Chili Davis

Charles Theodore Davis

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 210 lb.
• High School: Dorsey High School
• Debut April 10, 1981
• Final Game October 3, 1999
• Born January 17, 1960 in Kingston, Jamaica

BR page

Biographical Information

Charles T. Davis got the nickname Chili, when a bad haircut in sixth grade prompted a friend to ask "How'd the barber cut your hair? With a chili bowl?" and the name stuck. He used to be listed he first Jamaican to play in Major League Baseball, but that changed in 2020 when the Negro Leagues were given MLB status and Oscar Levis took over the slot.

Davis was signed as an 11th round pick in the 1977 amateur draft by the San Francisco Giants and scout George Genovese.

Chili's strength was his endurance. He didn't hit as many as 25 home runs in a season until he'd been in the majors over a decade (29 for the world champion 1991 Minnesota Twins), and his only 100+ RBI season occurred in 1993 in his return engagement with the Angels, his age 33 season, when he drove home 112; amazingly, it was his only full season without recording a sacrifice fly, a category in which he led the league in 1988. (He averaged about 5.8 a year each of his other 16 full seasons.) He was primarily a designated hitter by 1991 after splitting his time between Dh and the outfield the year before. He last appeared in the field in 1994, playing two complete gams in left field, handling 5 total chances without error. Nevertheless, he lasted for 19 seasons, and had 400+ at-bats in 16 of them. (Not including the strike-shortened 1994 season when he recorded 392 at bats and missed only seven games.)

Chili never had a seasonal Adjusted OPS+ over 150 (his best, 148, was third in the league in 1984), but he was consistently above average as a hitter. He never led the league in any major hitting category, but he was consistent year after year with around 20 home runs and a batting average that was typically above the league average. Both his career home run total and his career RBI total put him in the top 80 of all time (as of October 2007).

In 2011 Davis became the hitting coach of the Pawtucket Red Sox, then was hired by the Oakland Athletics to occupy the same functions with the major league team in 2012. He stayed in the position for three seasons before rejoining the Boston Red Sox organization in 2015, this time as hitting coach of the major league team. He was let go, along with manager John Farrell, after the 2017 season. In 2018, he joined the Chicago Cubs as hitting coach but was let go after the season. In 2019, he joined the New York Mets coaching staff, again as hitting coach. He was dismissed on May 3, 2021, alongside assistant hitting coach Tom Slater.

Notable Achievements

• 1982 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
• 3-time All-Star (1984, 1986 & 1994)
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 10 (1984, 1987-1989, 1991 & 1993-1997)
• 30-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1997)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 1 (1993)
• Won three World Series with the Minnesota Twins (1991) and the New York Yankees (1998 & 1999)

Further Reading

• Carrie Muskat: "Davis bringing new plate 'mentality' to Cubs: New hitting coach working closely with Heyward on swing", mlb.com, January 13, 2018. [1]

Related Sites

• Chili Davis at the SABR Bio Project
• Halos Heaven Top 100 Angels page