Why Dodgers' Great Willie Davis Received a Grand Total of Zero Hall of Fame Votes
HOF class of 2025 announcement is schedule for Tuesday.
The following is a story I wrote for the occasion four years ago at another publication.
Talk about a rigged election. Willie Davis received a grand total of zero Hall of Fame votes, lifetime. Zip, zilch, nada.
Why? Because the Dodgers' great centerfielder never made it out of starting gate. There was no one-and-done, no opportunity to be rejected by the writers, no chance to be knocked off the ballot with fewer than 5 percent of the vote.
Why? Because the 3-Dog's name never appeared on a Cooperstown ballot, a snub which I find almost impossible to fathom. So after a recent and random search of Davis to gaze upon his accomplishments, during which I noticed the omission, I contacted new National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum President, Tim Mead, who I knew from his long tenure as communications director for the Angels, to inquire. He put me in touch with HOF Library Director, Jim Gates, who shared what he was able to find out about the 1985 election, which was Willie's first and only shot at immortality.
But first, a little appreciation for the player’s statistics.
In 62 seasons dating to the Dodgers' arrival from Brooklyn in 1958, Davis is the Los
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