Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. In that same season, Davis and Wills set a National League record for stolen bases by two teammates in season with 136 (Wills with 104 and Davis with 32). Widely considered to be one of the fastest baseball players of the 1960s, Davis had 20 or more stolen bases in eleven consecutive seasons, with a career-high 42 in 1964. During the streak, his season average climbed from .260 to .316.

After many happy years together, they divorced in 1975. Davis' 153 RBIs in that season broke Roy Campanella's team record of 142 in 1953 and remain the franchise record; his 230 hits are the team record for a right-handed batter (second most in franchise history behind only Babe Herman's 241 in 1930), and his .346 average was the highest by a Dodger right-handed hitter in the 20th century until it was broken by Mike Piazza in 1997. They won the World Series that year, defeating the Minnesota Twins in seven games. Along with Maury Wills, Davis provided footspeed at the top of Dodgers' lineup. Why do I keep getting released? He batted .276 in his 1960 rookie season, and .278 in 1961, before enjoying his breakout year in 1962 as the team moved into the new Dodger Stadium. By the time Davis made the majors, the Dodgers had moved to Los Angeles; he debuted with a pinch-hitting appearance on September 22, 1959. No one knew Willie Davis better than Tommy Davis, his Los Angeles Dodgers teammate. In October 1968 Davis was selected by the Seattle Pilots in the expansion draft. He played in Major League Baseball as a left fielder and third baseman from 1959 to 1976 for ten different teams, most notably for the Los Angeles Dodgers where he was a two-time National League batting champion. Davis rebounded in 1966, batting .313 (but with only three home runs and 27 RBIs in 313 at bats). During an 18-year baseball career, Davis batted .294 with 153 home runs, 2,121 hits and 1,052 runs batted in. [4], He ended 1971 with career highs in doubles (33) and total bases (281). 1962 was the first of two seasons that Davis would lead the National League in triples. He also did the same for the 1958 college champion, Louisiana State Tigers. He drove in 153 runs! [citation needed], Davis batted a career-high .311 in 1969.

The episode was filmed August 22, 1969, a date when the Mets coincidentally beat the Dodgers at Shea.

His total of 2237 games in center field ranks behind only Willie Mays (2827) and Tris Speaker (2690) in major league history.

One batter later, he dropped Andy Etchebarren's fly ball. When he recovered the Etchebarren ball, Davis threw it over third base, allowing Boog Powell and Blair to score.

In 1963, Davis won his second batting title, edging Roberto Clemente by 6 points, and finished eighth in the MVP balloting.

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 held by Frenchy Bordagaray.

In 1962, these two players "set the table" for teammate Tommy Davis to lead the National League with 153 runs batted in (RBI), a Los Angeles Dodgers single-season record. Baseball’s Tommy Davis, a personal favorite, had a year for the ages in 1962 playing for the L.A. Dodgers. After batting .302 with 16 home runs and 73 RBIs in 1967 he was traded again, this time to the Chicago White Sox in a six-player deal, with the Mets acquiring Tommie Agee and Al Weis—two men who would play major roles in the Miracle Mets winning the 1969 World Series. Los Angeles was swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series, with Davis starting only two of the four games and batting .250. To date, Davis' back-to-back batting titles are the only two in the Dodgers' Los Angeles history. Good luck.

Davis batted .295 for Montreal before being traded to the Texas Rangers in December 1974. His 230 hits in 1962 were the most in a season by any player between 1937 and 1969, while his 153 RBIs, a franchise record, was the highest total reached between 1949 and 1998. Davis won the batting titles while playing his home games at Dodger Stadium—one of Major League Baseball's less hitter-friendly parks. The Dodgers did not score a run in Game Two, Game Three, or Game Four. He began 1970 with Houston, hitting .282, before his contract was sold to the Oakland Athletics in June; he hit .290 with the A's before being sent to the Chicago Cubs for the last two weeks of the season. Because they shared the same last name, many thought they were brothers.

