An interview with closer Ron Davis
Ronald Cline Davis was born on August 6, 1955 in Houston, Texas. The 6’4” 207 pound hard throwing right hander pitched in the major leagues for 11 seasons, all in relief, for the New York Yankees (78-81), Minnesota Twins (82-86), Chicago Cubs (86-87), Los Angeles Dodgers (87), and the San Francisco Giants (88). Ron spent the 1989 season in Japan playing for the Yakult Swallows and in 1990 he played in the Senior Professional Baseball league before that folded.
Davis, an All-Star in 1981, had a very nice 11 year big league career pitching 746.2 innings in 481 games with a 47-53 won/lost record; he also had 130 saves while striking out 597 batters. Ron’s life time ERA was 4.05 to go along with a WHIP of 1.386. Of those 130 lifetime saves, 108 came as a member of the Minnesota Twins when he came out of the bullpen to the tune of “Eye of the Tiger” blaring out of the loudspeakers at the Metrodome. I think one of the best ways to describe Ron Davis is to say that he was “a ballplayer”, a man who loved putting on a major league uniform, getting his glove and ball and looking to go against the very best. Sure, he did not win them all but he did his very best. Currently Ron Davis is fourth on the Twins all time saves list behind Rick Aguilera, Joe Nathan, and “Everyday Eddie” Guardado.
Today Ron lives in Scottsdale, Arizona and owns and runs the Major League School of Baseball in Scottsdale. In his spare time Ron enjoys fishing and watching his son Ike play ball and progress through the New York Mets farm system for which he was the first round and 18th overall pick in the 2008 amateur draft. Ike was called up by the New York Mets in April 2010 and has been with the club ever since.
The interview with Ron took place in October 2009 and is divided into two parts and is 89 minutes long.
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