John Wathan

Who is John Wathan?

John David Wathan is a former Major League Baseball catcher and manager for the Kansas City Royals. In 1982, he stole 36 bases, breaking the single-season record for catchers set by Ray Schalk in 1916 despite his suffering a fractured ankle earlier in the season.

Wathan, nicknamed "The Duke" for his dead-on impersonations of John Wayne, was drafted in the first round, fourth overall in the 1971 MLB Draft from the University of San Diego, where he played college baseball for the Toreros from 1968-1970.

Wathan played ten seasons with the Royals from 1976 to 1985 where he played in 860 games, averaging a career .261 batting average with 21 home runs and 261 RBIs. Wathan has his best season in 1980 in which he played in 126 games, and had a .305 batting average.

After he retired, Wathan coached for the Royals in 1986 before becoming the manager of Kansas City's AAA Omaha Royals farm club and he was promoted manager for the big-league Royals on August 28, 1987. He managed five seasons in Kansas City, having two winning seasons in 1988 and 1989 and finishing second in the American League West both times. He was fired early in the 1991 season after a 15–22 start.