RWFrog's Blog

I haven't posted in a long time, but I thought I would show some love to a fellow East Texan in Chris Davis. I played a little ball with him growing up and could not be happier for the guy. I attended yesterday's game against the Phillies, where Chris became the first Ranger EVER to hit a homerun in each of his first two major league starts.

Being a journalist, I wrote a little something about the Rangers new first baseman. Let me know what you think!

Every town needs heroes. Longview may be witnessing the birth of one, at least in the sports world.

 

When I was about 10 years old, my mom and dad encouraged me to join a pony league baseball team.  Over the next few summers I developed a deep-seeded passion for the game of baseball.  This is also how I came to know one of the greatest hitters I have ever played with.  He swung the bat like a lumberjack wielding an axe, crushing the souls of little leaguers with each homerun he hit.  It was almost funny watching 10-year-old kid that played like a man amongst boys. I’m not going to lie; I wished that I could hit the ball like this guy. It was almost if he was born with a bat in his hand.

 

One day, we were driving to McWhorter Park when a ball sailed over the 200- foot- fence where the ten and eleven-year-old kids played.  This ball didn’t just clear the fence though. It went over the road a good 50-75 feet beyond. 

 

My mom looked at me and said, “I wonder if that was Chris Davis who hit that.”

 

Sure enough, it was. If you were a little league baseball player in Longview, Texas during the mid to late nineties, you heard stories about Davis.  These stories were told in a way that made him seem larger than life. Legendary if you will.

 

 Let’s flash forward about 10 years to 2006. Being an avid Texas Rangers fan all of my life, which has brought me much heartache, I found out the club had drafted Mr. Davis in the 5th round of the Major League Baseball draft. I was excited to hear this news, but I never expected for Davis to rip through the minor leagues in a little over 2 calendar years, terrorizing every pitcher along the way from Bakersfield, California to Oklahoma City, OK. 

 

 This year alone, Davis has hit 23 homeruns and driven in 73 runs in 77 games between AA Frisco and AAA Oklahoma.  Davis was now wowing Nolan Ryan and General Manager John Daniels.

Which brings me to Friday June 27th, 2008, the heralded home debut of Mr. Davis, who now wears the  number 19, the same number worn by former 2-time AL MVP, Juan Gonzales. No pressure, Chris.

 

 Well, long story short, Chris hit a homerun to left field in his first ever start at first in the big leagues. That was impressive, but even Chris was modest, saying he doesn’t consider a game in which he strikes out three times a success.  Well, on Sunday, June 29th, Mr. Davis would do something that NO ONE has ever done in Texas Rangers history.

In the 2nd inning, Davis would rocket a 3-2 pitch over the center field wall for his 2nd homerun in as many starts. 

 

In the 37 year history of the Texas Rangers organization, no player has ever hit a homerun in each of his first two starts.  That’s history that includes the likes of Pudge Rodriguez, Juan Gonzales, Rafael Palmeiro, and Rusty Greer.

 

No one until Longview’s own Chris Davis.

Tyler has its Rose in Earl Campbell, but Longview may have just discovered its Legend.

 

As Rangers’ outfielder Milton Bradley put it, “the kid’s got stupid pop.”