TRADED- 1975 WILLIE DAVIS

Up on the blog today we have a nifty 1975 "traded" card for "3-Dog" Willie Davis, who was heading South from the Montreal Expos to the Texas Rangers:

Coming off of a very nice 1974 season that saw him collect 180 hits and bat .295 with 89 runs batted in for the Expos, Davis was traded to the Rangers on December 5th of '74 for Pete Mackanin and Dan Stanhouse.

He would end up playing in only 42 games for Texas before being traded yet again on June 4th to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ed Brinkman and Tommy Moore.

Back in the National League, he'd hit .291 the rest of the way, driving in 50 runs over his 98 games there.

What an underrated career for the three-time Gold Glove outfielder: 2561 hits, 1217 runs scored, 182 home runs, 398 stolen bases and 1053 runs batted in over 18 seasons, 14 of which were with Los Angeles.
His best year in the Big Leagues was arguably his finest, collecting 198 hits and batting .309 while collecting the first of his three straight Gold Gloves.
Of course, being a National League outfielder through the 1960’s in the age of Mays, Aaron, Clemente and Robinson kept him from All-Star nods, and he only made two of them, in 1971 and 1973.
Nevertheless, by the time he retired he had quite the Major League resume, including leading the league in triples twice, 13 seasons of 20+ stolen bases, and two World Championships (1963 and 1965).

 

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS- WILLIE DAVIS

On the blog today we have another addition to my long-running 1971 "Minor League Days" sub-set, this one for All-Star Los Angeles Dodger outfielder Willie Davis:

  

Davis was absolutely tearing up the Pacific Coast League pitching when this image was taken back in 1960, when the 20-year-old hit .346 with 216 hits, 43 doubles, 26 triples and 12 homers in 147 games and 624 at-bats.

This was after a 1959 season that saw him hit .352 for the Reno Silver Sox and Green Bay Blue Jays, collecting 191 hits and scoring 135 runs in just 124 games as a 19-year-old.

He made his MLB debut at the end of the 1960 season, hitting .318 over 22 games, scoring 12 and driving in 10, but the tables were set for him to become a top-notch ballplayer for years to come.

What an underrated career for the three-time Gold Glove outfielder: 2561 hits, 1217 runs scored, 182 home runs, 398 stolen bases and 1053 runs batted in over 18 seasons, 14 of which were with Los Angeles.
His best year in the Big Leagues was arguably his finest, collecting 198 hits and batting .309 while collecting the first of his three straight Gold Gloves.
Of course, being a National League outfielder through the 1960’s in the age of Mays, Aaron, Clemente and Robinson kept him from All-Star nods, and he only made two of them, in 1971 and 1973.
Nevertheless, by the time he retired he had quite the Major League resume, including leading the league in triples twice, 13 seasons of 20+ stolen bases, and two World Championships (1963 and 1965).

"3-Dog" was certainly overshadowed by some of his contemporaries, but nevertheless put together an excellent 18-year Major League career.

 

1975 IN-ACTION: WILLIE DAVIS

Time to go and add “3-Dog” Willie Davis to my long-running 1975 “In-Action” set, showing him in his sole season as a member of the Montreal Expos:

Davis had a successful year North of the border, hitting .295 with 180 hits with 86 runs scored and 89 runs batted in with 25 stolen bases at the age of 34.
Somewhat forgotten among his more legendary contemporaries, the man finished his career with 2561 hits and 398 stolen bases along with 182 homers, with 1217 runs scored and 1053 RBIs between 1960 and 1979.
Along the way he was named to two All-Star games and won three Gold Gloves, though that was all later on in his career after the age of 30 generally because he was up against some crazy competition, namely guys like Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson, with others like Curt Flood and Vada Pinson right behind them.
The National League was absolutely STACKED with legendary talent in the outfield during the 1960s!

NICKNAMES OF THE 1970'S: 1971 WILLIE "3-DOG" DAVIS

Here’s another nickname card I’ve been meaning to create for some time now: a 1971 edition for former Los Angeles Dodger center fielder Willie Davis, aka “3-Dog”:

What an underrated career for the three-time Gold Glove outfielder: 2561 hits, 1217 runs scored, 182 home runs, 398 stolen bases and 1053 runs batted in over 18 seasons, 14 of which were with Los Angeles.
I chose a 1971 card for him since that year was arguably his finest, collecting 198 hits and batting .309 while collecting the first of his three straight Gold Gloves.
Of course, being a National League outfielder through the 1960’s in the age of Mays, Aaron, Clemente and Robinson kept him from All-Star nods, and he only made two of them, in 1971 and 1973.
Nevertheless, by the time he retired he has quite the Major League resume, including leading the league in triples twice, 13 seasons of 20+ stolen bases, and two World Championships (1963 and 1965).

