Dave Hollins was known for his gruff exterior, but when he hears Daulton Varsho’s name, he smiles.
The longtime Phillies third baseman usually texts his former teammate to tell him so.
“He says, ‘I’m so happy you named him after Darren,’” Gary Varsho, Daulton’s father, said Tuesday. “‘It makes me feel like Darren is still out there. And with us.’”
The Darren in question, of course, is Darren Daulton, the beloved Phillies catcher of the 1980s and 1990s, who played with grit and selflessness. When the elder Varsho signed with the Phillies in 1995, it was Daulton who was first to shake the outfielder’s hand.
Varsho was, by his own admission, a “benchwarmer.” He only played 72 games for the Phillies that year, 13 of them starts. But Daulton treated him like a team veteran, inviting the newcomer to dinners and telling him how much he meant to the group.
“To be with a new team, and have their man step up?” he said. “I felt like I belonged. It felt like I was part of it.”
Varsho and his wife, Kay, learned she was pregnant in late 1995. They decided that if it was a boy, they would name him Daulton.
Thirty years later, that boy is roaming center field for the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series. He hit a home run in Game 1, has made a slew of highlight-reel catches, and continues to grind out tough at-bats.
In Game 3 on Monday night, Varsho stepped to the plate against Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow in the second inning. He worked a 3-2 count and took the eighth pitch, a curveball in the dirt, for a walk.
His father, watching at home from Toronto, was dumbfounded.
“I mean, son of a … ,” he said. “I don’t know how you take a 3-2 curveball that just bounced on the plate. I was like, ‘I don’t know how you did it.’ Because I was swinging from my chair.”
Gary Varsho, 64, concedes that he had a different skill set than his son. He couldn’t see the ball as well. His strike-zone awareness wasn’t as strong. He was a journeyman, while his son starts every day.
The elder Varsho was picked by the Cubs in the fifth round of the 1982 MLB draft out of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and, after six years in the minors, finally got his call to the big league team in July 1988.
He shuffled from triple A to the Cubs for a few years before Chicago traded him to Pittsburgh in 1991. He was claimed off waivers by Cincinnati in 1992, signed with Pittsburgh again in 1994, and finished his career with the Phillies in 1995.
Daulton Varsho has had an easier go thus far. He was drafted by the Diamondbacks in the second round in 2017 — as a left-handed hitting catcher, just like his namesake. He made his debut only three years later, at 24, and was an everyday outfielder by 25.
He was traded to the Blue Jays in December 2022, and has since become an integral part of their team. He played 158 games in 2023 — the most among outfielders that year — before injuries curtailed his 2024 and 2025 seasons.
In other words, Daulton Varsho “posts up,” in the same way Darren Daulton did.
“You bet he does,” Gary Varsho said. “Especially after [Monday] night. Eighteen innings [a marathon Dodgers victory in Game 3].”
There are other similarities. The younger Varsho and his namesake had stocky builds. They led with a quiet confidence, asserting themselves when they needed to, but choosing their spots.
Gary Varsho saw this firsthand. In 1995, a player was struggling at the plate. He’d just signed a big contract. A weeklong slump turned into a month, which turned into two months, which turned into two and a half.
Daulton decided to address it, in a way only he could.
“He said, ‘What the … ,’” Gary Varsho said. “You got the … money, you got the … contract, just go out and … play and enjoy it.’
“‘Go out and … play. It’s not about you. It’s about us.’”
He added: “Dutch was all about the Phillies. It wasn’t about him. But if guys got out of line, Dutch would always rally them back in. And that’s a great example of reeling him back in.”
They weren’t teammates for long, but Varsho and Daulton quickly developed a bond. They stayed in touch after Varsho retired from professional baseball. When his son was born, on July 2, 1996, Gary gave his former teammate a call.
He told Daulton the boy’s name, only to hear silence on the other line.
“It was one of those quiet times where you just go, ‘I love you, man,’” Varsho said.
The elder Varsho managed the Mariners’ high-A affiliate from 1997 to 1998 and the double-A Reading Phillies from 1999 to 2001. He joined the Phillies’ big league staff as a bench coach in 2002, and stayed on when Charlie Manuel was hired as manager in 2005.
He was hired as the minor league outfielder/baserunning coordinator for Cleveland in 2007 and then spent three years as the Pirates’ bench coach from 2008 to 2010. He transitioned to pro scouting in 2012, for the Angels and then the Pirates, and retired in 2021.
Daulton retired after the 1997 season, during which he helped lead the Marlins to a World Series championship. He joined the Tampa Bay Rays’ staff as a bullpen coach in 2001, hosted a show on 97.5 The Fanatic, and wrote a book.
His post-career life was not without its personal struggles, but Daulton owned them and turned his life around, devoting himself to charity work and his foundation.
Because of their disparate paths, little Daulton only met big Daulton once. But the younger Varsho listened to a lot about him. His parents framed a montage of the catcher’s memorabilia and hung it on their son’s bedroom wall in Chili, Wis.
Inside was a signed jersey.
“I am very proud to share this name with you!” Daulton wrote. “God bless!”
The Blue Jays center fielder heard all sorts of stories about his father’s teammate growing up, stories that took on new resonance in 2017, when Daulton died of brain cancer at 55.
The younger Varsho was drafted by the Diamondbacks that summer. Now, he’s honoring his father’s teammate in the best way possible — by posting up on baseball’s biggest stage. Not everyone knows the backstory behind his first name.
But the 1980s and 1990s Phillies do.
“Dave Hollins, he would always go, ‘Varshy, I love it when I hear Daulton’s name,’” Gary said. “He goes, ‘It makes my heart feel good.’”
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