Sports History Archive Sourced daily
Willie Davis

Willie Davis Marquee

b. April 15, 1940 · Los Angeles Dodgers 1960–1973, Montreal Expos 1974, Texas Rangers 1975, St. Louis Cardinals 1975, San Diego Padres 1976, California Angels 1979

He got 2,091 hits for the Dodgers, more than anyone has since the club moved west, and 2,561 in eighteen seasons with 398 stolen bases, 138 triples and a .279 average. He hit in 31 straight games in 1969, which is still the club's longest streak, and won three Gold Gloves in center field.

In the fifth inning of the second game of the 1966 World Series he lost two fly balls in the sun and threw the ball away trying to recover, three errors in one inning, and Baltimore won 6-0 on the way to a sweep. Sandy Koufax was pitching. It is the last game Koufax ever pitched.

He was fast enough that the Dodgers timed him at 9.5 seconds for a hundred yards in high school, and he long-jumped 25 feet. He became a practising Buddhist in the 1970s and chanted in the clubhouse, which his teammates found variously calming and otherwise. No writers' ballot listed him. He died in 2010, at sixty-nine.

Honors

AwardTimesYears
All-Star selection 2 1971, 1973
Gold Glove 3 1971, 1972, 1973
Player of the Week 1 1973
The Sporting News All-Star 1 1971

Batting, season by season

YearTeam GABR H2B3B HRRBIBB SOSBAVG
1960 LAD 22881228 612 104123 .318
1961 LAD 1283395686 19612 45274612 .254
1962 LAD 157600103171 181021 85427232 .285
1963 LAD 15651560126 1989 60256125 .245
1964 LAD 15761391180 23712 77225942 .294
1965 LAD 14255852133 24310 57148125 .238
1966 LAD 15362474177 31611 61156821 .284
1967 LAD 14356965146 2796 41296520 .257
1968 LAD 16064386161 24107 31318836 .250
1969 LAD 12949866155 23811 59333924 .311
1970 LAD 14659392181 23168 93295438 .305
1971 LAD 15864184198 331010 74234720 .309
1972 LAD 14961581178 22719 79276120 .289
1973 LAD 15259982171 29916 77296217 .285
1974 MON 15361186180 27912 89276925 .295
1975 STL/TEX 14051957144 27811 67185223 .277
1976 SDP 14149361132 18105 46193414 .268
1979 CAL 4356914 210 2471 .250
Career 2429917412172561 395138182 1053418977398 .279

On this day & linked events

1940

Born April 15, 1940

Mineral Springs, AR, USA

2010

Died March 9, 2010

1960

Major-league debut: Willie Davis

Willie Davis made a major-league debut on September 8, 1960.

1979

Final major-league game: Willie Davis

Willie Davis played a final major-league game on September 30, 1979.

Image: Unknown author Unknown, public domain