The Orioles announced this morning that two-time MLB batting champion Tommy Davis has passed away. He was 83 years old.
Davis had a lengthy professional career, appearing in parts of 18 big league seasons. He broke in with a single game for the Dodgers in 1959, then finished fifth in NL Rookie of the Year balloting the following season. The right-handed hitting Davis would quickly go on to a lot of success in Los Angeles, particularly beginning with his age-23 campaign in 1962.
During that 1962 season, Davis hit .346/.374/.535 with a personal-best 27 home runs. He led the majors in batting average, hits (230) and RBI (153), helping the team to a 102-win season. Davis was selected to the All-Star game and finished third in that year’s NL MVP voting behind teammate Maury Wills and Willie Mays. He followed up that excellent showing with another batting title and All-Star appearance, hitting .326/.359/.457 en route to an eighth-place finish in MVP voting. Davis collected six hits in that year’s World Series, a four-game sweep over the Yankees.
Davis would stay in L.A. through 1966 before beginning a second act that saw him bounce around the league. He was traded to the Mets in advance of the 1967 campaign. After a season in Queens, New York flipped him to the White Sox. He played in Chicago in 1968, then split the following season between the Pilots and Astros. Davis played with Houston, the A’s and the Cubs in 1970 before returning to Oakland the year after. After a bounceback campaign that saw him hit .324 in half a season’s worth of playing time, Davis struggled with the Cubs and Orioles in 1972 but found a new gear in his mid-30s.
Working exclusively as a designated hitter from that point forth, Davis thrived. He posted back-to-back above-average offensive showings in Baltimore in 1973-74. He remained an Oriole through 1975 and suited up with two more teams — the Angels and Royals — before retiring after the ’76 campaign.
That Davis stuck around for so long and caught the attention of so many teams was a testament to his strong contact skills. He retired a career .294/.329/.405 hitter, having eclipsed more than 2,100 hits. The Brooklyn native tallied 272 doubles, 153 homers and drove in 1,052 runs and came just one game shy of 2,000 in the majors. MLBTR sends our condolences to Davis’ family, friends, former teammates and loved ones.
Thoughts and prayers
Great player who I mostly saw at the tail end of his career. Prayers to the family.
Just a pure hitter. RIP.
One of the first DHs.
My prays are for his family. Been a Dodger fan since the ’50s
Plus, Davis was a big star thanks to Jim Bouton in his book Ball Four
May, Tommy Davis rest in peace!
JB brought attention to many ballplayers across the race barrier back then didn’t he lefty.
If remember correctly.. Davis was another great who had problems with his wheels for his near entire career after either an ankle, or knee injury early on.
He broke an ankle in ’65.
Interesting thing about Davis was that he never had more than 38BB or 71K in a single season.
The big national story that everybody picked up said he helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 1963. It was 1965,
I could have cried.
I wish some of those current would-be-sports-writers would check their facts like you guys do here on Trade Rumors.
I was intending to remember the writer’s name and slap him around online, but then I told myself that is not a name I even care to remember.
Fred, you need to check your facts before you start criticizing.
The Dodgers won the Series in 1963 AND 1965.
(I’ll probably get slapped around some for this.) OUCH
Lol. Well played.
Dude was a damn good ballplayer. RIP.
He is forever linked to my life as a baseball fan. At the end of the 1963 season, the newspaper had a picture of the two batting title winners, Tommy Davis and YAZ. I was hooked. Good bless Tommy Davis, may he Rest In Peace.
RIP.
RIP, Mr. Davis.
Tommy Davis was my very first “favorite Dodger”. Eight years old, I fell in love with baseball and the Dodgers in 1962. While the season did not end well, I still have incredible memories of that first season of Dodger Stadium. My most vivid recollections include having the good fortune to attend Sandy Koufax’s first no-hitter with my grandfather on a beautiful Saturday evening in June and tracking, every day for six months, Tommy’s wonderful season that culminated in his winning the NL batting title.
