BIOGRAPHY

W allace M c a rthur D avis

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 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.”

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He was in his apartment in Omaha when it happened.

He remembers, “I didn’t even have time to get nervous.”

When Davis arrived, troubled pitcher Vida Blue had just been released from Kansas City. Davis inherited his former jersey number 33.

For a time, Davis was one of two former Williamston High School baseball players on the club roster for the Royals as he joined future Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry.

Davis said he soaked up every player he encountered during that time and everything they had to offer.

“I was playing, I’m doing something that I do for fun,” he said of the time. “Here I am in the big leagues.”

Davis still had trouble believing he had made it. But he knew getting there was not the hardest part, staying there would be. He went on to play through the 1994 season, logging games with Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Texas.

“It’s been a dream,” said Davis. “And I’m still living the dream.”

When his time was done as a player, Davis transitioned into the role of coach, where he has been sharing his love of the game ever since, and the lessons of the coaches he encountered along the way.

Two things he has continuously shared with players, just as his coaches shared with him, are two always be on time and always hustle because those are two things he knows they can do.

From 1995 through the 2019 season, Davis has guided countless players in his various coaching roles, including a stint as first base coach for the Minnesota Twins.

Today, Davis is deciding what the next chapter holds for him and the game he loves.

“It’s amazing, because even before I got drafted when I was in college I wanted to coach,” said Davis. With no aspirations of being drafted, he figured coaching after college ball was done would be the next step.

When asked about his favorite ballpark to play in, Davis’ response was priceless.

“All of them, because I got a chance to play on a major league field,” he replied.

The pitcher he dreaded hitting against the most – Tommy John.

“I could never get a hit against him,” Davis laughed.

One thing many may not know about Davis, is he appeared in the 1985 movie “Bull Durham.”

“I had no idea it was going to be that much fun,” he said of the experience.

No matter where the game took Davis, he said his children always knew how to reach him.

Once he made it to the major leagues, Davis said he thought about those who paved the way for him.

“I thought about Jackie Robinson, some of the things he had to go through, the names that they called him. I know this generation could not go through what he went through,” he said.

Davis gets back to Williamston to visit but has called Garner home for many years.

Sarah Hodges Stalls is a longtime contributor to Eastern North Carolina Living.

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