'Crash' Davis, Ex-Duke Captain, Played Major League Baseball

If there has been more than the usual amount of Georgia accent and baseball talk around the diamonds of Soldiers Field of late, it is due to the presence of Lawrence "Crash" Davis, former major league ball player, and present B team baseball coach.

Tops in his racket, the Crimson's colorful coach broke into fame with the Athletics in 1940, and was getting secure in the second base position when he entered the Navy at the end of the 1942 season, interrupting his playing career. He obtained his Chief Specialist (A) rate, and was subsequently assigned to the V-12 Unit here, where he is O.O.D.

Fresh out of Duke University in 1940, where he had been captain of the baseball team, Davis joined Connie Mack's club, but spent his first year behind $45,000 Benny McCoy, the A's widely publicized second sacker who had been obtained only the season before. Still, he managed to play thirty-five games with the Mackmen in '41, and he became a regular the next year, hitting .225.

"We just didn't get the pitching," said "Crash," in referring to the poor finishes his club made in '40 and '41, "but we had a great outfield--Chapman, Moses, and Johnson." Johnson especially rates high praise, for according to the Chief, "Bob Johnson is one of the greatest competitive ball players in the league." Davis also lauded veteran Al Simmons, grateful for the helpful pointers he gave.

It was hardly necessary to ask a former Athletic who the greatest manager baseball is. "Crash" left no doubt at his decision: "Connie Mack is a great fellow--just like a father to his ball players. He's a mental and physical phenomenon--just as alert as you or I despite his age."

Will ball players be able to come back to baseball after the war if they were in the service? "Not if they're in their thirties," claimed the Cannon, Georgia, product, "especially if they've laid off for a long time." 25-year-old Davis gives players such as Greenberg little chance of a comeback.

"My biggest thrill," said our affable southerner, "came when I hit my first major league homer off Yank Terry in Boston. There was one man on, and that won the ball game." "Crash" will also mention with pleasure his three hits off Ruffing in the opener of the '41 season at the Yankee Stadium.

"The present ponnant races? Well, the Browns have a good ball club. The Yanks have lost their class. I remember when all the Yankees used to be big fellows--now they look like any other ball club."

"Competitive spirit," according to Davis, makes a ball player. Had he seen any prospects on the Harvard club? Jack Wallace looked pretty good to the B-team coach. "I get a real kick out of coaching, and it keeps me in shape for baseball." At that point the genial CPO went off to pitch batting practice for his charges on the B team.