Photo Courtesy NBCSports.com
We're back here at Capitol Baseball for our first post since the Giants won the World Series. Congrats to them and the City of San Francisco. I promise, it won't be 2 weeks before my next post.
Most of you know the Elijah Dukes story. In 2008, he was the latest kid that then-Nats GM Jim Bowden thought was part of the team's future. He had talent, and a laundry list of personal issues to match. But nevertheless, he was given the opportunity to succeed. He was unable to do so.
He failed in both Tampa Bay and in Washington, but most were shocked at his sudden release by the Nationals in Spring Training 2010. The story doesn't get any prettier from here.
After his release in March, not one of the 29 other teams wanted to pick him up. So he fluttered around for a while before being picked up by the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League on July 1, 2010. Dukes' stint with the team lasted a mere 51 days when he was placed on the Suspended List in August.
On November 2, AOL Fanhouse reported that Dukes was put in jail for not paying child support. It turns out that he owed back payments to the tune of $140,000. To put the icing on this extremely sad cake, it turns out (according to Yardbarker.com) that Elijah doesn't own a home and when the judge asked he said "I live where I lay my head." This former MLB player, as recently as last season, is on the verge of homelessness.
Over the course of his 3 year MLB career, Elijah Dukes made about $1.2 million. That money is all gone, obviously. In the mean time, he hasn't been owning up to his financial responsibilities for his children. So where has the money gone? I imagine we'll never know.
This is just another sad example of a professional athlete being destroyed by the combination of fame, fortune, and pre-existing personal issues. I think I speak for all of Nats Town when I wish Elijah good luck and hope that he can get is young life back on track.
Supposedly his annual child support and alimony obligations were near $400,000 per year. He made $420,000 per year so after he pays taxes I'm not sure anyone could make that work.
ReplyDeleteFame and fortune? This dude imploded before he ever really got any. $1.2 million pretax dollars isn't all that much when you have three families to support. And I guarantee you few people other than baseball geeks have idea who he is.
ReplyDeleteWhat was really baffling was his utter refusal to work hard enough to at LEAST get his first big payday in arbitration.
What a waste.
I feel bad for the kid. I gotta disagree on him "getting his life back on track". Kid never had his life on track in the first place! Just a shame to see all that talent go to waste.
ReplyDeleteLets see an off-season Hot Stove league prediction post!