The New York Yankees brought up Shelley Duncan from AAA Scranton/Wilkes Barre. Duncan is the brother of Cardinals outfielder Chris Duncan and the son of Cardinals pitching coach Dave. His given name is David and Shelley is his middle name.
However, the Yankees are having him make his major league debut tonight in New York and he's batting ninth and playing DH. I thought that was an unusual way to make one's debut. A lot of players start off in the #9 hole in the AL, but usually not as DH.
And as far as I can tell, Duncan is just the fifth player to do so. The last player to do so was Guillermo Quiroz for Toronto on September 4, 2004. The other players to do it were B.J. Upton, Pete LaForest, and Shawn Green.
The 2002 stat is evidence of bad work on Joe Torre's part. Nick Johnson (the DH in question) should have hit second with Jeter leading off and Alfonso Soriano (who was the leadoff man) hitting in the middle of the order. One could also argue that Johnson should have been the 1B, but Jason Giambi's splits at 1B vs. DH have been so alarmingly consistent throughout his career in favor of his playing the field, that I give Torre a pass there.
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