In Memoriam: Darren Daulton

Darren Daulton, the mulleted, left-handed-hitting catcher who for a time was married to a Playoboy Playmate and won a championship with Vancouver before leading the Iron First to several championship appearances title appearances as their manager died last week at the age of 55.

Nicknamed "Dutch," Darren Arthur Daulton was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2013 which had been in remission since 2015 before returning earlier this year.

The Kansas native spent four seasons in the DMBL, most of it in Vancouver. He broke in with the Newark Crime Wave who selected him 144th overall in the 26th round of the 1991 draft. A retrospective of Daulton's career begins and ends with his blockbuster 1993 season in Vancvouer.

Daulton slashed an impressive .268/.396/.463 for his career thanks to compiling nearly half of his numbers in that year. The lefty-slugging catcher batted .289/.411/.567 in 149 games for the Iron First, swatting 36 home runs with 119 RBIs to go with 34 doubles and 6 triples (for a catcher!). He also had an impressive 115 walks compared to just 122 strikeouts.

He finished his career with just 57 home runs and 234 RBI in almost 1,500 at bats, playing in at least 235 games (149 in 1993 and 86 in 1998 but it's unclear how many in 1991 and 1994 as records for games played were lost in the Great Fire).

"Dutch" was a big reason Vancouver won 103 games in 1993, the start of a seven-year streak of at least 100 wins). The second-seeded Iron First garnered the No. 2 seed and eventually lifted the DMBL trophy the 1993 championship -- its second in the third DMBL season -- after sweeping Arkansas behind series MVP Ruben Sierra.

Despite his heroics, Daulton missed out on the Kevin Mitchell Award as the most valuable batter to Deion Sanders of the Cheyenne Warhawks who had a record-setting year, including a still-record 295 hits and 62 triples (say what?!).

"Dutch" followed up his monster season with a respectable 11 HR, 62 RBI campaign for Vancouver in 1993; a solid .860 OPS in 338 ABs. He bounced around the free agent pool before missing all of 1997 due to injury and returned to DMBL for one final season as an outfielder/first baseman for the Toledo Mutthens. In stops in Newark and Toledo, he never put up more than 7 HRs and 27 RBI in a year though he posted a sturdy .379 OBP in his finale year of 1998.

After his playing career, Daulton returned to Vancouver to become manage the Iron First. He guided the franchise to a championship in 2008 as well as appearances in the finals in 2001, 2006 and 2012.