| Frank Duffy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Shortstop | |
| Born: (1946-10-14)October 14, 1946 (age 79) Oakland, California, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 4, 1970, for the Cincinnati Reds | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| May 11, 1979, for the Boston Red Sox | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .232 |
| Home runs | 26 |
| Runs batted in | 240 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
Frank Thomas Duffy (born October 14, 1946) is an American former professionalbaseball player. He played inMajor League Baseball as ashortstop from1970 through1979 for theCincinnati Reds,San Francisco Giants,Cleveland Indians and theBoston Red Sox.
A 1964 graduate ofTurlock High School who also starred inbasketball andfootball, Duffy was inducted into the school's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997.[1]
Duffy is probably most remembered for being a part of what is considered a lopsided trade between the Reds and Giants. On May 29, 1971, Duffy was traded along withpitcherVern Geishert for youngoutfielderGeorge Foster. Geishert, who had played briefly in the majors in 1969, never played in the majors again, while Foster developed into a feared slugger and an important cog in "The Big Red Machine", the Reds' dynastic team of the first half of the 1970s.
Later that same year, Duffy was part of a second trade that is almost as infamous. On November 29, exactly seven months after the previous trade, Duffy was traded with pitcherGaylord Perry to the Indians, with the Giants receiving pitcherSam McDowell. In this case, Duffy was on the other side of the lopsided deal, as he went on to be the Indians' starting shortstop for several years, leading the league in fielding percentage for shortstops in 1973, and placing in the top 5 for that same stat for his first 5 years in Cleveland.[2] Perry went on to win 20 games three times, receive twoCy Young Awards, and eventually earn a place in theHall of Fame, while McDowell pitched for four seasons, winning 10 games in 1972 but only 9 in the next three seasons combined.
Duffy was dealt to the Red Sox forRick Kreuger on March 23, 1978.[3] He became expendable after his unexpected re-signing just before the start ofspring training created a glut of shortstops for the Indians who had acquiredTom Veryzer andDave Rosello during the off-season.[4] His time in Boston was most noted for his quote "The team gets off a plane and twenty-five players go off in twenty-five different cabs," an indictment of his teammates' egocentric discord that resulted in their inability to cope with adversity during the Red Sox's1978American League Eastpennant race collapse.[5] Duffy appeared in only 70 games with the Red Sox who released him on May 22, 1979.[6]
Duffy retired and is a resident of Tucson, Arizona.[7]
· Baseball Almanac