Six former Pittsburgh Pirates born on this date.
Dan Plesac, pitcher for the 1995-96 Pirates. He was a lefty reliever with nine years experience when the Pirates signed him as a free agent on November 9, 1994. He ended up playing 18 seasons in the majors. Plesac was highly touted in high school, but he still turned down a second round pick by the St Louis Cardinals in 1980 so that he could attend North Carolina State. He maintained that high standing in college, getting selected in the first round by the Brewers in 1983, taken 15 picks higher than he was selected three years earlier. It took him just three years before he was in the majors for good, earning a spot on the Brewers 1986 Opening Day roster. He debuted in pro ball with Paintsville of the short-season Appalachian League, where he went 9-1, 3.50 in 14 starts, with 85 strikeouts in 82.1 innings. He made 16 starts for Stockton of the Class-A California League in 1984, and another seven starts that year with Double-A El Paso of the Texas League. With similar results in each spot, he combined to go 8-8, 3.36 in 147.1 innings, with 125 strikeouts. Plesac spent the entire 1985 season with El Paso, going 12-5, 4.97 in 150.1 innings, with 128 strikeouts.
Plesac had a 10-7, 2.97 record in 91 innings over 51 appearances as a rookie with the 1986 Brewers, finishing with 14 saves and 75 strikeouts. That was his only season in which he reached double-digits in wins. He lowered his ERA slightly each of the next three years while averaging 53 games and 29 saves per year. Plesac made three straight All-Star appearances during those seasons, which ended up being his only three All-Star appearances during his 18-year career. He went 5-6, 2.61 over 57 games in 1987, with 23 saves, a 1.08 WHIP and 89 strikeouts in 79.1 innings. He had a 1-2, 2.41 record in 50 games during the 1988 season, with 30 saves, a 1.11 WHIP and 52 strikeouts in 52.1 innings. He received mild MVP support that year for the only time in his career, finishing 22nd in the voting. Plesac finished with a 3-4, 2.35 record, a 1.04 WHIP and 33 saves in 61.1 innings over 52 games in 1989. Despite the run of success, his ERA rose over 4.00 during the 1990-91 seasons, and he lost his closer role. He went 3-7, 4.43, with 24 saves, 65 strikeouts and a 1.42 WHIP in 1990, throwing 69 innings over 66 appearances. He had a 2-7, 4.29 record and eight saves in 1991, with 92.1 innings pitched over 45 games. The Brewers used him ten times as a starter that season. He had a 1.42 WHIP and 61 strikeouts, giving him his lowest strikeout rate during his career (5.9 per nine innings). Plesac rebounded in 1992 with a 5-4, 2.96 record in 79 innings over four starts and 40 relief appearances. He became a free agent after the 1992 season and signed with the Chicago Cubs.
Plesac went 2-1, 4.74 in 62.2 innings over 57 games with the 1993 Cubs. His 1.52 WHIP that year was the highest of his career. He had a 2-3, 4.61 record in 54.2 innings and 54 games for the Cubs in 1994, then reached free agency again. He signed with the Pirates on November 9, 1994. Plesac went 4-4, 3.58 with three saves in 58 games for the Pirates in 1995, striking out 57 batters in 60.1 innings. He led all Pirates pitchers in games pitched in 1996 with 73 appearances. He had a 6-5, 4.09 record, with 11 saves and 76 strikeouts in 70.1 innings. Almost two years to the day they signed him as a free agent, the Pirates traded Plesac to the Toronto Blue Jays in a nine-player deal that brought back six players to Pittsburgh, with Orlando Merced and Carlos Garcia going Toronto, while the Pirates received Craig Wilson, Abraham Nunez, Jose Silva and three minor league players who failed to make the majors.
