User:Orenduckbannister

Oren Connie Bannister (born February 14th, 1962), is a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, hometown hero of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, and current host of the Philadelphia Public Access show, A Cup of Coffee with The Duck. He is affectionately known by his loyal fans and former teammates as "Duck".

Early Life

A native of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, the only son of Walter and Helen Bannister. Walt was a long time employee of Tasty Kake, the famous Philadelphia area pastry company, and Helen worked on staff at The Philadelphia Museum of Art. Bannister attended St. Matthew's Catholic Grade school in the Mayfair section of the city and then went on to Father Judge High School. Not the best students, Oren was pulled out of Father Judge after his freshman year and home schooled. He went on to graduate with honors according to his father. Oren played little league baseball and stayed active through his high school years by attending summer camps at Penn State University. He developed himself as a pitcher under the tutelage of his father Walt and private coach, Henry Lutz, a local bar owner and former minor league baseball player.

College Career

Bannister was a walk-on for the Stetson University Baseball team. Because he was not a scholarship athlete, he roomed with members of the University's Football team, including former NCAA record holder Raymond J. Finkle. It was there that some claim he earned the nickname "Duck". It is said that after every pitch the right hander threw he would have to duck to avoid being hit in the head. Bannister disputes these claims and maintains that the name came from his side-arm style of throwing the baseball. In a 1991 interview with the school's now-defunct newspaper, The Reporter, Bannister was quoted as saying, "I was said to have a wing rather than an arm…so they called me The Duck."

Professional Career

Minor Leagues

Bannister was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1982 and sent to the club's Low A affiliate, the Spartanburg Suns. In his first season, he went 3-8 with an ERA of 4.59. In his second season, his struggles persisted and Bannister was offered up as part of a trade that never came to fruition. He was reassigned to the bullpen and found his calling as a long reliever.

In 1984 while playing AA ball with the Reading Phillies, he was involved in a bench clearing brawl after walking in the game's winning run. Bannister's own catcher charged the mound upon the game's completion, as did several other member of the team. Bannister was hospitalized and missed the teams next road trip. Upon his return, Duck was promoted to the Phillies AAA affiliate, the Portland Beavers. Despite his offer of reconciliation to his Reading teammates, his presence in the clubhouse was too overwhelming, leading the Phillies to promote him. The Phillies press release pointed out that at the time, he was pitching well enough to earn the promotion, and that the altercation with his AA teammates was not a factor.

For the next handful of seasons Bannister spent time as a starter, mid reliever and closer but never spent time with the big club at Veteran's Stadium.

Philadelphia Phillies

After a fairly mediocre Spring Training in 1989, Bannister broke camp with the Phillies and was an inconsistent member of the team's bullpen. In his first full season in the majors Duck went 1-4 with a 4.83 ERA. Bannister was up and down between AAA and the majors throughout the rest of his career.

After the 1997 season Oren "Duck" Bannister retired from professional baseball. He remains a local hero and lives in Conshohocken, PA. He host a local talk show called "A Cup of Coffee with The Duck" and has tried to stay active within the Philadelphia Phillies Phamily.

Over the course of his professional career, Bannister wore numbers 22, 38, 61 and 2.

Personal Life

After a frustrating 1988 season, a distraught Bannister toyed with the idea of leaving the game to focus on his music career. Each off season he served as a fill-in drummer for the local Philadelphia Rock-a-billy band, The Scrapple Town Kats. He also wrote the band's two most popular songs, "That Girl Took My Chevy and My Soul" and "King of the 70's". The Band broke up without tell Bannister and he decided to give baseball one more chance.

Bannister claims that during his time with the Phillies, he was a close friend and roommate of Philadelphia pitcher Terry Mulholland. The former big league hurler filed for a restraining order against Bannister in 1993, and left the Phillies in 1994.

Owns the Eastern League record for the most strikeouts after walking the bases loaded, doing so 18 times. No other player has done this more than 3 times in their career.

Despite appearing in 4 games for the Phillies in 1993, Bannister was not allowed to ride a float during the 1993 Phillies Championship Parade. The details as to why are not known.

Bannister claims to be a close friends with a number of former baseball players and celebrities, including Joey Lawrence, John Kruk, Terry Mulholland, Von Hayes, Charlie Hayes, Dale Murphy, The Band Cinderella, Tony Luke, Dick Clark.