The Strange Chicago Sojourn of Tommy Davis
Chicago was not kind to former two-time batting champion
By William S. Bike
Former Major League Baseball star Tommy Davis died at the beginning of April, and the coast-centric national news reports of course focused on his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, where Davis did win two batting championships and played in two World Series.
As usual, however, the national media have glossed over the interesting Chicago parts of his baseball life.
In an 18-year career, Davis had stability as a star for the Dodgers his first eight years, and then bounced around for the next ten. Inexplicably. Because he played not just well, but usually great, and then inevitably would be traded or released outright.
For the 1967 season, the Dodgers traded Davis to the New York Mets, where he had a team-best .302 average, 32 doubles, 16 home runs, 174 hits, 72 runs, and 73 RBIs. Davis considered that his greatest year.
Yet after only one year, the Mets traded Davis to the Chicago White Sox. This trade actually can be explained; Gil Hodges insisted when he was hired as Mets manager that the Mets had to trade for White Sox star Tommie Agee, and you have to give up a good player to get a good player.
