Athletes - Tommy Davis

Home > Listing Index > Athletes > Tommy Davis

	Athletes - Tommy Davis

Tommy Davis (born Herman Thomas Davis Jr. in Brooklyn, New York on March 21, 1939) is a former Major League Baseball player.

An outfielder who batted and threw right-handed, Davis played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1959-66), New York Mets (1967), Chicago White Sox (1968), Seattle Pilots (1969), Houston Astros (1969-70), Oakland Athletics (1970, 1971), Chicago Cubs (1970, 1972), Baltimore Orioles (1972-76), California Angels (1976) and Kansas City Royals (1976).

In 18 seasons Davis played 1999 games, batting .294 with 153 home runs and 1052 runs batted in.

In 1956, while Davis was in high school, Jackie Robinson convinced him to sign a baseball pact with the then Brooklyn Dodgers. By the time Davis made the majors, however, the team had moved to Los Angeles. In 1962 Davis won the National League batting title with a .346 batting average and also led the majors in RBIs with 153 (to this day, a franchise record). He finished third in the balloting for the MVP award won by teammate Maury Wills. In 1963 he won another batting title, this time with a .326 average, edging Hank Aaron by .007 percentage points. That year the Dodgers swept the New York Yankees in the World Series; in Game 2 Davis tied a series record with two triples.

Davis slumped to .275 in 1964 as the Dodgers finished out of contention for the National League pennant. On May 1, 1965, against the visiting San Francisco Giants, Davis broke his ankle sliding into second base, and was lost for the remainder of the season. Three days later the Dodgers called up Lou Johnson to replace him. They won the World Series that year, defeating the Minnesota Twins in seven games.

Davis rebounded in 1966, batting .313 (but with only three home runs and 27 RBIs in 313 at-bats). After the Dodgers were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series, Davis was traded to the New York Mets for Ron Hunt and Jim Hickman. After batting .302 with 16 home runs and 73 RBIs in 1967 he was traded again, this time to the Chicago White Sox for Tommie Agee. In 1968, in what would become the “Year of the Pitcher,” Davis led the White Sox in hitting with only a .268 average.

In October 1968 Davis was selected by the Seattle Pilots in the expansion draft. During the 1969 season Davis batted .271 in 123 games with the Pilots, the first of five teams he would play for from 1969 to 1972. In Baltimore, where he played from late 1972 to 1975, he served as designated hitter, and played in two American League Championship Series (both times, in 1973 and 1974, the Orioles lost to the eventual World Series champion Oakland Athletics). He retired after being released by the Kansas City Royals on January 17, 1977. He had played for 10 different teams in 18 seasons.

Davis was one of the most proficient pinch-hitters in baseball history with a .320 batting average (63-for-197).

Trivia

In high school, Davis was a basketball teammate of future Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (as player and coach) Lenny Wilkens.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Tommy Davis ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Tommy Davis; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Athletes - Tommy Davis

Trivia

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay