Duncan was a top defensive catcher and a successful playing manager in the Negro Leagues. He was a hardnosed competitor who played on the great Kansas City Monarch teams of the 1920s and managed the Monarchs in the 1940s, guiding such stars as Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Jackie Robinson. Kansas City teammate Newt Allen said Duncan was a “great receiver and thrower – one of the greatest,” but “wasn’t much of a hitter.” He ran the bases with reckless abandon and earned a reputation as a hard-sliding competitor.
