Devils in MLB: Not Exactly a Victory Lap for Paul Lo Duca
Paul Lo Duca led the Sun Devils to the College World Series and made four NL All-Star teams. But the golden years of his career have been anything but.
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It’s been a rough couple of years for Paul Lo Duca.
The one-time Sun Devil and four-time big league All-Star showed serious signs of aging, batting just .268 with 12 extra base hits in the second half for a New York Mets team that could have used a few more extra-base hits from somebody, anybody to avoid a historic collapse.
Off the field it’s been no better. Lo Duca was named in the Mitchell Report, which put a damper on his improbable rise with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2001. The Mets conducted an investigation into his gambling habits (Lo Duca loves the horses) and he went through a divorce that was dragged out in the New York papers. After signing a one-year contract with the Washington Nationals, he struggled badly and was released in the middle of this season.
But Lo Duca’s not done quite yet. Shortly after being released, he signed a minor league deal with the Florida Marlins, with whom he made an All-Star team in 2005.
In a weird scheduling quirk, he had some obvious ASU connections in his first week with the Marlins.
In his third game playing for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes — the only minor league team ever to be named in honor of a Simpsons episode — Lo Duca played at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium, where he led the Sun Devils to the College World Series in 1993.
Then in his third game after getting the call up to the Marlins, he was back in Phoenix playing the Diamondbacks. He started the Aug. 22 game at Chase Field and drove in a go-ahead run in the seventh.
Lo Duca’s had his personal problems, and he’s obviously not an All-Star anymore. In fact, at 36 years old, it’s reasonable to believe this is Lo Duca’s last year playing catcher with any sort of regularity. Catchers north of 35 can have a rough go of it in the free agent market.
But he is a Sun Devil, and he was a great one. So here’s hoping Lo Duca finishes his career out on a high note. He’s been dragged through the mud enough lately.
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No one else will say it, so I will. If Lo Duca cheated (on the game, not on his wife), then I’ll be happy to see him ride off the into the sunset. Sooner rather than later.
I’ll personally be happy to see the users out of baseball. Good bye Barry Bonds. Good bye Paul Loduca. Great Sun Devils but good riddance to you both.