Plesac played another seven seasons in the majors after the trade. After Pittsburgh, he pitched for the 1997-99 Blue Jays, the 1999-2000 Arizona Diamondbacks, then back to Toronto for 1 1/2 seasons, before finishing up with the 2002-03 Philadelphia Phillies. He went 2-4, 3.58, with 61 strikeouts in 50.1 innings over 73 games in 1997. For the 1998 Blue Jays, Plesac had a 4-3, 3.78 record, 55 strikeouts and four saves in 50 innings over a career high 78 appearances. He posted an 8.34 ERA in 30 appearances with Toronto in 1999, before being traded on June 12th to the Diamondbacks. After the deal, he had a 3.32 ERA in 21.2 innings. He finished with 53 strikeouts in 44.1 innings that year. Plesac went 5-1, 3.15 in 40 innings over 62 outings for the 2000 Diamondbacks. Back with Toronto as a free agent in 2001, he went 4-5, 3.57 in 62 games, with an incredible 68 strikeouts in 45.1 innings. After posting a 3.38 ERA in 19 games with the 2002 Blue Jays, he was traded to the Phillies, where he had a 4.70 ERA in 23 innings over 41 appearances to finish out the 2002 season. He struck out 41 batters in 36.1 innings that season. He had a 2.70 ERA in his final season, though he was strictly a lefty specialist at the time, pitching a total of 33.1 innings over 58 appearances. Plesac had 37 strikeouts that year. He finished his 18-year career with 1,064 games pitched, 1,072 innings, 1,041 strikeouts and 158 saves, to go along with a 65-71, 3.64 record. His nephew Zach Plesac is a starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians franchise.
Doug Slaten, relief pitcher for the 2012 Pirates. He was drafted three times from three different schools before he finally signed. The Baltimore Orioles took him in the 29th round out of high school in 1998. He went to Glendale Community College in 1999, where he was once again selected by the Orioles, this time dropping to the 34th round. Just one year later, Slaten was selected in the 17th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks, after transferring to Los Angeles Pierce College. He was a starting pitcher during his first four seasons of pro ball (2000-03), but he didn’t make it to the majors until three years later as a full-time reliever. Slaten debuted in pro ball in the rookie level Arizona League, getting in just 9.1 innings, with one run allowed, during that 2000 season. He jumped to High-A ball for the entire 2001 season, playing for Lancaster of the California League, a team in a high-offense park/league. Slaten went 9-8, 4.79 in 157.2 innings over 27 starts (one relief outing). He had 110 strikeouts that year, which was the only time he topped 100 strikeouts in a season. He was limited to eight starts in 2002 for Lancaster and seven relief appearances for the Low-A South Bend Silver Hawks of the Midwest League. He struggled in both spots, combining for a 7.66 ERA and a 1.89 WHIP in 49.1 innings. Slaten was with Lancaster in 2003, where he made 19 starts and 13 relief appearances. He went 6-7, 6.03 in 119.1 innings, with 78 strikeouts and a 1.70 WHIP. He moved into full-time relief and dropped down to South Bend in 2004. He pitched well that year, posting a 2.25 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 44 innings. However, when he was bumped up to Double-A El Paso of the Texas League that season, he gave up 13 runs over nine innings in 11 appearances.
Slaten pitched the entire 2005 season with Tennessee of the Southern League, which was the new Double-A affiliate of Arizona. He went 2-2, 4.26 in 58 games, with 72 strikeouts in 61.1 innings. He was sent to the Arizona Fall League after the 2005 season, where he had a 6.28 ERA in 14.1 innings. His 2006 season was split between Tennessee and Tuscon of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. He dominated at both levels, but he was even better in Triple-A, combining to go 4-4, 1.43, with ten saves in 58 games, while picking up 80 strikeouts in 63 innings. Slaten was a September call-up in 2006. pitched nine games in short relief for the Diamondbacks, throwing a total of 5.2 shutout innings. That was followed by spending the entire 2007 season in the majors, where he had a 2.72 ERA in 36.1 innings over 61 appearances, mostly serving in the lefty specialist role. Despite the strong ERA, he had a 1.51 WHIP that season. That year ended up being his only full season in the majors. His ERA went up to 4.73 in 32.1 innings over 45 appearances in 2008. He pitched six games in Triple-A Tuscon in 2008, but that big league-minor league split would flip in 2009. Slaten had a 7.11 ERA in 11 appearances that season for the Diamondbacks, totaling just 6.1 innings. He spent the rest of the year with their new Triple-A affiliate, going 3-2, 3.09, with nine saves and 40 strikeouts in 43.2 innings for Reno of the Pacific Coast League. He moved on to the Washington Nationals as a waiver pickup in November of 2009. He threw 17 shutout innings in Triple-A with Syracuse of the International League during the early stages of the 2010 season, before joining the big league club for the rest of the year. Slaten had a 3.10 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 40.1 innings over 49 games for the 2010 Nationals.
