Jody Davis

From BR Bullpen

Jody Richard Davis

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 3", Weight 210 lb.

School Middle Georgia Junior College
Debut April 21, 1981
Final Game May 13, 1990
Born November 12, 1956 in Gainesville, GA USA

[edit] Biographical Information

Jody Davis was a highly-popular catcher with the Chicago Cubs in the 1980's. Announcer Harry Caray and fans used to call "Jo-dee, Jo-dee". He played ten seasons in the majors, was a two-time All Star, and won a Gold Glove in 1986.

He was selected at the age of 19 by the New York Mets in the third round of the 1976 amateur draft. He debuted with the '76 Marion Mets, hitting .232/~.288/.366 and leading Appalachian League catchers with 13 errors. In 1977, Jody was hitting .290/~.387/.514 as a member of the Little Falls Mets, though his fielding remained a question as his 10 errors were second among New York-Penn League backstops. In his first full season, he hit .262/~.372/.449 for the 1978 Lynchburg Mets and led the Carolina League with 13 sacrifice flies. He was 4th in the league with 16 homers and his 94 RBI were second to Ozzie Virgil Jr.'s 98. Virgil beat out Davis for the All-Star spot at catcher with a far better offensive year. Davis was again second in his league in errors by a backstop.

In 1979, Davis was with the Jackson Mets and batted .296/~.389/.513 as he continued to develop at the plate. The 22-year-old was third in the Texas League in home runs and second to Mark Brouhard in RBI, collecting 91 of those. He made his first minor-league All-Star team that year. In December of 1979 he was acquired in a trade by the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Ray Searage. He spent one year in the Cardinals system, hitting .277/~.356/.419 in 45 games for the St. Petersburg Cardinals and just .167/~.231/.194 for the Springfield Cardinals in 36 AB.

In December of 1980, he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the Rule V draft.

He broke into the majors in 1981, the strike-shortened season, with 56 games, hitting .256/.333/.361. The Cubs had started the season very slowly, and Jody was part of the effort to fix the problem.

He was the regular catcher from 1982 through 1987. From 1983 through 1987, he always hit between 17 and 24 home runs. His peak batting average was .271 in 1983, and his peak RBI was in 1984 with 94 in the Cubs division-winning season.

He was in the top ten in the league in home runs and slugging percentage in 1983, and in the top ten in RBI in 1984, when he finished #10 in the MVP voting. He was also #3 in the league in intentional walks in 1984.

He hit .389 in the 1984 NLCS. He alternated between batting sixth in the order and seventh in that series. At the tail end of the 1988 season, Jody was traded to the Atlanta Braves, where he would spend the rest of his major league career as a role player.

His career lasted for 1,082 major league games, and he had 127 home runs.

One of the most similar players to Davis, according to similarity scores, was his contemporary in the other league, Ernie Whitt.

In 2003, Davis managed the Calgary Outlaws and in 2006, he became the manager of the Peoria Chiefs in the Cubs organization where his hitting coach was Barbaro Garbey, the former Detroit Tigers player. After the 2006 season, Davis was named manager of the Daytona Cubs.