Former Rogers Heritage pitcher Hunter Wood realized the dream of every Little League player when he made his Major League debut with the Tampa Bay Rays on May 30.
Wood pitched to one batter and retired him on a popup in the eighth inning of 9-5 defeat to the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas. Wood, who had bypassed Triple-A before his promotion, was told after the game by Rays manager Kevin Cash he was being sent back to the minors at Double-A Montgomery, Ala.
“I told myself ‘I’m not going to get upset,’” Wood said. “They said they hope they see me back real soon.”
Hopefully, Wood, 23, will get another opportunity in the big leagues, but there are no guarantees. What if his career ends with one single appearance in the Major Leagues like Archibald “Moonlight” Graham or Otis “Scat” Davis, formerly of Charleston?
Most every baseball fan knows about “Moonlight” Graham, whose story was popularized in the 1989 film Field of Dreams. Graham played in one game with the New York Giants in 1905. Despite great promise as a ballplayer, Graham never made it back to the Major Leagues and turned to another profession as a doctor before eventually settling in Minnesota.
Few people in Arkansas know the story of Davis, who was born in 1920 on a family farm near Charleston and graduated from Charleston High School in 1941. Charleston didn’t even field a baseball team until Davis’ senior year, and the team played without uniforms.
Davis made his mark in the semipro leagues around Fort Smith and later in Kansas. He was signed by a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals and was later sold to the Brooklyn Dodgers for the waiver price of $7,500. He made his Major League debut with the Dodgers on April 22, 1946, against the Boston Braves.
Davis entered the game as a pinch-runner for Eddie Stanky with the Dodgers trailing the Braves 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning. Davis later scored but not before he hurt his knee on a failed bunt attempt while sliding into third base.
Overnight, Davis’ knee stiffened and he was eventually sent back to the minors never to return. Davis, who was 6 foot 4 and slender, bounced around a few more years before he got married, had a son and moved to Rochester, N.Y. Davis frequently made trips back to Arkansas before he died in 2007.
“Otis retired to Florida and he’d come back a couple weeks every year to visit,” said his nephew, Lance Davis, of Charleston. “He was a great guy who always had a lot of stories about his days playing baseball. He’d come back when the World Series was being played and we’d talk and watch a lot of baseball. We’re a big baseball family.”
Davis and Graham were both outfielders. Davis tried a comeback in 1949 and played five years of semipro baseball before retiring for good to focus on his family, which included Otis Jr. He got a job at Eastman Kodak in 1963 and worked there until he retired in 1983.
Except for a serious knee injury early on that fateful day in 1946, Davis may have played several years in the Major Leagues. But he was not filled with bitterness of an injury that shortened his career. Far from it.
“What baseball did for me was give me something to talk about,” Davis said in an article published by The Society of American Baseball Research. “It gave me another identity. ‘Moonlight’ Graham played the field, but never got to bat. I’d like to have batted. But what if Eddie Stanky had struck out? If he doesn’t get on base, what happens to my shot in the big leagues?”
Life is like this, isn’t it? Timing and opportunity. Davis would likely get a laugh that his autographed index card sold on ebay for $4.99 with $3 for shipping and handling.
Wood, who threw five pitches in his Major League debut, is back in Double-A, where he is 3-4 with a 5.02 ERA with the Montgomery Biscuits. His next move will likely be to the Rays’ Triple-A farm team at Durham, N.C.
From there, who knows? But if Wood’s career were to end today, he is still a member of an elite club of young men who’ve played in the Major Leagues, if only for one game — just like “Moonlight” Graham and Otis “Scat” Davis.
Rick Fires can be reached at rfires@ nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWARick.