006 where in 314 at bats he had a surprising 22 home runs with a nearly .300 average, the only real complaint being his defense. 2007 was another solid year, taking the Cardinals on his back when Pujols was out, and ended up with a .260 average, 70 RBIs and 21 HRs. Sadly, it was all down hill from there. In two injury shortened seasons, he amassed 11 HRs and 6o RBIs.
The Humping of the Trophy
When Duncan was a part of the 2006 World Champion Cardinal team he was really excited and…well…
The Riverfront Times even made a weekly photoshopping feature entitled “What’s Chris Duncan Dry-Humping This Week?“
Oh he also, stripped down and took a photo with his dad, the team’s pitching coach:
The Fans
Chris Duncan’s relationship with the fans rose with every towering home run, and shriveled with every dropped pop fly and breeze-creating strike out.
Recently, with his sub-par play and, although through no fault of his own, a shocking amount of playing time, the fans got particularly harsh. Here is a sampling on Twitter:
The fan backlash rose to the point that Cardinals manager got involved, saying:
“I get so tired of the unfair treatment of Chris Duncan,” he said. “It makes me want to vomit. And you can quote me on that.”
The End
Chris, in the end you were traded to Boston for a player they were going to release anyway. You came so close to fitting in here…if only the National League had the DH. …also it would have helped if you had played a little better.