Ron Davis (pitcher) - Life and Career

Life and Career

Davis was born in Houston, Texas. Standing 6' 4", he was a hard throwing right-handed relief pitcher. During his career he appeared in 481 games all in relief and recorded 130 saves.

Originally drafted by the Chicago Cubs, he was traded while still in the minor leagues to the New York Yankees in 1978. While in New York he was given the opportunity to become the team's closer after the injury to All-Star relief pitcher Rich Gossage. Also, while with the Yankees, he was one of the first pitchers ever to be used exclusively as a middle-inning "set-up" pitcher for his team's closer. For two seasons, 1980 and 1981, Davis and Gossage were an effective tandem, and many teams have followed this pitching formula to this day (arguably the most successful being the 1990 Cincinnati Reds "Nasty Boys", where Norm Charlton and Rob Dibble would set up for closer Randy Myers).

Davis still holds the New York Yankee team record for most consecutive strikeouts in a single game (8) on May 4, 1981 against the California Angels. This accomplishment also gives him the team record for most strikeouts by a relief pitcher in a single game.

In April 1982, Davis was traded to the Minnesota Twins, along with Greg Gagne, in exchange for Roy Smalley. Among Twins fans, with whom he came to be known as Ron "Boom-Boom" Davis, his name is still synonymous with ineffective relief pitching, despite finishing in the top 5 for saves in the A.L. in three of his five seasons with the team.

In 1984, Davis tied the record for blown saves in a single season with 14. No one since has blown this many saves in a single season.http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=davisro02

In 1986, his last year with the Twins, Davis began the year with two saves in April. These would be the last saves of his career. He gave up his first runs of that season in a game against the California Angels. After hitting the first batter he faced, Davis eventually loaded the bases and allowed the game tying run to score by throwing a wild pitch. In the bottom of the ninth, he then gave up a three run home run to lose the game. In another infamous game that year against the Boston Red Sox, he came on in a save situation in the ninth inning. After getting his first two batters out, he loaded the bases and then issued a walk to force in the tying run. He then hit the next batter with a pitch to force in the winning run. With that loss, Davis lost his closer's role and was later traded to the Chicago Cubs in mid-season. He was used sparingly in relief the rest of his career.

After leaving MLB Baseball, he pitched for the Sun City Rays, of the short-lived Senior Professional Baseball Association (source: Pacific's 1991 Sr. Professional Baseball card no. 115).

During the 1981 baseball strike, Davis worked as a waiter at a restaurant of the nearby Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City. Later on, the hotel had two walkways collapse on July 18, killing 113, injuring 186. It was reported by the media that Davis helped in the rescue efforts of this event.

Ron's son, Ike Davis was selected in the first round, number 18 overall, by the New York Mets in the 2008 MLB Draft. When Ike was a youth, he attended a five-day baseball fundamentals camp that Ron runs for children ages 5–14, and Ron was Ike's little league coach until Ike was 14. He would throw his son batting practice in high school.

In April 2010, Ike debuted in the major leagues for the Mets.

He and his son are the 197th father-son combination to have both played in the major leagues.