#213 Jim Davenport - San Francisco Giants

James Houston Davenport
San Francisco Giants
Shortstop-Second Base

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  170
Born:  August 17, 1933, Siluria, AL
Signed:  Signed by the New York Giants as an amateur free agent before 1955 season
Major League Teams:  San Francisco Giants 1958-1970
As a Manager:  San Francisco Giants 1985
Died:  February 18, 2016, Redwood City, CA (age 82)

Jim Davenport played his entire 13-year big league career with the Giants, making the All-Star team in 1962 and serving as the team's first every day third baseman following its move to San Francisco.  He was the Giants lead-off hitter on opening day 1958, taking the team's first at bat on the West Coast and striking out against the Dodgers' Don Drysdale (#260).  He batted a career high .297 in 1962, with 14 home runs and 58 RBIs and also won the N.L. Gold Glove at third base.

Known for his defense, Davenport led all N.L. third baseman in fielding percentage for three years in a row between 1959 and 1961.  Between July 1966 and August 1968, he played 97 consecutive errorless games at third base.  His sole postseason experience came against the Yankees in the 1962 World Series, in which the Giants lost in seven games.  His 1,501 games with the Giants are the fourth most in San Francisco history behind Willie McCovey (#176) with 2,256, Willie Mays (#250) with 2,095 and Barry Bonds with 1,976.

After his playing days, he served as a coach and manager mostly in the Giants' organization, with brief stops with the Padres, Phillies, Indians and Tigers.  He was the Giants' manager to start the 1985 season, but was fired in favor of Roger Craig (#411) after a 56-88 start to the season.  After he had passed away in 2016, the Giants wore a memorial patch in his honor on their jerseys during that season.

Building the Set
February 13, 2020 from Los Angeles, CA - Card #55

eBay can be a dangerous place during long work days in the winter, and on a long work day in early February I found myself once again browsing through listings from a 1965 Topps set break from Greg Morris Cards.  I again bid on 20 cards, placing my maximum bid on each of the 20 and then vowing not to go back and increase my bid if someone else came in over me.  I stuck to my vow, and came away with another 11 new cards for our set, including this Davenport card.  I was the sole bidder on the card and it was mine with a winning bid of just $0.79.

The Card

1986 Tastykake Phillies #2

After reading about Davenport's defensive prowess at third base, I was a little surprised to see the "SS-2B" position listing on his 1965 Topps card.  In 1964, Jose Pagan (#575) got most of the team's starts at third, with Davenport starting 38 games at short, 22 games at second and 16 games at third.  Topps tried to keep up with his position switching on his cards and here's a tally of the position listing on his 13 flagship cards:

3B - 9
3B-SS - 2
3B-2B - 1
SS-2B - 1

Flipping to the back of the card, Davenport's 1955 batting title came as a member of the El Dorado Oilers, the Class C team at the time for the Giants.

Giants Team Set

1965 Season
For most of the 1965 season, the Giants utilized an infield of Hal Lanier (#118) at second, Jim Ray Hart (#395) at third and Dick Schofield (#218) at shortstop.  Davenport appeared in 106 games, spelling all three infielders throughout the season.  He hit .251 with 4 home runs and 31 RBIs in this super utility role.

Phillies Career
Jim Davenport joined the Phillies for their 1986 season as manager John Felske's third base coach.  He held the role for two years, lasting just as long as Felske did as the team's manager.  Dave Bristol had been the club's third base coach in 1985, and Davenport's tenure marked the last short-term third base coach for the franchise for quite a while.  Larry Bowa would hold the job from 1988 to 1996 (9 seasons), followed by John Vukovich from 1997 to 2004 (8 seasons).

1958 Topps #413

1962 Topps #9

1967 Topps #441

1970 Topps #378

1985 Topps Traded #27T

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1958 Topps #413
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (14):  1958-1970, 1985
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1989 Pacific Legends II #118

100 - Davenport non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/16/20.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.

Prior Card:  #212 Ron Brand - Houston Astros

Next Card:  #214 Bob Purkey - St. Louis Cardinals