Gallagher: Davis deserves a look from Hall of Fame

Willie Davis, who played for the Montreal Expos in 1974, had 2,561 hits in his 18-season major league career yet never appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot.

September 6, 2024

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

The late Willie Davis has never graced a Cooperstown Hall of Fame ballot, either through the BBWAA route or through any of the Hall's various veterans committees.

It's a shame.

Forty-five years have elapsed since the 1974 Expos' star played his last game in the majors in 1979.

Davis, a fleet-footed star through most of his career, should have been on the 1985 BBWAA ballot in his first season of eligibility but suspiciously was left off. Very strange. I asked long-time BBWAA secretary Jack Lang about this indiscetion but I never heard back from him.

So, I have done something to rectify this glaring error by recommending Davis this week to Josh Rawitch, the hall's president.

The timing is good because the Hall's Classic Baseball Era committee is looking this December to possibly select one or more players who toiled prior to 1980. That group of players includes Davis, who was voted the Expos Player of the Year in 1974, played 13-plus seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers and several other teams.

The Classic Era ballot will only include eight players so, Davis will be in tough. The Classic Era committee only meets every few years so I hope he will be on the ballot this time at least to give him a chance for the first time. The candidates will be announced a few weeks before the actual vote is conducted.

"While that ballot has not yet been finalized/announced, we will make sure your message is made available to the Historical Overview Committee which creates the ballot,'' Rawitch told me in an email exchange. "I know that the members of this committee are aware of his history and the fact that he never appeared on the BBWAA ballot or a previous Era Committee ballot.

"As you can imagine, just making it onto the ballot is difficult given the number of tremendous candidates so we appreciate your sharing this perspective.''

Davis is the anchor of my next Expos book which will be released in 2026 by Dundurn Press.

I will be devoting about eight chapters out of 45-50 to Davis, who was beset by concussions and other calamities in the course of his career, some of which I can't reveal until we get closer to the publication date.

Danny Gallagher's latest Expos book is called Explosion.