( Log Out /  For the second time, he posted double-figure totals in doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases. Davis was selected for his first (of two) National League All-Star team in 1971.

The Cubs released him in December, and he re-signed with the A's as a free agent, rebounding with a .324 campaign in 1971. Three days later the Dodgers called up Lou Johnson to replace him.

The following season he replaced the former All-Star Duke Snider in center field, where Davis stayed for 13 years. [2] Discovered by the Dodgers scout, Kenny Myers, Davis signed with the ballclub upon graduating from Roosevelt in 1958.[3]. He played on two World Series winners with the L.A. Dodgers. Davis slumped to .275 in 1964 as the Dodgers finished out of contention for the pennant. [citation needed], In 1970, Davis batted .305, posting career highs in triples (16) and RBI (93). Davis also had another son by the name Shonan Casey Davis, together with Amy Rumbelow, his second wife. He also collected 2561 hits and 398 stolen bases. In 1968, in what would become the "Year of the Pitcher", Davis led the White Sox in hitting with a .268 average.

Change ). Davis was found dead in his home in Burbank, California, on March 9, 2010, by a neighbor who sometimes brought him breakfast. During his time playing for LA Dodgers in Los Angeles during the early 1960s, he met Jeanna LemYou .

As a great defensive end, he played on five NFL championship teams with “G.B.” [5] First, he lost Paul Blair's fly ball in the sun for a two-base error. In Baltimore, he served as the designated hitter from 1973–75, finishing third in the 1973 batting race with a .306 mark and placing tenth in the MVP vote; in 1974 he was second in the American League with 181 hits. His 31-game hitting streak in 1969 remains the longest by a Dodger. [1] In his minor league career, he won batting titles in the Midwest League and Pacific Coast League. Lakers Win Their Record Tying 17th Title, 12th as L.A.

List of Major League Baseball batting champions, List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders, List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders, List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders, National League season runs batted in leaders, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tommy_Davis&oldid=981952536, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, September 22, 1959, for the Los Angeles Dodgers, October 2, 1976, for the Kansas City Royals, Career statistics and player information from, This page was last edited on 5 October 2020, at 10:39. Football’s Tommy Davis did both the punting and place kicking for the San Francisco 49ers. They married on September 5th 1963, while married, Davis adopted Jeanne's son, Gregory Chapman Davis, from a previous marriage.

[citation needed], Davis committed a World Series record three errors on two consecutive plays, in the fifth inning of Game Two of the 1966 World Series. In 1962, he finished third in the MVP voting after leading the major leagues in batting average, hits and runs batted in.

[4] It was the first of two seasons that he would tally double-figure totals in doubles, triples, home runs, and stolen bases. After the 1966 World Series, Davis was traded to the New York Mets, along with Derrell Griffith, for Ron Hunt and Jim Hickman. Jeanna and Davis had two daughters during their marriage, Kimberly Davis born in 1964 and Jennifer Davis born in 1967. "Willie Davis Minor, Japanese & Mexican Leagues Statistics & History", "Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Mets Box Score, August 22, 1969 | Baseball-Reference.com", Former Dodger Willie Davis found dead in Burbank home, "The 50 Greatest Sports Figures From Arkansas", National League Outfielder Gold Glove Award, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Willie_Davis_(baseball)&oldid=980954599, American expatriate baseball people in Mexico, American expatriate baseball players in Canada, American expatriate baseball players in Japan, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2017, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2018, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Career statistics and player information from, This page was last edited on 29 September 2020, at 13:04. In the 1963 World Series, the Dodgers swept the New 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 off Jim Bouton driving in Jim Gilliam. Davis, an Arkansas native, was voted 21st-greatest Arkansas sports figure by Sports Illustrated, along with former teammate Lou Brock, who was also on the list. Willie Davis, along with Maury Wills, was a key part of the Dodgers' National League titles in 1963, 1965, and 1966. Herman Thomas Davis Jr. (born March 21, 1939) is an American former professional baseball player and coach.