biography •
Wallace McArthur Davis Story & Photos by Sarah Hodges Stalls
The love of the game has carried one Williamston native through a 40-year career as a player and coach in professional baseball. At one time, Wallace McArthur Davis – better known as “Butch” – thought maybe basketball was the sport for him. But baseball was the pleasant surprise that he said “hit me in the face” and launched an adventure he never expected. He recently talked about his love of the game and career at the baseball field where his career began to shine as a Williamston Tiger. Born and raised in Williamston, Davis was no different than many kids his age. “Me and my brothers and cousins, we all played sports,” said Davis. “I played baseball, basketball, football.” His earliest coaching influences ranged from locally known Ronnie Wynn to future legend Herman Boone. Davis’ first years in organized baseball were spent in Williamston’s Little League program. Going through the attic at his mother’s house, Davis recently ran across a treasure from that earliest part of his career. “Recently I found a couple of pictures of myself with a little league team called the Cops,” he laughed. They played at the once bustling Police Park, the home field for many up and coming athletes over the years. As a freshman in high school, Davis was unsuccessful in his attempts to make the baseball and basketball teams. The next year he again tried out for junior varsity baseball and made the team. His junior year saw a move to varsity, but he was not seeing playing time. It would be a game at Roanoke Rapids where that all
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changed. “Coach (Harold) Robinson asked Coach (Dink) Mills (then head coach), ‘why don’t you give him a chance?’” meaning Davis. “I’ll never forget that,” Davis said. “So he did and the rest was history. He never took me out of the lineup.” That team finished the season with a state championship. Davis’ senior year resulted in bringing another state championship home to Williamston. After “two good years,” Davis said he never thought about baseball beyond that point. “To me it was just a sport that I enjoy doing, that was it,” he said. Davis is humble when describing his own playing time, but others described Davis as the one teammates wanted at bat when Williamston needed a hit. Davis played junior varsity football his ninth grade year and varsity football his senior year. He made the junior varsity basketball team at Williamston his tenth grade year and played varsity basketball his eleventh and twelfth grade seasons. He decided to put a little more time in it
(baseball) and use his athletic skills to continue learning the game. Davis attended St. Augustine College in Raleigh for a year before coming back closer to home to the East Carolina University baseball program with Coach Monte Little. Davis continued to work at baseball and kept getting better but was surprised when scouts began to come around. Then came the 1980 draft. “I had no idea Kansas City had eyes on me,” Davis explained. He received a call that he was drafted by the team in the 12th round. His first stop was with Royals Blue, the club’s rookie league Gulf Coast League team. Then 22 years old, Davis played in 61 games in the 1980 season with 235 at bats, 46 runs scored, 74 hits, 17 doubles, four triples, two home runs and 35 runs batted in. He logged 31 stolen bases and was only caught stealing four times. The 1983 season saw Davis make his way to Kansas City’s AAA team and then came the call players dream of - the call to go to “the show.”
