Ronald Everette Davis (October 21, 1941 – September 5, 1992) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) during 1962, and from 1966 to 1969, for the Houston Colt .45s / Astros,

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

. He was tall and he weighed 180 pounds and before playing professional baseball he attended

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. Originally signed as an amateur free-agent by the Colt .45s in 1961, Davis made his big league debut on August 1, 1962 at the age of 20 against

Eddie Mathews Edwin Lee Mathews (October 13, 1931 – February 18, 2001) was an American professional baseball third baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 17 seasons for the Boston / Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves (1952–1966); Houston Astros (19 ...

Hank Aaron Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. Considered one ...

and the rest of the

Milwaukee Braves The Milwaukee Braves were a Major League Baseball club that played in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1953 to 1965, having previously played in Boston, Massachusetts, as the Boston Braves. After relocating to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1966 they were rename ...

. In his first big league game, he went 1-for-4. He played in a total of six games in his first big league season, collecting three hits in 14 at-bats for a .214 batting average. He wouldn't play in the big leagues again until 1966, and he came back in fine fashion. In his first game back – on August 6, 1966, he went 3-for-5 against the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

. His early success eventually tapered off, as he finished the season with a .247 batting average. 1967 was the best year of Davis' career. He appeared in 94 games, collecting 73 hits in 285 at-bats for a .256 batting average. He also hit seven home runs and drove in 38 RBI. He started the 1968 season with the Astros, playing in 52 games for them, hitting .212. He was traded from the

Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

to the

Cardinals Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

for

Dick Simpson Richard Charles Simpson (born July 28, 1943) is an American former Major League Baseball right fielder and center fielder. He played from 1962 to 1969 for the Los Angeles / California Angels, Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astro ...

and

Hal Gilson Harold "Hal" Gilson (February 9, 1942 – June 20, 2022) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros in 1968. Nicknamed "Lefty", he was originally signed by the Chicago Cubs in 1961 an ...

before the trade deadline on June 15."Major League Teams Beat Clock with Last-Minute Trading Spurt," ''Schenectady'' (NY) ''Gazette, Monday, June 17, 1968.
Retrieved February 17, 2023. In 33 games with St. Louis, he hit .177. Overall, he hit .203 in 1968. He appeared in the World Series with the Cardinals in 1968 – in two games, he collected no hits in seven at-bats. Following the 1968 season, Davis was traded with minor leaguer Phil Knuckles,

Danny Breeden Danny Richard Breeden (born June 27, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from to for the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago Cubs. Baseball career Breeden was born in Albany, G ...

and

Ed Spiezio Edward Wayne Spiezio (born October 31, 1941) is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1964 to 1972 for the St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. Listed at an ...

for

Dave Giusti David John Giusti, Jr. (born November 27, 1939) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from 1962 to 1977, most notably as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates teams that won ...

of the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

. Then, just before the start of the 1969 season, he was traded with Bobby Klaus to the Pirates for

Tommie Sisk Tommie Wayne Sisk (born April 12, 1942) is a former right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1962 to 1970 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. Originally signed as an amateur free agent by the Pi ...

and Chris Cannizzaro. He played his final season in the Majors in 1969. In 62 games for the Pirates, he collected 15 hits in 64 at-bats for a .234 batting average. In 1970 and 1971 Davis played in the minors for the Pirates

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...

AAA farm team the

Columbus Jets The Columbus Jets were a Minor League baseball team that played in Columbus, Ohio, from 1955 to 1970. The team moved from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada where they were known as the Ottawa Athletics. The Jets were a member of the Triple-A Internation ...

. The team moved to

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in West Virginia, most populous city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Kanawha County, West Virginia, Kanawha County and ...

in 1971 becoming the

Charleston Charlies The Charleston Charlies were a Triple-A minor league baseball team located in Charleston, West Virginia. Two separate Charlies franchises played in the International League from 1971 to 1983. The first team was the relocated Columbus Jets. In 197 ...

. Overall, Davis played in 295 games in his five-year career, collecting 199 hits in 853 at-bats for a .233 batting average. He scored 96 runs and drove 79 in. He hit 44 doubles, six triples and 10 home runs, and he stole nine bases in 18 attempts. He walked 56 times and struck out 160 times. He died in Houston in 1992 at the age of 50.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Ron 1941 births 1992 deaths Amarillo Sonics players Baseball players from North Carolina Charleston Charlies players Columbus Jets players 20th-century American sportsmen Duke Blue Devils baseball players Durham Bulls players Houston Astros players Houston Buffs players Houston Colt .45s players Jacksonville Jets players Major League Baseball outfielders Oklahoma City 89ers players People from Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina Pittsburgh Pirates players St. Louis Cardinals players San Antonio Bullets players