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William Henry Davis
Los Angeles Dodgers
Outfield
Born: April 15, 1940, Mineral Springs, AR
Signed: Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent, June 20, 1958
Major League Teams: Los Angeles Dodgers 1960-1973; Montreal Expos 1974; Texas Rangers 1975; St. Louis Cardinals 1975; San Diego Padres 1976; California Angels 1979
Died: March 9, 2010, Burbank, CA (age 69)
Known originally as the player who replaced Duke Snider in center field for the Dodgers, Willie Davis carved out his own historic Dodgers career, playing in nearly 2,000 games for the club over a 14 year span. Davis won World Series rings with the Dodgers in 1963 and 1965, using his speed at the top of the line-up, along with Maury Wills, to pace the team's offense. His career year came in 1964 when he batted .294 with 42 stolen bases. One of the fastest in the game, Davis led the league in triples twice (1962 and 1970) and stole at least 20 bases in 13 different seasons. Batting a career-high .311 in 1969, he tallied a 31-game hitting streak that season. He was an All-Star in 1971 and 1973, and won three consecutive Gold Gloves between 1971 and 1973. Dealt to the Expos following the 1973 season, Davis would have a final great year in 1974, batting .295 with 12 home runs, 89 RBIs and 25 stolen bases for Montreal. He'd play a final season in the Mexican League at the age of 40 in 1980.
Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (Sports Cards Plus - Cooper City, FL) - Card #578
This is the 94th of 102 cards acquired for our set from the Baseball Card Sports Memorabilia Show, affectionately known as The Philly Show, held in the basement of the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia in early March. We went nuts and left the show needing only 12 more cards to complete our 1965 Topps set, and I wrote about the show in detail over at The Phillies Room. After our 51 card haul from Uncle Dick's, and with more card spending budget still in place, I set out to find another dealer with a binder of 1965 Topps cards with reasonable prices. I had purchased cards from Sports Cards Plus before, finding the last few cards needed for our 1971 Topps set from this dealer back in December 2019.
Settling in, we found 37 cards needed for our set with an average price per card working out to around $6. The lot, including this Davis card, consisted mostly of semi-stars and team cards. After paying for this mini haul, we were officially 13 cards away from a complete set, with one more purchase coming to end the day.
The Card / Dodgers Team Set
The back of the card celebrates Davis obtaining the "stardom that had long been predicted of him." Baseball Reference backs up his .443 (31 for 70) average against the Pirates in 1964. Given his longevity, his accolades and his two World Series rings with the Dodgers, I'm a little surprised the franchise hasn't considered retiring his #3, shown here on the front of his away jersey.
1965 Season
Davis was the everyday centerfielder for the Dodgers, starting 136 games and most often patrolling the outfield with Lou Johnson in left and Ron Fairly (#196) in right. He batted .238 overall in 142 games, with 10 home runs 57 RBIs and 25 stolen bases, which was a distant second to the 94 bases stolen by Wills. In the World Series, Davis played every inning of all seven games, batting .231 with three stolen bases.
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First Mainstream Card: 1961 Topps #506
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (17): 1961-1977
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2001 Topps Archives Autographs #TAA70
150 - Davis non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 10/1/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #434 Dave Morehead - Boston Red Sox
Previous Card: #434 Dave Morehead - Boston Red Sox
Next Card: #436 Don Elston - Chicago Cubs
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