Giving Willie Davis His Just Due and Propers

 By JT   

Art Credit: Merv Corning

Willie Davis won't ever make the Hall of Fame unless the veteran's committee looks at defense and the mini-dead ball era and the vast expanses of Dodger Stadium of the 1960s and early 1970s—things are are hallmarks of Davis' career. He was a tremendous fielder and played in an era when 15-20 home runs was considered good for a centerfielder especially in Dodgers stadium.   

Davis was a player who was good with the bat, but not great, though he had a few great seasons. He was great with the glove but lost out on some Gold Gloves due to being in the same league as Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, and Curt Flood. Davis could also run the bases well, stealing a base, taking the extra one.

In our Outfielder 5-Tool Number Davis ranks sixths (though that is a work in progress). Essentially it means one has to score well in home runs, stolen bases, batting average, fielding runs saved and outfield assists. It's the harmonic mean of those five things. 

From 1966 Davis does quite well and again from 1970-1974. A number of 20 is great, fifteen and above is really good—just for a  thumbnail explanation. 

Back to the Gold Gloves. Davis only was awarded three—in 1971, 1972, and 1973. However, by looking at dWAR, DRA, Win Shares and ranking them Davis easily comes out in the top three in the National League in 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1965 so a case can be made he was a "Gold Glove" player in those seasons as well especially 1962, 1964, and 1965. 

By using dWAR alone he is in the top three in the NL seven times—1962, 1964-65, 1970-73.

So, in terms of defensive metrics, he's a six- or seven-time Gold Glove quality player and twice he led all ML centerfielders in dWAR and four times led all NL centerfielders. 

Davis is eighth all-time in Total Zone Runs as CF. He's 16th in assists as a centerfielder (but really fifth in the integration era and when assists didn't come on trees). 

Chart: Baseball-Reference.com

As far as traditional stats his 398 stolen bases stand out most along with 138 triples 

Davis got MVP votes in 1966, 69, 71, and 1973 and was an NL All-Star in 1971 and 1973. He was voted to The Sporting News NL All-Star Team in 1971.  And for completeness in his honors, he got an honorable mention on the 1969 AP All-MLB team and also the 1971 NEA All-MLB team. 

Now, for mythical WAR All-Star teams, in 1962 and 1964 and 1971 and 1972, Davis would have been Second-team All-NL and in 1964 he was third to Willie Mays and Ron Santo in WAR in all the bigs and would have been Second-team All-MLB. Not an easy thing to make in that era. His 1964 was that impressive. He really should have gotten some MVP votes that year.

So, including the 'WAR All-Star teams, his "Above the line seasons" in terms of honors would be 1962, 1964, 1966, 1969, 1971, 1973 and 1973—for a total of seven. 

A Hall of Famer? Likely not, but like Roy White he's a player who had a very good career and should at least be in the conversation as one of the best fielders at his position ever and who has some pop in his bat and some skill on the bases as well. Oh, and like Roy White, he's the owner of two World Series rings. Not bad.