Who played the Yankees' pitcher 'The Duke'?

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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Major League

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markdavis1115 — 13 years ago(June 06, 2012 10:16 AM)

I have the "Wild Thing" edition of the DVD, and in their commentary, the writer/director and producer say the guy was a former player that Pete Vukovich, the former pitcher who played Clu Haywood, recommended to them - partly because he lived in the Milwaukee area where much of the game action was filmed. However, they never mentioned his name, and it's not listed in the credits. The only character named Duke was the Indians third base coach Duke Temple, played by former Dodgers catcher Steve Yeager, who was the technical adviser on the film as well. Does anyone know the name of the guy who played "The Duke", who Harry Doyle (Bob Uecker) describes as being so nasty that he allegedly threw at his own kid during a father-son game?

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dodgersb4girls — 13 years ago(July 07, 2012 07:22 AM)

This confused me too. Duke was played by former Milwaukee pitcher Willie Mueller. The end credits are actually wrong. They say Duke was played by Steve Yeager but Steve was a technical advisor for the film and also played the Indians third base coach (Coach Lou Brown calls him "Tim" when relaying the bunt sign in the playoff game)

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profundity — 13 years ago(July 20, 2012 04:35 PM)

In a fairly recent S.I. article most of the cast is interviewed and it was stated that Yeager also played all the scenes at catcher for Tom Beringer when the mask is down.

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robertbass3-135-563757 — 11 years ago(October 20, 2014 12:22 AM)

He did not say "Tim", he said "Temp"

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bigcat20 — 10 years ago(May 05, 2015 02:05 PM)

All I know is he leads the league in nose hair and threw at his own kid in a father son game.

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robstenzel3 — 9 years ago(December 11, 2016 12:04 AM)

What's your source that 'The Duke' (his full name on the scoreboard when he entered the game was Duke Simpson) was played by former Milwaukee Brewer Willie Mueller?
The credits at the end of the movie had a list of about 40 names split into three columns to show actors that portrayed Indians, Yankees and Spring Training players. Under the Yankee column, former Milwaukee Brewer Pitcher Jerry Augustine is listed as well as former Milwaukee Brewer Pitcher Willie Mueller.
If you compare the actor that portrayed the Duke to Jerry Augustine's 1977 Topps Baseball card and Willie Mueller's 1980 Topps Baseball card, it would seem that Jerry Augustine looks more like the actor that played the Duke in Major League.