| Tommy Davis | |
|---|---|
 Davis with theVictoria Rosebuds,c. 1958 | |
| Left fielder /Designated hitter | |
| Born:(1939-03-21)March 21, 1939 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | |
| Died: April 3, 2022(2022-04-03) (aged 83) Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 22, 1959, for the Los Angeles Dodgers | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 2, 1976, for the Kansas City Royals | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .294 |
| Hits | 2,121 |
| Home runs | 153 |
| Runs batted in | 1,052 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Herman Thomas Davis Jr. (March 21, 1939 – April 3, 2022) was an American professionalbaseball player andcoach. He played inMajor League Baseball as aleft fielder andthird baseman from 1959 to 1976 for ten different teams, most prominently for theLos Angeles Dodgers where he was a two-time National Leaguebatting champion and was a member of the1963 World Series winning team.
During an 18-year baseball career, Davisbatted .294 with 153home runs, 2,121hits and 1,052runs batted in (RBI) in 1,999 career games.[1] He was also a talentedpinch hitter, batting .307 (62-for-202) in his career.[2] In 1962, he finished third in theMVP voting after leading the major leagues inbatting average,hits andruns batted in.[1]
Davis's 153 RBIs in that season brokeRoy Campanella's team record of 142 in 1953 and remains the franchise record; his 230 hits are the team record for a right-handed batter (second most in franchise history behind onlyBabe Herman's 241 in 1930), and his .346 average was the highest by a Dodgers right-handed hitter in the 20th century until it was broken byMike Piazza in 1997 with .362.
Herman Thomas Davis Jr. was born inBrooklyn,New York, and grew up in the neighborhood ofBedford–Stuyvesant. He was the only child of Herman Sr. and Grace Lenore Davis.[3] His mother referred to him as "Tommy" to distinguish him from his father.[4]
He attendedBoys High School in Brooklyn, where he was abasketball teammate of futureHall of FamerLenny Wilkens and played for coachMickey Fisher. He was also along jumper on the school'strack and field team with record breaker Bernard Lowther. In 1956, he was considering signing with theNew York Yankees, but received a phone call fromJackie Robinson who convinced him to sign with theBrooklyn Dodgers instead.[5]
Signing out of high school, Davis began hisminor league career for the Class-DHornell Dodgers of thePennsylvania–Ontario–New York League in 1956 before moving to theKokomo Dodgers of theMidwest League the following season where he won a batting title.[6] During his time in Kokomo, Davis credited managerPete Reiser for helping him grow as player, recalling years later that Reiser encouraged him to be a more aggressive hitter and base runner.[7]
In 1958, he was promoted to the Double-AVictoria Rosebuds of theTexas League where he performed well despite playing with an injured wrist. Davis recalled facing racial discrimination while in Victoria, remarking years later: "The more they yelled, the harder I played."[8] Towards the end of the season, Davis was promoted again, this time to the Triple-AMontreal Royals of theInternational League where he won the year-endGovernors' Cup with the team, defeating theToronto Maple Leafs in five games.[6][9]
Davis was moved to theSpokane Indians of thePacific Coast League for the 1959 season, where he won another batting title.[6] During the year, he was briefly called up to the Dodgers, making his major league debut as apinch hitter on September 22, 1959 against theSt. Louis Cardinals; he struck out againstMarshall Bridges after pinch hitting for pitcherClem Labine.[10]
Davis made theLos Angeles Dodgers—who had moved from Brooklyn to the west coast prior to the 1958 season—during spring training 1960 and batted .276 in his 1960 rookie season, and .278 in 1961, before enjoying his breakout year in 1962 as the team moved into the newDodger Stadium.[1] His .346 batting average edged outFrank Robinson's .342 for the National League batting crown, and his 230 hits and 153 RBI led the major leagues.[1][11] His 230 hits in 1962 were the most in a season by any player between 1937 and 1969, while his 153 RBI, a franchise record, was the highest total reached between 1949 and 1998. He also had career bests with 27home runs, 120runs, and ninetriples as the Dodgers finished the regular schedule tied for first place with theSan Francisco Giants, but lost a three-game playoff.[1] He finished third in the MVP balloting, with teammateMaury Wills winning the award andWillie Mays finishing second.[12]
In two separate games from 1961 and 1962, Davis beat future Hall of FamerBob Gibson with a solo home run, both times helping teammateSandy Koufax win the game by a score of 1–0. On May 25, 1961, atSportsman Park, Gibson and Koufax matched six scoreless innings before Davis hit a home run in the seventh for the only run of the game.[13] The following season, on June 18 atDodger Stadium, after the two pitchers matched eight scoreless innings, Davis hit awalk-off home run off Gibson.[14] Koufax, who was aBrooklyn native like Davis, would joke after one of the games, "Us Brooklyn boys got to stick together."[15]
In 1963, Davis won his second batting title, edgingRoberto Clemente by six points, and finished eighth in the MVP balloting.[16] In the1963 World Series, the Dodgers swept theNew York Yankees; batting cleanup, Davis hit .400 in the Series, tripling twice in Game 2 and driving in the only run of the 1–0 Game 3 victory, his first-inning single offJim Bouton driving inJim Gilliam.[1][17]
To date, Davis's back-to-back batting titles are the only two in the Dodgers' Los Angeles history. Only two right-handed hitters have won multiple National League batting titles since:Bill Madlock with four, andRoberto Clemente with four. Davis won the batting titles while playing his home games atDodger Stadium, well known to be a pitcher-friendly ballpark.
