It all began w/collecting baseball cards in the late 80’s. I only enjoyed collecting the cards because my friends did it. I really didn’t even pay attention to baseball. For some reason one player stood out among all the others. Eric Davis of the Cincinnati Reds. The guy was nothing but pure lean muscle and had this subtle yet cocky batting stance and looked like a coiled rattlesnake about to strike! Power, speed and grace. A “5-tool player”.

In Jan. 1990, I left for San Diego, Ca to attend basic training w/the U.S. Navy. After that I would end up going to Air Traffic Control school in sweltering Millington, TN (right outside of Memphis). My baseball card collection was back home in Knoxville but my favorite player (or baseball player card – however you want to look at it) was still on my mind. It was March 1990 and spring training was in full swing. I picked up a USA Today newspaper just to see if I could find out anything about Eric Davis.

The next thing you know, I’m excited about the baseball season that’s about to begin, I purchase a fitted Cincinnati Reds baseball cap and I follow the team religiously the entire season. That season the Reds go wire-to-wire in first place and crush the supposedly dominant Oakland A’s in the World Series 4 games to nothing.

The one play that stood out among them all that season and as a matter of fact my entire baseball watching life is Eric Davis’s cannon shot from a ball that was hit over CF Billy Hatcher’s head in the NLCS against the Pirates. The ball bounced off the wall and out of nowhere comes E. Davis running, scooping, twirling and sending a missle “one-hopper” of a throw to nail Bobby Bonnilla at 3rd base. To this day “I” have not seen a better play made from the outfield. This was also the season of the “Nasty Boys”; Dibble, Charlton and Meyers. 7th, 8th and 9th inning? Forget about it. If you were behind the Reds after the 6th, you basically were screwed.

Eric Davis was treated poorly by Marge Schott. On a diving attempt in the World Series he lacerated a kidney and was basically denied appropriate travel home from the Reds after a stay in an Oakland hospital. Later on in life, Eric Davis developed colon cancer but still managed to train and play with numerous teams. He also took a pay cut w/the Detroit Tigers because he felf he wasn’t playing up to his ability. (Does anyone know of ANYONE in baseball taking a voluntary pay cut? I doubt it).

The Red Sox connection: When Jason Bay joined the Red Sox, his number from the Pirates (38) wasn’t available. As a homage to Eric Davis, Bay chose the number Eric Davis wore…44.

As for becoming a Mets fan, once Eric Davis was gone and I found out how he had been done by M. Schott and Ray Knight, I had had enough of the Reds. I was a huge Seinfeld fan at the time and I happened to find out that he was a huge METS fan and ever since 1997, I’ve been following the METS.