He had an 0-2, 4.41 in 16.1 innings over 31 relief appearances during the 2011 season with the Nationals. His season was limited due to an early June elbow injury, though he also made nine rehab appearances over four levels in the minors. Slaten signed with the Pirates on January 11, 2012. He had a career record of 7-8, 3.60 in 137.2 innings over 206 appearances going into the 2012 season. He pitched ten games for the 2012 Pirates, going 0-0, 2.71 in 13 innings, with nine hits allowed, eight walks and six strikeouts. He debuted with the team on May 29th, and pitched his last big league game on June 25th. The rest of the year was spent with Triple-A Indianapolis of the International League, where he had a 2.11 ERA in 42.2 innings, with ten saves and a 1.01 WHIP. Slaten was let go via free agency following the season and never played pro ball again. He started 62 games in the minors, but never started a Major League game. He had just five games during his big league career in which he threw more than 1.1 innings. Three of them occurred in Pittsburgh, including his career high of three innings on June 6, 2012. All five of those extended outings were during losses. He finished up 7-8, 3.52 in 150.2 innings. He passed away at 36 years old in 2016.
Dennis Konuszewski, relief pitcher who threw his only career big league game with the 1995 Pirates. He was originally drafted out of high school by the New York Yankees in the 28th round in 1989, but he decided to attend college. He was a seventh round draft pick of the Pirates in 1992 out of the University of Michigan. He spent his entire minor league career in the Pirates farm system, throwing 207 games (33 as a starter) from 1992 until 1997. Konuszewski actually played just four games above Double-A ball ever. He spent three games in Triple-A in 1996 after his one Major League game on August 4, 1995. He debuted in pro ball with Welland of the short-season New York-Penn League, where he gave up one run over seven innings in two starts. He also pitched that season with Augusta of the Class-A South Atlantic League, where he posted a 3-3, 2.31 record and a 1.11 WHIP in 62.1 innings over eight starts and nine relief appearances. Konuszewski spent the entire 1993 season with Salem of the High-A Carolina League. He went 4-10, 4.63 in 103 innings over 13 starts and 26 relief appearances. He had 81 strikeouts and a 1.59 WHIP. He spent the entire 1994 season with Carolina of the Double-A Southern League, going 6-5, 3.59 in 77.2 innings over 51 relief outings, with a 1.44 WHIP and 53 strikeouts. After pitching well in the Arizona Fall League after the 1994 season, he was added to the 40-man on November 22, 1994, to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. He was back in Carolina for almost all of 1995, going 7-7, 3.65, with a 1.44 WHIP and 48 strikeouts in 61.2 innings over 48 games. His only time outside of Carolina that year was his stint with the Pirates.
