All-Time Indians: Duane Kuiper

The sixth longest tenured second baseman in Indians history, Duane Kuiper is more famous now for his single home run than his lengthy career. Kuiper was a first round pick by Cleveland in 1972 out of Western Kentucky and by his second professional season he had already advanced to AAA. After a .310 average through 135 games in Oklahoma City, Kuiper was a September call-up in 1974 and played in ten games. That year, his .591 MLB slugging percent may have given some the wrong idea (his career SLG would eventually be .321 with the Indians), but he still began 1975 in Oklahoma City until he was promoted in June for good.

Once promoted, Kuiper became the Indians starting second baseman immediately, replacing Jack Brohamer, a job he would keep through 1979. Never the fastest player on the team (he was teammates with Rick Manning after all), Kuiper did steal a career best 19 bases (18 caught) in 90 games for his rookie year. Unfortunately, despite many attempts, he was never a proficient base stealer and this was also the only season in his career that he was safe on more than 50% of attempts.

Kuiper was a pretty good all around hitter in his first season (.292/.362/.329), but would never really match those numbers again. Instead, his true value lied in his glove. Of the 14 Indians infielders who have played at least 400 games at second, Kuiper ranks third in fielding percent at .984, behind just Roberto Alomar (.988) and current second sacker Jason Kipnis (.985). No other Indians second baseman has finished a career with a fielding percent above .980 and (prior to the start of the 2015 season), Kuiper played more than 300 games more than the two players with better numbers. It was this defensive prowess that places him among the greatest second basemen in Indians history. While he never won a Gold Glove for his efforts, this is more to do with his career coinciding with the great Frank White of the Kansas City Royals, who won each second base Gold Glove from 1977 through 1982.

Back at the plate, things were a lot less exciting for Kuiper. He hit just 13 doubles and 6 triples in 1976, slugging just .312, then hit 15 doubles and 8 triples the following year for a .333 slugging percent. It was on August 29th, 1977 that Kuiper ended his Major League record run by hitting his first (and only) career home run off Steve Stone of the White Sox in his 358th career game. Finishing with 1,057 games and 3,754 plate appearances, no Major Leaguer has played more baseball with fewer home runs than Duane Kuiper.

In 1978, Kuiper remained the starter and set a career high with 18 doubles and a .283 average. Despite nearing 600 plate appearances, he put the ball into plate in all but 58, striking out just 35 times total. This was part of what made Kuiper a great, although unconventionally so, player. Working around his lack of power and average, Kuiper was always keeping the action going, avoiding strike outs and walks just the same.

Kuiper’s age 29 season would be his worst and final full season in the Majors as his average dipped to .255 and he hit just 14 extra base hits in 140 games. Despite this, he remained the starter to begin the 1980 season. It is now impossible to go back and see how far the Indians would have tolerated the lack of offense as a knee injury caused him to miss the last half of the 1980 season. Kuiper had played 42 of the Indians’ first 45 games, but was ultimately replaced by Jerry Dybzinski, a similar hitter to Kuiper. He wouldn’t come back until May of 1981 and even then he would continue to split time with Dybzinski, batting .257/.284/.286 in 72 games, his last in Cleveland.

After the 1981 season, Kuiper was traded to San Francisco for the All-Star (1980) pitcher Ed Whitson. Whitson was just 27 and he pitched well in 1982 for the Tribe as a starter and reliever, but he was traded away just a year later for Juan Eichelberger and Broderick Perkins of San Diego. Kuiper, however, would stay with the Giants as a back-up second baseman to the Hall of Famer, Joe Morgan. In his first season in San Francisco, Kuiper did play in 107 games, but rarely received more than one at bat and knocked in just 17 runs with a .280 average. For the next three seasons, Kuiper’s playing time was continually cut down until he had just five at bats in 1985, after which he retired as a player.

After leaving the field, Kuiper remained with the Giants, becoming an announcer in 1987. Since then, he has remained in some announcing capacity to this day, becoming one of the most beloved commentators in the country.