Bob Davis

Bob Davis pitched for the Kansas City Athletics in the latter parts of the 1958 and 1960 seasons. He should not be confused with the Bob Davis who played in the 70s and 80s, or with any of the countless other Bob Davises who have lived on this earth; I have learned that researching someone named “Bob Davis” is an extremely difficult task.

Our Bob was from Great Neck, New York, and unlike most major league baseball players he was Jewish, wore glasses, and graduated from Yale. He was a star pitcher for Yale, for coach Ethan Allen, and pitched a no-hitter his senior year. After graduation he was signed by the Athletics organization and spent the remainder of the season with Burlington of the Class C Provincial League and Savannah of the Class A Sally League. He spent the 1956 season with the Columbia Gems of the Sally League and had an ERA of 6.00, which earned him another year with the same team; in 1957 he cut his ERA almost in half to 3.12. In 1958 with the Little Rock Travelers of the Class AA Southern Association he had an 11-8 record and 2.17 ERA when he was called up to Kansas City in late July. He looked good in his debut, a start, even though he lost the game; the game story in the Kansas City Star mentioned “Davis enjoyed the distinction of being the first youngster actually developed in the A’s farm system since the club was moved to Kansas City.” But things went downhill quickly, and he wound up sitting at the end of the bullpen with a 7.84 ERA, only getting into eight games.

Bob spent most of 1959 with the Shreveport Sports of the Southern Association, ending up with a 16-12 record and a 4.37 ERA, then got into two games with the Portland Beavers of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League. In 1960 he was at AAA again, now with the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers of the American Association, and he had a 4.73 ERA, mostly in relief, when the Athletics called him up again in July. This time he pitched much better than in 1958, with a 3.66 ERA in 21 relief appearances. In December he was selected by the Washington Senators in the American League expansion draft and was immediately traded to the other expansion team, the Los Angeles Angels. A February 28, 1961, AP report said that he was a holdout:

“I’m not sure Davis wants to play baseball, judging from his attitude,” [Angel GM Fred] Haney remarked.

 The Yale University graduate who doubled as a psychiatric therapist has sent back four contracts unsigned.

“We’re $6,000 apart,” Haney revealed.

On March 7 the San Diego Union, in its report on the Angels’ spring training, mentioned “No word from holdout hurler Bob Davis, who is reported in Florida.” This is the last mention of Bob I can find, but apparently he decided to retire from baseball and return to Yale, where he earned a Master’s degree in history. He died December 22, 2001, in New York City.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/D/Pdavib102.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/davisbo01.shtml

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=10526