Konuszewski came into his one big league game on August 4, 1995 at the start the seventh inning against the Houston Astros. The Pirates were down 3-2 in the second game of a doubleheader. He walked the first batter he faced, gave up a single to the second hitter, then the Astros dropped down a sacrifice bunt for his lone out. That was followed by two more singles and two runs, before he was pulled from the game. That left him with a career 54.00 ERA. The Pirates called him up to the majors on August 4, 1995 to take the place of pitcher Jim Gott, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Konuszewski was sent back to Double-A Carolina on August 8th, when first baseman Kevin Young was activated from the disabled list. So his official big league time consisted of four service days. On November 20, 1995, he was dropped from the 40-man roster. Konuszewski spent most of 1996-97 back with Carolina, except for three games during the 1996 season with Calgary of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. Just like with his big league time, he didn’t have much success in Triple-A either, allowing 13 hits, 11 runs and five walks in only 3.1 innings. He actually did poorly in Double-A that year as well, posting a 6.30 ERA and a 1.74 WHIP in 80 innings, so it was a rough year all around. He went 1-0, 4.43 for Carolina in 1997, with 21 strikeouts and a 1.57 WHIP in 22.1 innings, spread over 15 relief appearances. His pro career ended in 1997 when he asked for his release. Konuszewski gained a bit of a reputation as a great softball and vintage base ball player (played under rules from the mid-1800s) after he retired, leading his teams to numerous league titles, while personally winning some home run titles.
Steve Brye, outfielder for the 1978 Pirates. He had already played eight seasons in the majors when the Pirates signed him as a free agent on April 4, 1978. He played his first seven seasons with the Minnesota Twins, then one year with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was a first round draft pick of the Twins in 1967, taken 17th overall out of St Elizabeth HS in Oakland, CA. It took him just three seasons to make it to the majors as a September call-up at 21 years old in 1970. He debuted in pro ball with St Cloud of the short-season Northern League at 18 years old, where he hit .311 with 59 runs, 16 doubles, five triples, 13 homers, 46 RBIs and a .955 OPS in 67 games. He went 10-for-10 in stolen base attempts. Brye spent most of 1968 with Orlando of the Class-A Florida State League, where he batted .333/.414/.541 in 49 games, with 27 runs, 19 extra-base hits and 31 RBIs. He also played four games in the Gulf Coast League that season, posting a 1.150 OPS in 15 plate appearances. He played for Red Springs of the Class-A California League in 1969. He hit .234 in 106 games that year, with 48 runs, 16 doubles, seven homers, 40 RBIs, 48 walks and a .657 OPS. Despite putting up mediocre stats in A-Ball, he was less than a full year away from his big league debut. Brye played for Charlotte of the Double-A Southern League in 1970, where he hit .308 in 106 games, with 52 runs, 17 doubles, ten triples, three homers, 48 RBIs and an .849 OPS. He joined the Twins in September and hit .182/.308/.273 in nine games, getting just 13 plate appearances. Most of 1971 was spent with Portland of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, where he had a .340 average in 128 games, with 96 runs, 27 doubles, eight triples, 13 homers, 81 RBIs and a .916 OPS. He was never much of a stolen base threat, yet he managed to go 14-for-14 in steals that year. Brye joined the Twins in September, where they got him into 28 games over the final month of the season. He hit .224/.270/.318, with ten runs, three homers and 11 RBIs.
Brye had just one season with the Twins in which he was an everyday player. In the other seasons, he was either in a platoon role or a bench role. The 1972 season was his first full year in the majors. He hit .241 in 100 games that year, with 18 runs, nine doubles, three triples, 12 RBIs and a .592 OPS in 272 plate appearances. Brye batted 318 times in 1973, while playing in 92 games. He hit .263 that season, with 39 runs, 20 extra-base hits, 33 RBIs and 35 walks, while improving to a .739 OPS. He hit .283 in 135 games during the 1974 season, with 52 runs scored, 32 doubles and 41 RBIs, setting career highs in all five categories. Interestingly enough, his OPS (.683) dropped 56 points compared to the previous year. That was due to just 22 walks, as well as one triple and two homers. He led all American League outfielders with a .997 fielding percentage. Brye set a career best with nine homers in 1975, though he manged to hit just 13 doubles all season. He batted .252 in 86 games that year, with 41 runs and 34 RBIs. His .738 OPS was 55 points higher than the previous year, and just one point below his career best set in 1973. He batted .264 over 87 games in 1976, though it was mostly an empty average. He had 11 doubles, two homers and 13 walks, leading to a .624 OPS. He finished with 33 runs scored and 23 RBIs.
