Former Dodgers general manager Buzzie Bavasi once said of center fielder Willie Davis: “There was nothing more exciting than to watch Willie run out a triple.”
Bavasi would then finish the statement: “He could have been a Hall of Famer, but he had million-dollar legs and a 10-cent head.”
Davis, one of the fastest, flashiest and electrifying players of his generation when
he roamed the Dodger outfield in the 1960s and ’70s, but someone who eventually couldn’t outrun his own mistakes, was found dead Tuesday at his home in Burbank. He was 69.
Burbank police Sgt. Robert Quesada said Davis was found by a neighbor, and no foul play is suspected.
Dodger fans remember how the pitch of Vin Scully’s voice would rise when Davis hit a ball into the gap, following “The 3 Dog” as he rounded first and flew into third with his helmet somewhere near second base. Davis got the nickname because he wore No. 3, often batted third in the lineup and annually led the team in triples.
He was one of Los Angeles’ most gifted homegrown products, a four-sport star at L.A.’s Roosevelt High who had 9.5-second speed in the 100-yard dash and set a state record in the long jump. Scout Kenny Myers signed Davis during the summer of 1958, the year the Dodgers moved to L.A., and promised him within two years he’d be the team’s starting center fielder. It came true; Davis replaced future Hall of Famer Duke Snider full-time by 1961.
In his 14 seasons with the team, Davis was a two-time National League All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove winner, and set L.A.-franchise records for hits (2,091), extra-base hits (585), at-bats (7,495), runs (1,004), triples (110) and total bases (3,094). A career .279 hitter, Davis still has the mark for the Dodgers’ all-time hitting streak, with 31 games in 1969.
Author Roger Angell wrote about him in 1962: “(Davis) is the first player I have ever been tempted to compare to Willie Mays. Speed, sureness, a fine arm, power, a picture swing – he lacks nothing.”
On a Dodger team that made three trips to the World Series in the ’60s on pitching and speed, the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Davis – pushing along Maury Wills, and running down fly balls behind Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale – was a star attraction.
Although he put his name in the record book for most errors in a World Series game – three, all during the fifth inning of Game 2 of the 1966 Fall Classic against Baltimore, in Koufax’s last game – Davis also set a World Series record the year before against Minnesota with three stolen bases in Koufax’s 7-0 victory in Game 5.
But as his legs began to give out on him, his motivation questioned by team officials and following a trade to Montreal (for eventual Cy Young Award-winning relief pitcher Mike Marshall) before the 1974 season, Davis’ life and career began to tailspin. He bounced around to four other teams and two more in Japan before he finished with the Angels in 1979 as a part-time designated hitter.
Bavasi, the Angels’ GM at the time, was again just trying to help Davis out, knowing he had money problems.
“I spent it as soon as I got it because I always knew there would be more,” Davis once told the Montreal Gazette. “I spent it on women, clothes, cars …”
He experimented with Buddhism, and was known as someone moody to deal with. He became very despondent for a long time after his second wife died after falling off a cliff near their home in Hawaii in the late ’70s.
Davis also dealt with post-career drug problems that landed him in jail after he threatened to kill his parents – brandishing a samurai sword – and burn down their Gardena home if they didn’t give him $5,000 in 1996.
The Dodgers tried to help him as well as they could in the past few years, having him as part of the speakers’ bureau so he could council kids who had substance-abuse problems.
During a 2006 interview, Davis said playing in L.A. was a blessing for him.
“People always remembered me; this is my hometown,” he said.
Dodgers owner Frank McCourt said in a statement released by the team: “Willie Davis was beloved by generations of Dodger fans and remains one of the most talented players ever to wear the Dodger uniform. Having spent time with him over the past six years, I know how proud he was to have been a Dodger. He will surely be missed and our sincere thoughts are with his children during this difficult time.”
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