Virgil Davis Marquee

b. December 20, 1904 · St. Louis Cardinals 1928, 1934–1936, Philadelphia Phillies 1928–1933, 1938–1939, Cincinnati Reds 1937–1938, Pittsburgh Pirates 1940–1941, 1944–1945

Virgil Davis, known as Spud, batted .308 across sixteen seasons, which is the highest career average of any catcher with as many games and is not much discussed. He hit .349 for Philadelphia in 1933 and finished second in the National League batting race.

St. Louis traded for him twice, and he caught for the 1934 Cardinals whose clubhouse of Dizzy Dean and Pepper Martin became known as the Gashouse Gang, winning a World Series that autumn. Cincinnati, Philadelphia again and Pittsburgh took the rest.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1904, Davis collected 1,312 hits and 647 runs batted in across 1,458 games, later managing Pittsburgh briefly. Davis was seventy-nine at his death in August 1984.

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1928	PHI/STL	69	168	17	47	2	0	3	19	16	11	0	.280
1929	PHI	98	263	31	90	18	0	7	48	19	17	1	.342
1930	PHI	106	329	41	103	16	1	14	65	17	20	1	.313
1931	PHI	120	393	30	128	32	1	4	51	36	28	0	.326
1932	PHI	125	402	44	135	23	5	14	70	40	39	1	.336
1933	PHI	141	495	51	173	28	3	9	65	32	24	2	.349
1934	STL	107	347	45	104	22	4	9	65	34	27	0	.300
1935	STL	102	315	28	100	24	2	1	60	33	30	0	.317
1936	STL	112	363	24	99	26	2	4	59	35	34	0	.273
1937	CIN	76	209	19	56	10	1	3	33	23	15	0	.268
1938	CIN/PHI	82	251	14	59	8	0	2	24	19	20	1	.235
1939	PHI	87	202	10	62	8	1	0	23	24	20	0	.307
1940	PIT	99	285	23	93	14	1	5	39	35	20	0	.326
1941	PIT	57	107	3	27	4	1	0	6	11	11	0	.252
1944	PIT	54	93	6	28	7	0	2	14	10	8	0	.301
1945	PIT	23	33	2	8	2	0	0	6	2	2	0	.242
Career	—	1458	4255	388	1312	244	22	77	647	386	326	6	.308

On this day & linked events

1904

Born December 20, 1904

Birmingham, AL, USA

1984

Died August 14, 1984

1928

Major-league debut: Virgil Davis

Virgil Davis made a major-league debut on April 30, 1928.

1945

Final major-league game: Virgil Davis

Virgil Davis played a final major-league game on September 5, 1945.

Image: Goudey, public domain