Brye was sold to the Milwaukee Brewers during Spring Training of 1977. In his only season with the club, he hit .249 in 94 games, with 27 runs, 24 extra-base hits, 28 RBIs and a .716 OPS. He played 83 games in the outfield that year without an error. He played 66 games for the 1978 Pirates, mostly off the bench, splitting his time between all three outfield positions. He made 13 starts in left field, five in right field and five in center field. He hit .235/.305/.322, with 16 runs, seven doubles, one homer and nine RBIs in 130 plate appearances. He had an odd split of hitting .345 when he played left field, versus .123 in all other roles (CF/RF/PH). Brye was released shortly after the season ended, then would go on to play one more season in Triple-A for the San Diego Padres before retiring as a player. He spent the 1979 season with Hawaii of the Pacific Coast League, where he hit .247 in 75 games, with 39 runs, 18 extra-base hits and 36 RBIs. He was a career .258 hitter in 697 Major League games over nine seasons, with 237 runs, 97 doubles, 30 homers, 193 RBIs and 16 stolen bases.
Possum Whitted, utility fielder for the 1919-21 Pirates. Whitted (first name was George) was in his eighth season in the majors when the Pirates traded an outfielder named Casey Stengel of the Philadelphia Phillies for him on August 9, 1919. Both players were 29 years old at the time, and Stengel was also in his eighth big league season. Whitted debuted in pro ball at 20 years old in 1910 with two teams from the Class-C South Atlantic League, seeing time with Savannah and Jacksonville. There are limited stats available from his first three seasons of pro ball. He hit .189 in 21 games during that 1910 season. He stayed with Jacksonville for the next two years until joining the St Louis Cardinals in mid-September of 1912. He batted .229 in 149 games in 1911, then improved to a .307 average in 1912, collecting 29 extra-base hits in 119 games. With the 1912 Cardinals, he hit .261/.306/.326, with seven runs, three doubles and seven RBIs in 12 games. Whitted batted .220 in 123 games for the 1913 Cardinals, with 44 runs, 15 extra-base hits, 38 RBIs and a .552 OPS. He went 9-for-25 in stolen base attempts. He was playing sparingly in 1914, when the Cardinals traded him to the Boston Braves on June 28th. He was hitting .129/.129/.161 in 20 games before the deal, then batted .261/.326/.376, with 36 runs, 17 extra-base hits and 31 RBIs in 66 games after the trade. He helped the Braves get to the World Series (known as the Miracle Braves), where they won in a sweep over the Philadelphia A’s. Whitted hit .214 in the series, with two runs and two RBIs.
In February of 1915, Whitted was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in a deal that started two months earlier when the Braves received Sherry Magee for cash and a player to be named later. The deal paid off immediately for Whitted, who went back to the World Series, though the Phillies lost that series. He hit .281 in 128 games that year, with 46 runs, 21 extra-base hits, 43 RBIs, 24 steals (15 caught stealing) and a .667 OPS. He went 1-for-15 in the World Series, with a single, RBI and a walk. He batted .281 for a second straight season in 1916, this time collecting 68 runs, 20 doubles, 12 triples, 68 RBIs, 29 steals and a .708 OPS. Whitted batted .280 in 149 games for the 1917 Phillies, with career highs of 69 runs and 24 doubles, while driving in 70 runs. He had 36 extra-base hits and a .690 OPS. His 1918 season lasted just 24 games before he joined the Army during WWI. He was hitting .244/.278/.291 at the time. Possum was hitting .249 in 78 games with the 1919 Phillies prior to the trade that sent him to the Pirates. He had never batted higher than .281 in a season, but in the last 35 games of the 1919 season for the Pirates, he had 51 hits and a .389 batting average. Between both stops that season, he finished with a .293 average in 113 games, with 47 runs, 32 extra-base hits, 53 RBIs and a .729 OPS.
