Signed as an 18-year-old in 1958, Willie Davis was a ballplayer of many talents and many quirks. A multiple threat in high school, Willie was a basketball star, as well as a right hand hitting lefty pitcher and first baseman with blazing speed. After a makeover courtesy of Dodger scout Kenny Myers, Davis became a left-handed batter and outfielder. It was as an outfielder that Willie Davis made his debut in 1960.<\/p>\n
The intermingling of baseball and acting began almost immediately for the young star. After he tore up the minor leagues in Spokane, a California producer thought the diary of a novice major league baseball player would make for a good documentary. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Biography of a Rookie\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Willie Davis,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was broadcast in May of 1961 on both coasts. Filmed in equal parts at the Davis home and Dodgers Spring Training Camp in Vero Beach, FL, the feature was narrated by news legend Mike Wallace. Said Wallace of Davis the thespian, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I found Willie to be a nice modest kid – and a pretty good actor. He went back to his high school classes smoothly for the camera.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 1<\/sup> Wallace also made mention that a Davis error was caught on film. In the future, errors would taint the legacy of Willie Davis.<\/p>\n 1962 was his coming out as the full-time Dodger centerfielder, where he would be a fixture through the 1973 season. He would lead the league in triples that year and hit 21 home runs, when that number meant something. As a result, Davis got a great deal of press and there was much interest in his personal life. It turned out, that in addition to his promising acting skills, Willie had a strong musical bent. A \u00e2\u20ac\u0153twister at home and a listener on the road,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Davis was consumed by music. 2<\/sup> Having outgrown his youthful affinity for rock and roll, Willie Davis was now into Miles Davis, his roommate Tommy Davis always toting a portable record player and jazz LPs on the road. In addition to his acting and dancing, Davis could really sing. His \u00e2\u20ac\u0153basso profundo\u00e2\u20ac\u009d voice led to some professional singing, though limited to Vin Scully\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s program. 3<\/sup><\/p>\n Davis starred for the 1963 Champs, and began to get the serious attention of Hollywood. He cut a song for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Sound of the Dodgers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d LP, and appeared with teammates on stage. He also lent his talents to the classic Mr. Ed episode \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Leo Durocher Meets Mr. Ed.,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when Ed, a rabid Dodger fan, tries out for the club, bringing his batting and sliding talents to the diamond.<\/p>\n Another Dodger championship came in 1965, with the seven-game series against the Minnesota Twins resulting in the return to the baseball pinnacle for the LA team. Davis hit weakly that series, continuing a season long batting slump. In 1966, Davis returned to form, but in the World Series of that year, an ignominious four-game sweep at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles, Davis made three errors in the Orioles fifth inning, contributing in the negative to a three-run outburst, and providing the baseball world their most lingering image of Davis, albeit an unfair one.<\/p>\n Willie shrugged it off and continued his fine career. He hit a career best .311 in 1969. Also in 1969, leading off the third season of The Flying Nun, <\/em>in the premiere \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Big Game,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Davis is the manager (with Don Drysdale as Umpire) in a game that has Sister Bertille\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s (Sally Field) convent team taking a shellacking, but the orphan Armando hits an accidental home run for a moral victory. Around the corner was Davis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 biggest role, 1970\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Which Way to the Front?<\/em> with star and director Jerry Lewis.<\/p>\n On the heels of his great 1969 campaign, Davis landed a featured role, playing Lincoln, a member of Lewis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 private army. Filming began in January 1970, and several photos show a smiling Davis, dressed in army togs and an anachronistic peace symbol pin. Lewis combined his movie-making and love of baseball by having a catch with the Dodger star during breaks. Like Mike Wallace nine years before, Lewis was impressed by Davis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 acting ability. One veteran screen star commented that Davis \u00e2\u20ac\u0153makes Perry Como look nervous. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a pro before the camera. You would think he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been in the business 20 years.