All About Doug Davis

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

In 2008, perhaps the story of the year developed in Arizona. During Spring Training, Doug was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.  After discussing options with his doctors and the team, Doug scheduled his surgery for April 10th.  With that date scheduled, he was able to make two starts at the beginning of the season while Randy Johnson was still on the disabled list.  In the two starts Davis made, he went 1-1 with a 3.72 ERA while striking out 11 batters in 9.2 innings. He then underwent the surgery and made a quick recovery in time to pitch again in late May.  Doug has been told the cancer was successfully removed and he is expected to make a full recovery.

Doug currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife, Chantelle. He has three children: daughter, Drew, and son, Jordan and a new baby girl named Dylan...Graduated from Northgate (Calif.) High School, where he played baseball and football...Attended Diablo Valley College and City College of San Francisco. 

Doug was incredibly satisfied with putting on his first few events for the Doug Davis Foundation.  He hosted the Celebrity Charity Golf Invitationals in 2008, 2009 and 2010, while also hosting a Meet & Greet event and Bowl - A - Thon.  Through these events, the Foundation has already earned and donated almost $150,000 to deserving charities.  Doug is looking forward to having the opportunity to give back to the community and hoping the event is a huge success.

BASEBALL HIGHLIGHTS

In 2011, Doug lived the dream of all baseball players by starting 9 games for the Chicago Cubs.  (This highlight provided by the Vice President of the Doug Davis Foundation, a huge Cubbie fan!!)

However, a bigger highlight came on July 29, 2008, when Doug flirted with history.  He was throwing a perfect game into the 7th inning before having it broken up with a 2-out hit.  He would have become one of only a handful of pitchers in Major League history to accomplish the feat. 

As noted above, 2008 had already been a remarkable year for Doug, with him making a quick recovery from thyroid cancer surgery and returning to the starting rotation.  2008 became even a more special year for Doug when his teammates nominated him to receive The "Hutch" Award.

The Hutch Award was named in honor of Fred Hutchinson, the talented pitcher with a 95-71 career record for Detroit and equally strong accomplishments as a manager, including taking the Reds to the World Series in 1961.

Hutchinson, nicknamed "Hutch," lost a valiant battle with lung cancer on Nov. 12, 1964, at the age of 45, but his memory certainly lives on. The prestigious award, known as The Hutch, is given to an active MLB player who most embodies the spirit and desire shown by Hutchinson.  "Usually, it goes to someone who has overcome professional or personal adversity," said Hutchinson Reed, who is on the Hutch Award Committee. "Someone who has battled back from an injury, someone who is dedicated to his team and shows the courage and dedication of Fred."

Houston's Craig Biggio was the Hutch Award recipient in 2005, preceded by San Diego's Trevor Hoffman in 2004 and Jamie Moyer, in 2003. Mickey Mantle received the inaugural award in 1965, and fellow Hall of Famers such as Sandy Koufax, Carl Yastrzemski, Al Kaline, Willie McCovey and Lou Brock also are previous winners.

In October, 2008, Doug was named as one of 10 finalists in the Major Leagues to still be in the running to receive this year's Hutch Award.

In addition to the Hutch award, this year the Arizona Diamondbacks Players recognized teammate Doug Davis for his outstanding community service efforts by nominating him for the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award.

The award, chosen by fan voting on-line, selects the Major League baseball player whose on-field performance and contributions to his community inspire others to higher levels of achievement.

The Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award is bestowed annually by Major League players, along with nine other PLAYERS CHOICE AWARDS, to honor the players they believe are the best in the game.

Torii Hunter of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was the recipient of the 2007 Man of the Year Award. Past winners of the award, named for the legendary baseball union leader, also include Albert Pujols, Jim Thome, John Smoltz, Mike Sweeney, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Eric Davis and Paul Molitor.

In 2008, in addition to forming the Doug Davis Foundation, Doug also donated significant funds and helped to build Doug Davis Field, a baseball field to be used by high school players.  See the photo section of this website for the field opening.

2007 was a great year for Doug, his first season with the Diamondbacks. In 2007, Davis won a career-high 13 games for Arizona. He pitched 6 or more innings in 19 of his 33 starts this season, going 11-4 with a 2.30 ERA (33 ER in 129.1 IP) in those contests...From July 13-Sept. 1, he went 7-1 with a 3.79 ERA (26 ER in 61.2 IP) with 45 strikeouts over 10 starts, with 8 of those being quality starts...Won a career-high-tying 5 straight games from July 13-Aug. 15...compiled a 3.13 ERA (16 ER in 46.0 IP) during the stretch, holding opponents to a .200 batting average (33-for-165)...On Aug. 3 at the Dodgers, he tossed a season-high 8.0 shutout innings, allowing only 3 hits bettering his career record against the Dodgers to 3-2 with a 1.04 ERA (4 ER in 34.2 IP) in 5 career starts...Won back-to-back starts on May 28 at Philadelphia and June 3 at the Mets, allowing 2 earned runs while striking out 11 in a combined 15.2 innings...Picked up a win in his first start after the All-Star break and would go on to win 5 of his next 7 starts, including 3 consecutive from Aug. 3-15, allowing 6 earned runs over 20.1 innings pitched...Won his first game for the D-backs on April 15, a 6-4 win vs. Colorado...Was 2-2 with a 2.79 ERA (9 ER in 29.0 IP) over 5 starts in April...On May 2 at the Dodgers, allowed an unearned run and struck out 7 in 7.0 innings...Perhaps his biggest personal highlight came when he broke a 51-at-bat hitless streak on June 19 vs. Tampa Bay, singling off J.P. Howell...In July, went 2-1 with a 3.58 ERA (13 ER in 32.2 IP) with 22 strikeouts over 5 starts...Tied for 14th in the National League with 19 quality starts, the third-highest total of his career.