Whitted took over the Pirates third base job in 1920, and hit .261 in 134 games, with 53 runs, 24 extra-base hits, a .652 OPS and a career high 74 RBIs. Whitted also set a personal best with 35 walks. He had as many triples (12) as doubles (11) and homers (one) combined. He moved back to the outfield in 1921, where h hit .283 in 104 games, with 60 runs, 37 extra-base hits, 63 RBIs and a .755 OPS. He spent most of his time in right field that year, though he still got starts in left field, center field and first base. Despite those strong stats, the Pirates sold Whitted to Brooklyn for $2,500 a few weeks prior to the 1922 season. They must have known his Major League career was nearing the end because he lasted just one pinch-hit appearance with Brooklyn before going back to the minors, where he played until age 41 in 1931. He also managed for 11 years.
Owner Barney Dreyfuss actually parted ways with Whitted because he considered him to be the ringleader of a group of players who didn’t always follow club rules for conduct off of the field. The Pirates cut his salary by $2,500 for the 1922 season, which obviously didn’t sit well with Whitted. After the trade, Whitted got himself in trouble with his Brooklyn team by attempting to burn bridges with the Pirates. He was quoted as saying that he was angry at the Pirates for demoting him to Brooklyn, which likely explains why he was sent to the minors on May 4th, ending his big league career. In 11 big league seasons, he had a .269 average, with 440 runs, 145 doubles, 60 triples, 23 homers, 451 RBIs and 116 stolen bases in 1,025 games.
It was a bit surprising that the Pirates wanted Whitted in the first place, because he put up his worst career stats (by far) against Pittsburgh, hitting .247 versus them, with a .602 OPS. His second lowest mark was .646 against the New York Giants. On the other hand, maybe they figured if he didn’t have to face Pittsburgh pitching, his overall stats would improve. He did have a .733 OPS for the Pirates, and a .675 career mark, but that’s partially skewed by the uptick in offense that baseball saw during his time in Pittsburgh. After the beaning death of Ray Chapman in 1920, MLB teams allowed new baseballs to be put in play more often. That combined with the elimination of new spitball pitchers prior to the 1920 season helped raise offense across the majors.
Whitted spent the 1922 season with Toledo of the Double-A American Association, which was the highest level of the minors at the time. He hit .273 in 112 games, with 18 extra-base hits. He played 41 games for Toledo in 1923, putting up a .252 average and nine extra-base hits. He played 19 games for Salisbury of the Class-C Piedmont League in 1925, posting a .203 average and four doubles. He spent his last five years (1927-31) playing first base and managing for Durham of the Piedmont League, which would be a level equal to someone playing Low-A ball now after their big league career was over. Whitted hit .281 in 46 games in 1927, with nine doubles and a homer. He had a .332 average over 114 games in 1928, with 32 doubles, five triples and two homers. He hit .277 in 1929, with 29 extra-base hits (25 doubles) in 129 games. He dropped down to a .239 average in 1930, collecting 23 extra-base hits in 101 games. Whitted by 61 games during his final season, finishing with a .265 average, 15 doubles and two homers.