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 4<\/sup><\/p>\n But Willie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main business was baseball, and in 1971 he began a string of success that every Dodger fan had been waiting for since his debut in 1960. Finally, Davis was selected as a National League All-Star in 1971, as well as becoming a Gold Glove Award winner for fielding excellence.\u00c2\u00a0 He also had a role that year in The Love Machine,<\/em> based on the steamy Jacqueline Susann novel about the scheming world, in business and in bed, of network television. There was talk that Davis and teammate Maury Wills would have featured roles in a film entitled Spirit in the Dark<\/em> to be shot after the 1972 season ended.<\/p>\n Two more Gold Gloves followed in 1972 and 1973 (when he made the All-Star team for the second time). Yet the Dodgers traded their best player to the Montreal Expos for relief ace Mike Marshall. Why? Although Davis had turned to Buddhism towards the end of 1971, chants of Nam-myohorenge-kyo ringing through the clubhouse, he was a troubled soul. He had been jailed for failure to pay alimony to his ex-wife, who in their divorce cited him for mental cruelty. This seeming instability made Davis an unwelcome guest, and he would play for five teams from 1974-79. He had problems with Billy Martin in Texas, and he emerged shirtless for no apparent reason in the Cardinals dugout in St. Louis. After 1979, when he appeared sporadically for the California Angels and played in their postseason series against the Orioles, again those Orioles!, in a losing effort, Davis was finished.<\/p>\n The career of Willie Davis was a frustrating one. Although he achieved some real success, he never reached the heights expected of him. His inner demons seemed to sidetrack him from fulfilling his promise. As late as 1996, Davis was in the news for threatening his mother with a samurai sword and ninja stars, both of which he was still clutching when the deputies arrived. It would be nice to think he was rehearsing for a comeback in action movies.<\/p>\n Sadly, this wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the case and yesterday, Willie Davis was found dead in his Burbank home.<\/p>\n Notes<\/span><\/strong> 2. Oates, Bob. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Talking with Willie Davis. Los Angeles<\/em> Herald Examiner. <\/em>5\/16\/62, p. B-12.<\/p>\n 3. Ibid.<\/p>\n 4. Hunter, Bob. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dodgers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Davis Heading for Front- On Screen and in Spikes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d TSN 1\/31\/1970. HOF File.<\/p>\n Bibliography<\/span><\/strong> Oates, Bob. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Talking with Willie Davis. Los Angeles<\/em> Herald Examiner. <\/em>5\/16\/62, p. B-12.<\/p>\n Robinson, Murray. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153TV Gambles on Willie,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d New York<\/em> Journal American,<\/em> 4\/22\/61 HOF File.<\/p>\n AP. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No Charges for ex-Dodger\u00e2\u20ac\u009d New York<\/em> Daily News, <\/em>3\/20\/96, p. 59.<\/p>\n Dodger Dope, TSN<\/em>, 10\/28\/72, p. 17.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In LA Dugout, the Word is Nam-myohorenge-kyo\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Virginian-Pilot, 8\/27\/72, p. E8. HOF File<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Signed as an 18-year-old in 1958, Willie Davis was a ballplayer of many talents and many quirks. A multiple threat in high school, Willie was a basketball star, as well as a right hand hitting lefty pitcher and first baseman with blazing speed. After a makeover courtesy of Dodger scout Kenny Myers, Davis became a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":699,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4235],"tags":[4490,378,4487,4488,4485,1958,626,940,871,4483,4486,191,4491,118,499,4492,4495,4489,4494,4484],"class_list":["post-3214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-stories","tag-acting-skills","tag-baseball-player","tag-basketball-star","tag-basso-profundo","tag-california-producer","tag-centerfielder","tag-dodger","tag-dodgers-spring-training","tag-first-baseman","tag-jazz-lps","tag-kenny-myers","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-mike-wallace","tag-minor-leagues","tag-outfielder","tag-portable-record-player","tag-professio","tag-tommy-davis","tag-vero-beach","tag-willie-davis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/699"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\n1. Robinson, Murray. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153TV Gambles on Willie,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d New York<\/em> Journal American,<\/em> 4\/22\/61 HOF File.<\/p>\n
\nHunter, Bob. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dodgers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Davis Heading for Front- On Screen and in Spikes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d TSN 1\/31\/1970. HOF File.<\/p>\n