- Tommy Davis
Infobox MLB retired
name=Tommy Davis
position=Outfielder /Designated hitter
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1939|3|21
city-state|Brooklyn|New York
deathdate=
debutdate=September 22
debutyear=by|1959
debutteam=Los Angeles Dodgers
finaldate=October 2
finalyear=by|1976
finalteam=Kansas City Royals
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.294
stat2label=Hits
stat2value=2,121
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=1,052
teams=
*Los Angeles Dodgers (by|1959-by|1966)
*New York Mets (by|1967)
*Chicago White Sox (by|1968)
* Seattle Pilots (by|1969)
*Houston Astros (by|1969-by|1970)
*Oakland Athletics (by|1970, by|1971)
*Chicago Cubs (by|1970, by|1972)
*Baltimore Orioles (by|1972-by|1975)
* California Angels (by|1976)
*Kansas City Royals (by|1976)
highlights=
* 2x All-Star selection (1962, 1963)
*World Series champion (1963)Herman Thomas Davis, Jr. (born
March 21 1939 inBrooklyn ,New York ) is a formerleft fielder inMajor League Baseball best known for his years with theLos Angeles Dodgers . In by|1962 he finished third in the MVP voting after leading the major leagues inbatting average , hits and runs batted in. His 153 RBI in that season brokeRoy Campanella 's team record of 142 in by|1953 and remain the franchise record; his 230 hits are the team record for a right-handed batter (and second most in franchise history behind onlyBabe Herman 's 241 in by|1930), and his .346 average was the highest by a Dodger right-handed hitter in the 20th century until 1997. He repeated as theNational League batting champion in by|1963 with a .326 average.Baseball career
Early career
Davis attended Boys High School in Brooklyn, where he was a
basketball teammate of futureBasketball Hall of Fame rLenny Wilkens , as well as a long jumper on the school'strack and field team). In 1956, he was considering signing with theNew York Yankees , but a phone call fromJackie Robinson convinced him to sign with theBrooklyn Dodgers instead.cite news
author = Dylan Hernandez
title = Dodgers remember Jackie Robinson
work =Los Angeles Times
date= 2008-02-01
url = http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers1feb01,1,5842232.story
accessdate = 2008-02-01 ] In his minor league career, he won batting titles in theMidwest League andPacific Coast League .The Dodger Years
By the time Davis made the majors, the Dodgers had moved to Los Angeles; he debuted with a pinch-hitting appearance on
September 22 , by|1959. He batted .276 in his 1960 rookie season, and .278 in 1961, before enjoying his breakout year in 1962. That year he also had career bests with 27home run s, 120 runs and 9 triples as the Dodgers finished the regular schedule tied for first place with theSan Francisco Giants , but lost a three-game playoff; he finished third in the MVP balloting, with teammateMaury Wills winning the award andWillie Mays finishing second. In 1963 he won his second batting title, edgingRoberto Clemente by 6 points, and finished eighth in the MVP balloting. 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.To date, Davis' 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 three. The feat is all the more remarkable because he played half of his games inDodger Stadium —a reputed "pitcher's park."Davis slumped to .275 in by|1964 as the Dodgers finished out of contention for the pennant. On
May 1 , by|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. Three days later the Dodgers called upLou Johnson to replace him. They won the World Series that year, defeating theMinnesota Twins in seven games. Davis rebounded in by|1966, batting .313 (but with only three home runs and 27 RBIs in 313at bat s). Los Angeles was swept by theBaltimore Orioles in the World Series, with Davis starting only two of the four games and batting .250.11 Team Changes in Ten Years
After the 1966 World Series, Davis was traded to the
New York Mets , along withDerrell Griffith , forRon Hunt and Jim Hickman. After batting .302 with 16 home runs and 73 RBIs in by|1967 he 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 the Miracle Mets winning the1969 World Series . In by|1968, in what would become the "Year of the Pitcher," Davis led the White Sox in hitting with only a .268 average. (The year before, the White Sox' highest batting average was .241, tied by Ken Berry andDon Buford .)In October 1968 Davis was selected by the Seattle Pilots in the
expansion draft . During the by|1969 season he batted .271 in 123 games with the Pilots before being traded to theHouston Astros , where he hit .241; his 20stolen base s that year were a career high. He began 1970 with Houston, hitting .282, before his contract was sold to theOakland Athletics in June; he hit .290 with the A's before being sent to theChicago Cubs for the last two weeks of the season. The Cubs released him in December, and he re-signed with the A's as afree agent , rebounding with a .324 campaign in by|1971. But 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 1973-75, finishing third in the by|1973 batting race with a .306 mark and placing tenth in the MVP vote; in by|1974 he was second in theAmerican League with 181 hits. He played in twoAmerican League Championship Series (both times, in 1973 and 1974, the Orioles lost to the eventual World Series champion Athletics). The Orioles released him in by|1976 spring training, and he signed with the Yankees but did not play for them. From June to September he hit .265 with the California Angels before ending the season with theKansas City Royals . He retired after being released by the Royals onJanuary 17 , by|1977, having played for ten different teams in eighteen seasons. 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 a DH with Baltimore.In 18 seasons Davis batted .294 with 153 home runs, 2121 hits, 1052 RBI and 811 runs in 1999
games played . He was named to the NL All-Star team in 1962 and 1963. He was also one of the most proficient pinch-hitters in baseball history with a .320 batting average (63-for-197) – the highest in major league history upon his retirement, breaking the .312 mark ofFrenchy Bordagaray . His Dodgers batting average record for right-handed hitters of .346 was broken in by|1997 byMike Piazza . He served as aSeattle Mariners coach in 1981, and published a book called "Tales From the Dodgers Dugout" [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1582617562] in 2005.Quote box
quote="For two years (1962 and 1963), Tommy was the best hitter in baseball. He just didn't get the recognition. He was part of a team that had a lot of good parts to it."'|source=Sandy Koufax |align=right|width=50%ee also
*
List of Major League Baseball batting champions
*List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
*List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
*List of major league players with 2,000 hits
*Top 500 home run hitters of all time References
Additional reading
*"Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia" (2000). Kingston, NY: Total/Sports Illustrated. ISBN 1-892129-34-5.
External links
*baseball-reference|id=d/davisto02
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