Davis slumped to .275 in 1964 as the Dodgers finished out of contention for the pennant.[1] On May 1, 1965, against the visiting Giants, he broke and dislocated his ankle sliding into second base while trying to break up adouble play and was lost for the remainder of the season, although he did pinch-hit on the final day of the regular season. Three days later, the Dodgers called upLou Johnson to replace him. The Dodgers won theWorld Series that year, defeating theMinnesota Twins in seven games. Davis rebounded in 1966, batting .313 in 100 games, but he hit just three home runs and recorded 27 RBI in 313at bats.[1] Los Angeles was swept by theBaltimore Orioles in theWorld Series, with Davis starting only two of the four games and batting .250.[1]
On November 29, 1966, Davis was traded to theNew York Mets along withDerrell Griffith in exchange forRon Hunt andJim Hickman.[18] He batted .302 with 16 home runs and 73 RBI in 154 games during the 1967 season.[1] On December 15, 1967, Davis was traded again, this time to theChicago White Sox in a six-player deal, with the Mets acquiringTommie Agee andAl Weis—two men who would play major roles in theMiracle Mets winning the1969 World Series.[19]
In 1968, in what would become the "Year of the Pitcher", Davis led the White Sox in hitting with a .268 average, and posted eight home runs and 50 RBI in 132 games.[1] TeammateTommy John felt the trade was a mistake because the White Sox at that time were based more on defense and speed, neither of which was Davis's strong point.[20] In October 1968, Davis was selected by theSeattle Pilots in theexpansion draft.[21] The following season, he batted .271 with six home runs and 80 RBI in 123 games with the Pilots before being traded to theHouston Astros, where he hit .241 with a home run and 9 RBI; his 20stolen bases that year were a career high.[1]
During the 1969 season, pitcherJim Bouton was Davis's teammate in both Seattle and Houston. Subsequently, he was featured heavily in Bouton's bookBall Four which was published the following year. Bouton wrote favorably about his teammate and, as a result, Davis was one of the few players who did not shun Bouton; the two remained friends until Bouton's death in 2019.[22]
Davis began 1970 with Houston, hitting .282 with three home runs and 30 RBI in 57 games before his contract was sold to theOakland Athletics in June; he hit .290 with a home run and 27 RBI in 66 games with the A's before being sent to theChicago Cubs for the last two weeks of the season.[1] The Cubs released him in December, and he re-signed with the A's as afree agent, rebounding with a .324 campaign, three home runs and 42 RBI in 79 games in 1971.[1] However, Oakland released him at the end of 1972 spring training; he signed with the Cubs again in July, but played only a month before being traded to theBaltimore Orioles, where he would spend the next three seasons.
In Baltimore, he served as thedesignated hitter from 1973 to 1975, finishing third in the 1973 batting race with a .306 mark and placing tenth in the MVP vote.[1] Then in 1974, he was second in theAmerican League with 181 hits.[23] Also in 1974, he won theOutstanding Designated Hitter Award (later renamed forEdgar Martínez). He played in twoAmerican League Championship Series (both times, in1973 and1974, the Orioles lost to the eventual World Series champion Oakland Athletics).[1] The Orioles released him in 1976 spring training, and he signed with the Yankees but did not play for them. From June to September he hit .265 with three home runs and 26 RBI in 72 games with theCalifornia Angels before ending the season with theKansas City Royals who released him on January 17, 1977.[1]
After being released by the Royals, having played for ten different teams in eighteen seasons, Davis retired from baseball. He occasionally expressed resentment for his numerous moves, remarking late in his career: "I'm very bitter, bitter as hell. Why do I keep getting released? Don't ask me no reason why." But he conceded his reputation as having a casual style of play, noting, "the lazier I felt the better I hit", and admitting that he often went into the clubhouse to read and even to shave between at bats as designated hitter with Baltimore.[24]
Davis stayed in baseball after retiring as a player. He worked for the Dodgers as a minor-league instructor and also as part of the community relations department. He also served one year as the hitting coach for the1981 Seattle Mariners before returning to work for the Dodgers.[25]
Davis was married twice and had six children. He had four with his first wife, three daughters and a son: Lauren, Carlyn, Leslie, and Herman III; and two daughters, Morgana and Noelle, with his second wife, Carol.[26]
He died on April 3, 2022 inPhoenix, Arizona, aged 83. Davis was survived by his second wife, his children, and a number of grandchildren.[3][27]
"My dad was Herman, my mom always called me Tommy.", says Davis.
Manager Pete Reiser took him under his wing and functioned as a father figure. He encouraged Tommy to be an aggressive hitter and base runner. He led the league that summer with a .356 average and set a league record with 68 stolen bases... "Pete Reiser made a man of me," said Davis.
Tommy said he sometimes felt like Jackie Robinson playing in Texas. "There were a lot of racial problems in Victoria. The more they yelled, the harder I played."
Davis had the distinction of being Jim Bouton's teammate in both Seattle and Houston and as such was a featured player inBall Four. While Davis said he didn't like what Bouton wrote about Mickey Mantle, he and Bouton remain friends to this day. "He wrote nice about me," Davis said. "He liked me. I'm not mad at him and I never was."
He was tired of moving from team to team, though he conceded that his lackadaisical approach may have irked some of his employers. Even in his glory years with the Orioles, he was known to disappear from the dugout between at bats to read or grab a shave.
Davis stayed in baseball after retiring as a player. He worked for the Dodgers as a minor-league instructor and also as part of the community relations department... He served as the batting coach for the Seattle Mariners for one season in 1981 and eventually returned to the Dodgers – pressing the flesh out in the community and passing along batting tips to everyone from prospects to middle-aged fans at the team's fantasy camps.
He and his wife, Carol, raised their daughter in Greater Los Angeles. Davis also has three daughters and a son from his first marriage.
