Tommy Davis

Herman Thomas Davis Jr. (March 21, 1939 – April 3, 2022) was an American professional baseball left fielder, third baseman, designated hitter, and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1959 to 1976 for ten different teams, most prominently for the Los Angeles Dodgers where he was a two-time National League batting champion and was a member of the 1963 World Series winning team.

During an 18-year baseball career, Davis batted .294 with 153 home runs, 2,121 hits and 1,052 runs batted in (RBI) in 1,999 career games. He was also a talented pinch hitter, batting .307 (62-for-202) in his career. In 1962, he finished third in the MVP voting after leading the major leagues in batting average, hits and runs batted in.

He attended Boys High School in Brooklyn, where he was a basketball teammate of future Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens and played for coach Mickey Fisher. He was also a long jumper on the school's track and field team with record breaker Bernard Lowther. In 1956, he was considering signing with the New York Yankees, but received a phone call from Jackie Robinson who convinced him to sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers instead.

Professional career Minor league years Signing out of high school, Davis began his minor league career for the Class-D Hornell Dodgers of the Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League in 1956 before moving to the Kokomo Dodgers of the Midwest League the following season where he won a batting title. During his time in Kokomo, Davis credited manager Pete Reiser for helping him grow as player, recalling years later that Reiser encouraged him to be a more aggressive hitter and base runner.

In 1958, he was promoted to the Double-A Victoria Rosebuds of the Texas League where he performed well despite playing with an injured wrist. Davis recalled facing racial discrimination while in Victoria, remarking years later: "The more they yelled, the harder I played." Towards the end of the season, Davis was promoted again, this time to the Triple-A Montreal Royals of the International League where he won the year-end Governors' Cup with the team, defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in five games.

Davis was moved to the Spokane Indians of the Pacific Coast League for the 1959 season, where he won another batting title.

Major League years Los Angeles Dodgers

Davis made the Los Angeles Dodgers—who had moved from Brooklyn to the west coast prior to the 1958 season—during spring training 1960 and 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. His 230 hits in 1962 were the most in a season by any player between 1937 and 1969, while his 153 RBI, a franchise record, was the highest total reached between 1949 and 1998. He also had career bests with 27 home runs, 120 runs, and nine triples as the Dodgers finished the regular schedule tied for first place with the San Francisco Giants, but lost a three-game playoff.

In two separate games from 1961 and 1962, Davis beat future Hall of Famer Bob Gibson with a solo home run, both times helping teammate Sandy Koufax win the game by a score of 1–0. On May 25, 1961, at Sportsman Park, Gibson and Koufax matched six scoreless innings before Davis hit a home run in the seventh for the only run of the game. The following season, on June 18 at Dodger Stadium, after the two pitchers matched eight scoreless innings, Davis hit a walk-off home run off Gibson. Koufax, who was a Brooklyn native like Davis, would joke after one of the games, "Us Brooklyn boys got to stick together."

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

To date, Davis's back-to-back batting titles are the only two in the Dodgers' Los Angeles history. Only two right-handed hitters have won multiple National League batting titles since: Bill Madlock with four, and Roberto Clemente with four. Davis won the batting titles while playing his home games at Dodger Stadium, well known to be a pitcher-friendly ballpark.

Davis slumped to .275 in 1964 as the Dodgers finished out of contention for the pennant. He batted .302 with 16 home runs and 73 RBI in 154 games during the 1967 season.

In 1968, in what would become the "Year of the Pitcher", Davis led the White Sox in hitting with a .268 average, and posted eight home runs and 50 RBI in 132 games. In October 1968, Davis was selected by the Seattle Pilots in the expansion draft. The following season, he batted .271 with six home runs and 80 RBI in 123 games with the Pilots before being traded to the Houston Astros, where he hit .241 with a home run and 9 RBI; his 20 stolen bases that year were a career high.

Davis began 1970 with Houston, hitting .282 with three home runs and 30 RBI in 57 games before his contract was sold to the Oakland Athletics in June; he hit .290 with a home run and 27 RBI in 66 games with the A's before being sent to the Chicago Cubs for the last two weeks of the season. Also in 1974, he won the Outstanding Designated Hitter Award (later renamed for Edgar Martínez). He played in two American League Championship Series (both times, in 1973 and 1974, the Orioles lost to the eventual World Series champion Oakland Athletics).

Post-retirement career in baseball Davis stayed in baseball after retiring as a player. He worked for the Dodgers as a minor-league instructor and also as part of the community relations department. He also served one year as the hitting coach for the 1981 Seattle Mariners before returning to work for the Dodgers.

Personal life Davis was married twice and had six children. He had four with his first wife, three daughters and a son: Lauren, Carlyn, Leslie, and Herman III; and two daughters, Morgana and Noelle, with his second wife, Carol.

He died on April 3, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona, aged 83. Davis was survived by his second wife, his children, and a number of grandchildren.