Willie Davis Stats & Facts
Willie Davis
Position: Centerfielder
Bats: Left • Throws: Left
6-2, 180lb (188cm, 81kg)
Born: April 15, 1940 in Mineral Springs, AR
Died: March 9, 2010 in Burbank, CA
Buried: Cremated
High School: Roosevelt HS (Los Angeles, CA)
Debut: September 8, 1960 (9,384th in MLB history)
vs. CIN 5 AB, 2 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Last Game: September 30, 1979
vs. TEX 0 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Full Name: William Henry Davis
Nicknames: 3-Dog
Nine Players Who Debuted in 1960
Willie Davis
Ron Santo
Joe Torre
Leo Cardenas
Deron Johnson
Dick McAuliffe
Matty Alou
Phil Regan
Ray Sadecki
The Willie Davis Teammate Team
C: Johnny Roseboro
1B: Bill Buckner
2B: Junior Gilliam
3B: Steve Garvey
SS: Maury Wills
LF: Lou Brock
CF: Tommy Davis
RF: Dave Winfield
DH: Don Baylor
SP: Sandy Koufax
SP: Don Drysdale
SP: Don Sutton
SP: Fergie Jenkins
SP: Nolan Ryan
RP: Ron Perranoski
M: Walter Alston
Notable Events and Chronology for Willie Davis Career
“I used to love to watch Willie run the bases… He took a lot of pride in his baserunning. He was a good man and a good ballplayer. I had a great deal of respect for him.” – Manny Mota
As a youngster, Davis moved to Los Angeles, California, where he was a three-sport standout in baseball, basketball, and track & field at Theodore Roosevelt High School. He once ran a 9.5-second 100-yard dash, and set a city record in the long jump of 25 feet 5 inches (7.75 m). Discovered by the Dodgers scout, Kenny Myers, Davis signed with the ballclub upon graduating from Roosevelt in 1958. While playing for Reno, he scored from first base on a single nine times in one season.
Best known for his speed and defense, Willie Davis was a star of the 1960s and 1970s who played eighteen years in the majors, mostly with the Los Angeles Dodgers. A two-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner, he also led the National League in triples twice during his career.
Signed by the Dodgers in 1958, Davis hit .352 with 15 home runs and 16 triples with the Reno Silver Sox in 1959 to win the California League Most Valuable Player award. The following summer, 1960, with the Spokane Indians, he hit .346 with 12 homers, 26 triples, and 30 stolen bases and captured the Pacific Coast League MVP as well as The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year award. That season, he also played in 22 late-season games with the Dodgers, as a 20 year old, hitting .318.
Davis won the center field job with the Dodgers in 1961 after three players (Don Demeter, Duke Snider, and Tommy Davis) had shared it the previous year, and in 1962, he paced the NL with 10 triples.
While Davis was with the Dodgers, they reached the World Series three times, but he struggled in the postseason. In the 1963 World Series, the Dodgers swept the New York Yankees, but Davis managed to hit just .167 and struck out six times in the postseason that year. Two years later, in 1965 World Series, he hit .231 and did not drive in a run as his team defeated the Minnesota Twins in seven games. He hit only .063 in 1966 World Series and committed three errors in the fifth inning of Game Two, as the Dodgers went down in defeat to the Baltimore Orioles in four games.
Despite his struggles in the postseason, Davis remained a solid competitor for Los Angeles. In 1969, he hit a career-best .311 and put together a 31 game hitting streak, the longest in the NL since Tommy Holmes hit in 37 straight games in 1945 and the longest in franchise history, including the team’s years in Brooklyn.
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Factoids, Quotes, Milestones and Odd Facts
Played For
Los Angeles Dodgers (1960-1973)
Montreal Expos (1974)
Texas Rangers (1975)
St. Louis Cardinals (1975)
San Diego Padres (1976)
California Angels (1979)
Similar: Jose Cardenal, Willie Wilson
Linked: Tommy Davis, who was no relation, played alongside Willie in the Dodgers’ outfield from 1960 to 1966… Maury Wills teamed with Willie Davis for 136 stolen bases in 1962, the highest total by teammates in history at that time. Davis was probably the fastest man to never lead his league in steals.
Best Season, 1962
In his sophomore season, 22-year old Davis played center field, hit .285, and swiped 32 bases. He scored 103 runs with 10 triples, 21 homers and 85 RBI. He and Maury Wills provided speed at the top of the Dodgers lineup. LA lost a special playoff for the NL pennant, to the Giants.
Awards and Honors
1971 NL Gold Glove
1972 NL Gold Glove
1973 NL Gold Glove
Post-Season Appearances
1963 World Series
1965 World Series
1966 World Series
1979 American League Championship Series
Where He Played: Davis played more than 2,200 games in center field.
Post-Season Notes
In the fifth inning of Game Two of the 1966 World Series, Davis committed not one, not two, but three errors. The previous fall, Davis had stolen three bases in a World Series game against the Twins, setting a record.
Milestones
At the age of 31, Davis had nearly an even chance to get to 3,000 hits. But then, at the age of 34-35, his legs abandoned him and he was done. He played in Japan and tried to make a comeback, but he was unable to get out of the 2,500-hit range.
Hitting Streaks
31 games (1969)
31 games (1969)
25 games (1971)
25 games (1971)
Transactions
June 20, 1958: Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent; December 5, 1973: Traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Montreal Expos for Mike Marshall; December 5, 1974: Traded by the Montreal Expos to the Texas Rangers for Don Stanhouse and Pete Mackanin; June 4, 1975: Traded by the Texas Rangers to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ed Brinkman and Tommy Moore; October 20, 1975: Traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the San Diego Padres for Dick Sharon; January 22, 1977: Released by the San Diego Padres; March 27, 1979: Signed as a Free Agent with the California Angels.
The Hitting Streak
On the morning of August 1, 1969, Willie Davis was hitting .260, and the Dodgers were two games behind the Braves in the National League West race. That night against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, Davis went 1-for-4 in a loss, but a hitting streak had begun. The next two games against the Cardinals, Davis was 2-for-4, and against Pittsburgh on the 5th, 6th and 8th, he enjoyed three-hit games. He was 15-for-his-last-27. His tear continued as he racked up two multiple-hit games against the Cards in LA, one at Montreal, two at Philadelphia, three straight in Shea against the Mets, and two more against the Expos in Dodger Stadium. When his streak reached 26 games on August 29 against the Phillies, Davis had banged out multiple-hit games in 16 of the games. On September 2, he was 1-for-5 off the Mets, running the batting streak to 30 games, only the 26th time that had occurred in history. Davis extended the string to 31 games the next night, and was stopped on September 4 at San Diego by Dick Kelley and Gary Ross. The next night he took out his revenge, slashing four hits off Joe Niekro, and raising his batting average to .319.
In the 31 games, Davis hit a blistering .435 (54-for-124), raising his season mark 56 points in the process. He scored 20 runs, drove in 23, and stole 11 bases. The Dodgers were 18-13 during Willie’s streak, but were able to gain just one game in the standings. At season’s end, Willie finished at .311 (seventh in the NL), and the Dodgers came in eight games back of the Braves.
All-Star Selections
1971 NL
1973 NL
Replaced
The Dodgers had used several players in center in 1960, including Duke Snider, Don Demeter, and Willie. In ’61, Davis was the starter, where he stayed for the Dodgers for 13 seasons.
Replaced By
The Padres had George Hendrick in center in 1977, the year after Willie was let go.
Best Strength as a Player
Speed
Largest Weakness as a Player
Patience at the plate.
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