There are several families that have made Major League Baseball a family business. Names like the Ripkens, Griffeys, Boones, Hollidays, and Hairstons immediately come to mind. Another family deserves some flowers as well, and that family includes today’s birthday boy, Ron Davis.
Davis’ uncle, Red Murff, pitched briefly for the Milwaukee Braves before becoming a longtime scout, while Ron’s son, Ike Davis, was a first-round pick who came up with the Mets and even had a short stint with the Yankees in 2016.
Ron’s career was the most successful of the three, turning himself into a heck of a reliever.
Ronald Gene Davis
Born: August 6, 1955 (Houston, TX)
Yankees Tenure: 1978-1981
A born-and-raised Texan, Davis was not considered much of a prospect coming out of high school. However, his uncle, who had become a coach and scout following his own playing career, encouraged the lanky 6-foot-4 right-hander to continue playing baseball. Davis followed that advice and attended Blinn College, a junior college in Brenham, Texas. As he added strength to his frame, his fastball started ticking up on the radar gun, and suddenly Davis found himself on the radar of major league clubs.
The Chicago Cubs selected Davis in the third round of the 1976 MLB Draft. His results in the minors were not particularly impressive, as he often struggled with his control. Still, Davis could really pop the mitt, and it was easy to see why a club would bet on his talent.
On June 12, 1978, the Cubs sent Davis to the Yankees as the player to be named later in the Ken Holtzman trade. The Yankees gave Davis a brief cup of coffee that season, as he made his MLB debut on July 29th and appeared in three more games after a September call-up. Davis was around the club during the dramatic finish to the 1978 season, but he was not on the postseason roster for the championship team.
Davis did not make the club out of spring training in 1979 despite putting up strong numbers. However, Davis’ big break would come that April after Yankees closer Goose Gossage injured himself in a clubhouse fistfight with teammate Cliff Johnson. Davis would appear in 44 games the rest of the way posting a 14-2 record, giving him a league-best .875 winning percentage, along with a 2.85 ERA and nine saves. This performance was good enough to land Davis in fourth place in the Rookie of the Year voting.
With Gossage back for the 1980 season the Yankees had quite the backend duo. Gossage of course sported his big Fu Manchu, and Davis his big thick glasses. Following up that impressive rookie year Davis went 9-3 with a 2.95 ERA, with seven saves, across 131 innings. The Yankees would fall in the playoffs that season to George Brett’s Kansas City Royals.
Rumors suggested the Yankees considered moving Davis into the rotation prior to the 1981 season, but instead kept the steady right-hander in the bullpen. As one of baseball’s first true setup men, Davis helped redefine what relief pitchers could and should do. Even with the strike-shortened season, he posted another outstanding campaign, recording a 2.71 ERA across 73 innings while earning the first and only All-Star selection of his career.
Davis was dominant in the ALDS and ALCS, allowing no runs over 9.1 innings against Milwaukee and Oakland. However, the World Series was a different song and dance, as he surrendered eight runs, six earned, in just 2.1 innings against the Dodgers.
This performance would ultimately end Davis’ time with the Yankees as ownership decided they could part with the hard tossing righty and traded him with Paul Boris and Greg Gagne to the Minnesota Twins for Roy Smalley. Davis spent parts of five seasons with Minnesota, recording 108 saves while establishing himself as one of the league’s more dependable late-inning relievers.
The 1986 season became the beginning of the end for Davis. The Twins traded him along with Dewayne Coleman to the Chicago Cubs for Julius McDougal, Ray Fontenot and George Frazier. Davis was with the Cubs for almost a full calendar year until they released him in 1987 and he signed with the Dodgers to finish the season.
Following that brief stint, Davis moved just up Highway 1 and pitched for the Giants during the 1988 season. That proved to be the end of his major league career, though he continued chasing the dream for several more years. He spent 1989 in the Giants’ minor league system before signing with the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Central League. In 1990, he returned to the Yankees organization and appeared in 10 games for Triple-A Columbus but never made it back to the majors.
After hanging up his spikes, Davis settled in Arizona, where he opened a baseball academy and devoted himself to coaching and developing young players. Baseball remained a family affair, and when his son Ike joined the Yanks in 2016, the pair joined Yogi and Dale Berra as the only father/son duos to both play for the Yankees. They’ve since been joined by the Leiters (Mark and Mark Jr.), the Bellingers (Clay and Cody), and the Weathers (David and Ryan).
Happy 71st birthday, Ron!
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