Doug helped the Diamondbacks make it to the playoffs where he won his only start in the NLDS against the Cubs after allowing 4 runs off 5 hits with 4 walks and 8 strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched...tossed 5.0 innings in his NLCS start against Colorado, taking the loss after allowing 2 runs (1 earned) off 5 hits with 4 walks and 5 strikeouts.

2006 was also a great year for Doug. He was a Milwaukee Brewer at the time. He was the team's Opening Day starter, finished with a .500 record, started at least 34 games and logged more than 200 innings for the third straight season, all with Milwaukee. ... Pitched a four-hit shutout to beat the Dodgers on Sept. 5 at Miller Park, retiring the final 16 hitters he faced for his seventh career complete game and his third career shutout. ... Brewers were 19-15 when he pitched, tops among team starters.

In 2005, Doug set a Brewers National League record for strikeouts by a left-handed pitcher surpassing his previous mark (160) set the previous season...went 11-11 with a 3.84 ERA in career-best 35 starts for Milwaukee...established career highs in innings pitched, earned runs allowed, home runs allowed, walks and strikeouts...finished the season ranked in a tie for third in the National League with 208 K's...the 208 strikeouts led National League lefties and ranked third in the Majors behind Minnesota's Johan Santana (238) and New York's(A) Randy Johnson (211)...moved into third place all-time for strikeouts by a Brewers pitcher in a season behind Ben Sheets (264-2004) and Teddy Higuera (240-1987)...equaled the Brewers National League record for consecutive scoreless innings streak, also held by Jeff D'Amico (July 6-25, 2000), when he did not allow a run in 20.2 consecutive innings from May 16-June 1...the club mark for consecutive scoreless innings, 32.0, was set by Teddy Higuera (August 26-September 11, 1987)...struck out a career-high 11 batters in his July 24 outing at Cincinnati...his 23 quality starts led all Milwaukee pitchers and stood eighth in the NL...tied for fourth in the Majors with Houston's Roy Oswalt with 47 quality starts since 2004...only Houston's Roger Clemens (49), Minnesota's Johan Santana (49) and New York's (A) Randy Johnson (48) have thrown more quality starts in the last two seasons...at Miller Park, Doug went 8-5 alongside a 3.38 ERA in 19 starts in six May starts, Davis was 4-2 with a 3.00 ERA. . . tossed a pair of complete games in May...held right-handed hitters to a .228 average...logged his second career shutout on May 21 at Minnesota, limiting the Twins to just seven hits en route to the 6-0 win...equaled the longest losing streak of his career dropping four consecutive decisions, June 28-August 30...posted a 3.18 ERA in six July starts despite not recording any decisions...went 2-1 in September with a 2.52 ERA in six contests...at the plate, Davis recorded his first career extra-base hit on June 22 vs Chicago (N) with a two-run double...the RBI were also the first of his career...recorded a pair of three-game hitting streaks, August 14-25 and June 22-July 3...collected multiple hits for the first time in his career on July 3 vs Pittsburgh going 2-3 with a double and one run batted in.

In 2004, Doug was the recipient of the Brewers Unsung Hero Award...went 12-12 with a 3.39 ERA in 34 starts...established career marks in wins, losses, games, starts, innings pitched and strikeouts...equaled a Brewers National League franchise record with 12 wins joining Hideo Nomo (1999), Jimmy Haynes (2000), Jeff D'Amico (2000) and Ben Sheets (2004)...also established the Brewers NL franchise mark for strikeouts by a lefthanded pitcher with 166 surpassing Glendon Rusch (2002, 140)...tied for first among Brewers pitchers and ranked in a tie for third in the National League with teammate Ben Sheets with 24 quality starts...went 2-2 in May with a 1.99 ERA in six starts ...became the first lefthander in Brewers history and the fifth Brewers pitcher overall to record five wins in the month of June when he posted a 5-1 record alongside a 3.22 ERA...compiled a four-game winning streak, one shy of his career high, June 11-27...posted a 9-6 mark with a 3.46 ERA in the first half...won his career-best 12th decision in his last start of the season on September 30 at St. Louis with a 7-6 victory over the Cardinals...recorded an ERA of less that 3.25 in all but two months (July, 5.06 ERA & April, 5.46 ERA)...went 2-1 with a 2.49 ERA in his last two months of the season spanning 11 starts...lefthanded opponents batted .259 against Davis while righthanders hit .244...agreed to a two-year contract extension through the 2006 season on July 27.

The above information was compiled and provided by mlb.com.

Doug Davis