Lefty Davis, outfielder for the 1901-02 Pirates. He began his minor league career in 1896. He wasn’t signed by a Major League club until 1901, but in a three-month span from late March of 1901 until the end of June, he was a member of three different organizations. He debuted in pro ball at 21 years old in 1896 with Mobile of the Class-B Southern Association, where he hit .309 in 43 games, with 37 runs, 15 extra-base hits and 16 steals. Davis played for Detroit of the Class-A Western League, and Jackson of the Class-D Michigan State League during the 1897 season. Class-A was the highest level of the minors at the time (until 1912). No stats are available for the lower level, but he had a .307 average for Detroit, with 36 runs, 16 extra-base hits and 12 steals. He played 122 games in the Western League during the 1898 season, splitting his time between Detroit and Minneapolis. Stats show him finishing with a .291 average that season, with 98 runs, 19 extra-base hits and 26 steals. He stayed in Minneapolis for 1899 (no stats available) and 1900, when it was a charter member of the American League, which was a Class-A minor league level for one season. Davis batted .282 in 101 games in 1900, with 82 runs, 14 doubles, ten triples and 22 steals.
Davis signed with the Philadelphia Athletics early in 1901, as they prepared to play the first season that the American League was a Major League. Before he ever played a game for the Athletics, he jumped to the National League to play for the Brooklyn Superbas. After hitting .209/.287/.231 in 25 games, he was released by Brooklyn and quickly signed with the Pirates. He started in right field for the 1901 Pirates, where he hit .313 in 87 games with 87 runs scored, 21 extra-base hits, 33 RBIs, 56 walks, 22 stolen bases and an .836 OPS. The Pirates won their first National League title that season. Davis returned for the 1902 season, when he hit .280 in 59 games, with 52 runs scored, ten extra-base hits, 20 RBIs, 19 stolen bases and a .713 OPS. The Pirates not only won their second straight NL crown that year, they also posted their best record ever by going 103-36. His season ended on July 11th when it was said that he broke his leg on a freak play at second base. He got caught between a slide and attempting to stay up on a steal of second base, when he realized the throw was going into center field. As it turned out, the broken leg diagnosis from the day it happened ended up being a turned ankle. He was ready to play again by September 23rd, and had been practicing at Exposition Park while the team was on the road, but owner Barney Dreyfuss decided to give him his unconditional release that day instead. Dreyfuss said that he paid Davis in full and allowed him to leave because the Pirates didn’t need him for the rest of the season (11 more days at that point). He also noted that he would have paid him for the balance of the season if he wasn’t healthy, but he was fine to play at that point. He lasted just two more season in the majors, though he ended up playing another eight years in the minors, while also managing for four seasons.
Davis signed with the New York Highlanders of the American League prior to the start of the 1903 season. He hit .237 in 104 games for the Highlanders, with 54 runs, ten doubles, 25 RBIs and 11 steals and a .582 OPS. The 1904-05 seasons were spent with Columbus of the Class-A American Association. He hit .275 in 148 games in 1904, with 29 doubles, 22 triples and five homers. He hit .279 the next year, with 31 doubles, eight triples and two homers in 153 games. He was back in Minneapolis in 1906, this time as an American Association club. He batted .333 in 149 games, with 34 doubles, ten triples and three homers, which helped get him back to the majors for one final season. Davis returned to the National League, where he hit .229 in 73 games for the Cincinnati Reds, with 28 runs, 11 extra-base hits, 25 RBIs and a .590 OPS. He spent the 1908-09 seasons with St Paul of the American Association. He hit .287 in 140 games in 1908, with 76 runs, 25 doubles, eight triples and 19 steals. He had a .228 average in 1909, with 65 runs, 32 extra-base hits (26 doubles) and 18 steals. He played for York of the Class-D Nebraska State League in 1911, hitting .301 in 86 games, with 29 extra-base hits. Davis spent his last two seasons as a player/manager for a C-ball team, playing for Winona of the Northern League. He had a .343 average and 29 extra-base hits over 118 games in 1913, then .297 in 1914, with 54 runs, 21 extra-base hits and nine steals in 105 games. While his minor league stats are slightly incomplete, he played at least 1,355 games over 13 seasons and had over 1,400 hits. He managed a total of four years in the minors. His big league stats show a .261 average in 348 games, with 232 runs, 54 extra-base hits, 110 RBIs, 65 steals and a 167:100 BB/SO ratio. His real name was Alfonzo DeFord Davis.
