Who is crash davis

Parrish wonders whether Hessman could have done more if given a real shot, or if he was a kid now in an era when power is treasured and strikeouts don't seem to matter.

As it was, he never did get the chance to play every day, and he hasn't had a big league at-bat in nearly five years. He really does talk like that, and by all accounts he really does think like that. It's why he's still playing, long after most others would have given up and long after most organizations would have told him they have no room for him.

It's why he was able to break a record that had stood for 78 years and why Hessman's record will likely stand for that long or longer.

Crash Davis didn't. In the movie, Davis is a year minor leaguer chasing a record of career homers. When he gets there, he plans to retire as a player and turn to managing. The baseball lifestyle is all he has known since he signed with the Atlanta Braves out of high school as a 15th-round pick. He started off with the Braves and later went to the Detroit Tigers and New York Mets, and along the way he left enough of an impression that his cellphone blew up with congratulatory texts and messages after he hit He got up the next morning and worked at the Mud Hens' kids camp, and he got up the day after that and did the same thing.

There's always another day and another game and another city, and if there's not another nightspot, there's at least another favorite breakfast spot. The travel is easier now, Hessman said, because the Mud Hens make many of their trips in a sleeper bus that has real beds. The ballparks are better now, too. Sign up for the free Stathead newsletter and get scores, news and notes in your inbox every day.

View a sample email. It's also available for football, basketball and hockey. Sign Up For Free. Javascript is required for the selection of a player. Choice is:. Powered by. Standard Fielding. Appearances on Leaderboards, Awards, and Honors. More Davis Pages. Full Site Menu Return to Top. Louis Cardinals. We're Social Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. Davis, the movie character, was fictional -- although there have been real-life Minor Leaguers who've been compared to him from time to time.

But the name "Crash Davis" came from a real ballplayer and today he would've celebrated his 98th birthday. Lawrence "Crash" Davis, who got his nickname after crashing into another fielder at the age of 14, played infield for the Philadelphia Athletics from He hit.

After serving, he came back to pro baseball and played in the Minors from -- having his best season with, you guessed it, the Durham Bulls in ' That year, he hit. Davis quit baseball in '52 and became a successful high school and American Legion coach. Nearly 40 years later, Bull Durham director Ron Shelton came across the name "Crash Davis" in an old Carolina League record book and wanted to use it as the name of Kevin Costner's character.