Finishing Up With Baseball and Moving On
A convert to Buddhism, Davis constantly fingered his prayer beads and chanted before games. He played his final major league season with the California Angels in 1979, and made two pinch hitting appearances in the American League Championship Series before retiring. In an 18-season career, Davis accumulated a 0.279 batting average with 182 home runs and 1053 RBI in 2429 games played. He also collected 2561 hits and 398 stolen bases. His total of 2237 games in center field ranks behind only Willie Mays (2827) and Tris Speaker (2690) in major league history. In addition to the Los Angeles records he retains, his club mark of 1952 games was surpassed by Bill Russell in 1984; Steve Garvey broke his records of 849 RBI and 321 doubles in 1981 and 1982 respectively. Garvey and Ron Cey passed his Los Angeles club record of 154 home runs in 1979; Davis' record for left-handed hitters was broken by Shawn Green in 2004.
Willie also appeared in several TV programs, including Mr. Ed, The Flying Nun, and Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law. He also was a co-star of the Jerry Lewis comedy film from 1970, Which Way to the Front?. In a 1969 episode of Bewitched Samantha, attending a game at Shea Stadium to see the New York Mets host the Dodgers, remarks "Willie Davis just hit a grand slam!" The episode was filmed August 22, 1969, a date when the Mets coincidentally beat the Dodgers at Shea. In reality, Davis went 2 for 4 in the game, but did not hit a grand slam.
Davis was found dead in his home in Burbank, California on March 9, 2010, by a neighbor who sometimes brought him breakfast. Initial indications show that he most likely died of natural causes. Davis is survived by his two sons, Gregory and Casey, and two daughters, Kimberly and Jennifer.
Willie Davis an Arkansas native was voted #21 greatest Arkansas Sports Figure by Sports Illustrated. The list had the football player with the same name of the Packers listed, but he never even lived in Arkansas, this was a mistake and it was supposed to be William Henry Davis of baseball.
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Famous quotes containing the words finishing, baseball and/or moving:
“Minerva House ... was “a finishing establishment for young ladies,” where some twenty girls of the ages from thirteen to nineteen inclusive, acquired a smattering of everything and a knowledge of nothing.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“Baseball is the religion that worships the obvious and gives thanks that things are exactly as they seem. Instead of celebrating mysteries, baseball rejoices in the absence of mysteries and trusts that, if we watch what is laid before our eyes, down to the last detail, we will cultivate the gift of seeing things as they really are.”
—Thomas Boswell, U.S. sports journalist. “The Church of Baseball,” Baseball: An Illustrated History, ed. Geoffrey C. Ward, Knopf (1994)
“We learn through experience and experiencing, and no one teaches anyone anything. This is as true for the infant moving from kicking to crawling to walking as it is for the scientist with his equations. If the environment permits it, anyone can learn whatever he chooses to learn; and if the individual permits it, the environment will teach him everything it has to teach.”
—Viola Spolin (b. 1911)