Tommy Davis was my first hero. He was a strong, quiet, talented, respected and really cool man and ballplayer. Sixty years later, I remain a devoted fan of the Dodgers. More than any other player or person associated with the team, including the great Vin Scully, Tommy Davis influenced my devotion. Rest in peace Tommy.
Love your story and totally respect your love for the Dodgers…that said I am a life long Dodger hater do to circumstances pertaining to another Davis…Willie…I used to sneak into jack Murphy stadium to get autographs and be around baseball…I asked Willie for an auto graph he grabbed my mitt and walked off into the clubhouse.. I screamed chased him told security and it was returned…unsigned.. love your story better….Best of luck this year…GO PADRES!
I heard it while watching the Angels/Dodgers game last night.
Sad news, but where the reports yesterday?
I heard it too watching the Dodger broadcast for a different perspective.
Another one of the men who made the book “Ball Four” a great read passes on. Thanks for the memories Tommy.
I had a chance to talk with him when he visited Madison, WI about ten years ago. He was a very nice man. He was also a tremendous hitter who missed out on the HIF because of injury. RIP Mr Davis
Mets traded Davis + others for Agee and Weiss.
RIP, Tommy. He gave batting lessons to my little league team when I was 11. Gave us 15 or so lessons – the whole team of a dozen kids or so. He was kind, patient, humble. My dad was freaking out over Tommy EFFIN Davis, but I was just a stubborn kid who didn’t want to listen. Tommy would make us finish our swing by slapping the barrel of the bat on our lead shoulder, and I just never felt comfortable with it. But Tommy would gently correct and remind with a smile. I wish I appreciated that time with him more when I was a kid. We lost a good one.
Stats don’t always give you the full picture. Tommy Davis always hit the ball HARD! Heard this said about him:
“He could get out of bed in the middle of winter and hit a line drive.”
RIP Tommy. If he could’ve fielded half as well as he hit, he’d be in the HOF. Boy, could he hit.
I never saw him at his peak, remembering him when I was a kid during his latter years with the Orioles. Could still hit. Man, 153 RBI in one season! RIP.
RIP Tommy,a great dodger, now he is with his brother Willie, another heck of a player.
The dude from In Living Colour?
The Dodgers tweeted this yesterday and the LA Times had an obituary online yesterday as well.
Davis may have been the only guy to play for LAD and LAA, CHC and CWS, NYY and NYM. If he had played for the Giants and Expos, he would have played for all current two market teams, having played very well for both OAK and especially BAL, where he nearly won a third batting title in the 1970s (He had previously won the NL crown in 1962 and 1963 with LAD).
He worked in the Dodgers community relations department for years until he retired in 2021.
Rest in peace, Tommy Davis…
His 1962 season was a monster! Batting title (.346), 230 hits, 153 RBI and 27 homers, wow! I wonder how many players can lay claim to 200 plus hits and over 150 RBI in a single season?
more often then you’d think.
so, i looked it up.
there are 9 seasons where a guy drove in 170 runs or more.
200 or more hits happened in 8 of them (the lone one that didn’t? 197 hits. and all are pre expansion, so 154 game seasons, btw).
now, for expansion (i.e. 1961 or later), i found the answer.
it’s just 3 (tommy in 1962, albert belle in 1998, and miguel tejada in 2004. sammy sosa in 1998 fell 2 hits shy of it).
for the record, 43 times has a player done 150 rbi’s, 23 of those times, also had 200 hits (with 9 of the top 10 rbi seasons doing it and 14 of the 19 seasons at 160 rbi’s or more having done it).
He broke up a Nolan Ryan no hitter in the late innings when he was on the O’s. I was listening on the radio and that was one guy I knew could do it.
He needs to be in Cooperstown. Goodnight sweet prince.
RIP
He played forever
His 230 hits and 153 RBI in 1962 are still Dodgers all-time records.