THEN AND NOW- WILLIE DAVIS 1961-1977

Next up in my “Then and Now” super veteran series is former long time Dodgers center fielder Willie Davis, who capped off a wonderful 18-year career in 1979 with the California Angels, but had his last card in the 1977 Topps set:

Davis came up with the Dodgers as a 20-year old in 1960, just in time to be a part of the organization’s great run which included two world championships in 1963 and 1965, as well as a World Series appearance in 1966.
A speedster who racked up hits and had the occasional power, Davis finished his career with over 2500 hits, 182 home runs and 398 stolen bases, along with a nice .279 batting average in 2429 career games.
Though he played the first 14 years of his career in L.A., Davis would go on to play for five teams over the last four years of his career: Montreal Expos, Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres and the Angels in 1979 after a two-year absence from MLB ball in 1977 and 1978 when he played in Japan.

1976 PROJECT- WILLIE DAVIS RE-DO

Once again “Reader Jim” asked me to redesign a card for his 1976 Project, this one for Willie Davis, who was originally on an airbrushed San Diego Padres card in the 1976 Topps set, but re-done with him as a St. Louis Cardinal, for whom he played the second half of 1975:

A nice action shot of “3-Dog”, who was finishing up an excellent 18-year career in the late-70’s, the first 14 of them as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, including 2 championships in 1963 and 1965.
The last four years of his career were divided among the Montreal Expos (1974), Texas Rangers (1975), Cardinals (1975) and California Angels in 1979 (he didn’t play in 1977/1978).
All told the man collected 2561 hits and a .279 batting average, along with three Gold Gloves, 182 homers, 398 stolen bases, 138 triples and 1217 runs scored over 2429 games.
Excellent numbers for a guy who is easily lost among the elite National League outfielders of his day like Aaron, Mays and Clemente.

MISSING IN ACTION-"IN ACTION" #44: 1972 WILLIE DAVIS

It's time to give former Dodger outfielder Willie Davis a "missing" 1972 in-action card.

So here's what I came up with:

Davis was coming off of one of his best seasons as a Major League player, hitting .309 with 198 hits, 33 doubles, 10 triples and 10 home runs for Los Angeles in 1971, leading to his first all-star nod and the first of three consecutive Gold Glove Awards.

Two years later he would get his second, and actually last all-star selection in an excellent 18-year career that has him topping 2500 hits, 1200 runs scored and 1000 runs batted in.

It's easy to forget what kind of career Davis actually had thanks to contemporaries like Mays, Aaron, Robinson and Clemente manning outfields during the same era.

By the time he retired after a handful of games in 1979, he suited up for the Dodgers (1960-1973), the Expos (1974), the Rangers (part of 1975), the Padres (other part of 1975) and the California Angels (1979 after missing the 1978 season).

On a side-note, never knew he had the nickname "3-Dog". Kind of like it, and it may need to have it's own "Nickname" card on this blog in the future.

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?- PART VI: 1973 WILLIE DAVIS

Here's one that'll leave many people scratching their heads as to "why?"

The 1973 Willie Davis card by Topps, #35.

Perhaps they were dead set on using an "action" shot for Davis? Or maybe they just couldn't get a better image for him? Who knows?

But I have to ask, why on earth would they use THIS image which shows him either getting beaned or brushed back?! It's almost painful to look at!

I don't even know where his helmet went!

Alas, I guess Topps got it right. If there ever was an action-shot, there it is! Too bad the action depicted wasn't necessarily needed to be seen on a baseball card.

I imagine all the Willie Davis fans out there were NOT too happy with this card when it came out. 

On a side-note that's either Tim McCarver or John Bateman looking on as the Phillies catcher. The two catchers were traded for each other in June of 1972 and both wore the same number, so It's pretty tough to see which player it is.

Crazy card from that treasure trove of strange cards: 1973.

Now THAT'S "action"!!!