Willie Davis slides into heaven

Great write up Phil

Fantastic write up
Love the cloud of dust on the slide into second – classic.
When I was elelven or twelve years old (‘63-’64) my buddy’s dad was a member at the then Los Coyotes GC in Buena Park. They had a tourney event to honor and entertain the Dodgers. I can still hear my freind’s father describing how he witnessed Willie hitting out of a fairway bunker and making his shot work with a 3 wood.
Golf Blasphemy according to him, but it worked.
Soon thereafter I tried the trick, and broke the clubhead off the shaft.
My buddy laughed and laughed. I wasn’t laughing that day, but I am now.
Haven’t thought of that day for quite a while. Willie D – against the grain.

Phil: great post.

I, like you, had the honor of seeing Willie Davis live a couple of times and on TV quite a bit. I was young but he made an impression. I remember him as having the longest legs of any baseball player I ever saw. He ran; no, he glided; around centerfield and the bases like noone I can recall. I was bred a Dodger fan and growing up I remember two truly great center fielders: Willie Mays (a Giant, but man what a player) and Willie Davis. Mays was clearly in a class by himself, but for a young, impressionable Dodger fan who somehow understood the importance of center field at a young age, Davis was a man.

I remember a phot from either a scorecard or a yearbook that had Willie and the band 3 Dog Night. Back then the Dodgers, and not the Lakers, truly owned the Hollywood/entertainment scene.

Godspeed, #3!

The Roosevelt High video was amazing. A must watch.

I didn’t know that Willie Davis set a prep record long jumping. A 25 foot long jump for a high schooler is pretty tremendous. My memories of Davis are pretty fuzzy, as I was only 12 when he last played as a Dodger. Back in those days, there weren’t that many television games – Sunday road games and SF road games IIRC – so most of what I knew about Willie was from reading the papers and the backs of baseball cards. I do remember the coverage of his 31-game hitting streak though, which really captured people’s attention. Hats off to the 3 Dog.

I seem to remember Willie also having a streak of getting on base in consecutive PAs over several games, but don’t see mention of it now. It seemed like some sort of record at the time, at least a Dodger record.

The Roosevelt HS video is great. I like the part about the Duke.

7:30am press conference. He’s signing a 1-day deal with the Red Sox.

Kuo, who we knew was pitching Sunday, is starting Sunday in Taiwan

RT @dylanohernandez: Dodgers lineup: Furcal 6, DeWitt 4, Ethier 9, Kemp 8, Giles DH, Johnson 7, Mientkiewicz 3, Green 5, Ellis 2. Padilla SP

not just Abreu, but Abreu at SS!

Abreu SS
Parra CF
C. Jackson LF
Reynolds 3B
Montero C
Snyder DH
Macias RF
Ryal 1B
Ojeda 2B
Haren RHP