Big deal? Yes, because it drove in 2 runs, part of a 2-hit, 4-RBI day for him, and helped the O's beat the Sox, 9-5.
It's a big deal in another way, too. It ended an 0-for-54 slump, the longest hitless streak by a nonpitcher in Major League Baseball history.
Bob Buhl, a pitcher with a career record of 166-132, a World Series ring with the 1957 Milwaukee Braves, and an All-Star berth in 1960, went 0-for-70 during the 1962 season. But Davis isn't a pitcher. Guys who hit for a living aren't supposed to go 0-for-54.
"It was the elephant in the room for a while," Davis said. This echoed the response of the pitching equivalent, Anthony Young of the Mets, who had lost 27 straight decisions (not appearances) between his previous win on April 19, 1992 and his next one on July 28, 1993: Asked if "the monkey is off your back," he said, "It wasn't a monkey. It was a zoo."
(Alas, Young and Davis are unable to compare notes and commiserate: Young died of cancer in 2017.)
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Wikipedia has listings for 5 athletes named Chris Davis who appeared in major league sports in the 21st Century. Four of them played football, including the one who played for Auburn University and returned a missed field goal 109 yards for a touchdown in the 2013 "Iron Bowl" against arch-rival Alabama, the famous "Kick Six" play.
Christopher Lyn Davis was born on March 17, 1986 in Longview, Texas. The closest major city is Dallas. A 1st baseman, he debuted with his "hometown" team, the Texas Rangers, and was a member of their 1st Pennant-winning team in 2010.
He was traded to the Baltimore Orioles, and led the American League in home runs and RBIs in 2013, his only All-Star season to date. He led both leagues in homers in 2013, with 53, and did so again in 2015, with 47. Nicknamed "Crush Davis," after Crash Davis, the lead character of the film Bull Durham, he has 283 for his career, so we're talking about a good ballplayer -- if a decidedly one-dimensional one. (His lifetime batting average is just .237, and he's not regarded as a good fielder.)
In 2018, Davis batted just .168, a new MLB record for lowest batting average for a player who qualified for his League's batting title. He still managed to hit 16 home runs. The O's as a team were just as bad, with the worst record in their 65-season history: 47-115. Davis is now the oldest player on the Baltimore roster -- only 33. He is the veteran presence. Outfielder Cedric Mullins, 24, has said:
He continued to show us how to be a professional. Going through the struggles that he has, he kept his chin up no matter what. To witness that in person, it'll help me maintain my composure when I go through the same thing.
Yikes, I hope he never goes through anything close to the same thing. I wouldn't mind him not hitting well against the Yankees, but even a slump 1/3rd that bad, 0-for-18, would be rough. Remember the line in the aforementioned Bull Durham? "Jose, I am 0-for-16, a big fucking donut hole for 16. I can't remember the last time I got a base hit."
The last time Chris Davis got a hit, the Red Sox were defending World Champions without steroids, Apple Watches, or however else they've been cheating.
Okay, jokes aside, it hasn't been that long. It was on September 14, 2018. The Orioles lost to the Chicago White Sox, 8-6 at Camden Yards. Davis hit a double in the 2nd inning off James Shields.
After that, he went 0-for-54, including the 2018-19 off-season. That's 30 games, but that's 221 days. How long has that been?
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How much has changed? Not a whole lot. The NBA's Milwaukee Bucks are the only team in major league sports to open a new venue. Unless you count Major League Soccer, where Minnesota United played their 1st game in a new stadium -- and you shouldn't, since the kickoff came a couple of hours after the hit. FC Cincinnati, formerly in the United Soccer League, made its MLS debut, but in the same stadium they'd been using as a lower-division team.
The Red Sox, the New England Patriots, the Calgary Stampeders and Atlanta United all won league titles, while the football team at Clemson University and the basketball team at the University of Virginia won the National Championships in their sports. That's a lot of New England in the pro titles, and a lot of orange in the college titles.
The Cincinnati Reds, the Texas Rangers, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Los Angeles Angels and the Minnesota Twins have changed field managers. The Mets, the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers have changed general managers. Not surprisingly, given their awful 2018 season, the Orioles have changed both.
Other major league sports teams to change head coaches were: In the NFL, the New York Jets, the Cleveland Browns, the Green Bay Packers, the Arizona Cardinals, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Denver Broncos, the Miami Dolphins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In the NBA, the New York Knicks, the Atlanta Hawks, the Charlotte Hornets, the Chicago Bulls, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Detroit Pistons, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Orlando Magic, the Phoenix Suns and the Toronto Raptors.
And in the NHL, the New York Rangers, the New York Islanders, the Anaheim Ducks, the Calgary Flames, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Dallas Stars, the Edmonton Oilers, the Los Angeles Kings, the Ottawa Senators, the Philadelphia Flyers, the St. Louis Blues and the Washington Capitals.
The U.S. held a Congressional election, and the Democratic Party took control of the House of Representatives from the Republican Party, although the Republicans gained seats in the Senate. New Jersey's Congressional delegation went from 7 Democrats and 5 Republicans to 11 Democrats and 1 Republican, Christopher H. Smith. Counting U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (who was re-elected in a tough fight) and Cory Booker (now running for President), that's 13 Democrats and 1 Republican.
Andrew Cuomo matched his father, Mario Cuomo, by winning a 3rd term as Governor of the State of New York. New Governors were elected in the following States: Democrats in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico and Wisconsin; and Republicans in Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming -- a net +6 for the Democrats.
But in a move far more consequential, during the course of Davis' slump, Brett Kavanaugh -- an alcoholic, a rapist, and a far-right-wing fanatic, was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, replacing the retiring moderate Anthony Kennedy. One would think that Donald Trump would have refused him on the booze grounds, since he supposedly hates alcohol for killing his brother Fred. Kavanaugh is only 54, and could be on the Court for 30 years to come.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Denis Mukwege of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Belgain Congo and Zaire), both a gynecologist and a minister (I'm sure there's a lot of American conservatives who wish they could have pulled that off); and Nadia Murad of Iraq, a victim of ISIS. They received the Prize "for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict."
Major films released since Chris Davis last got a hit included Best Picture Oscar winner Green Book, If Beale Street Could Talk, Assassination Nation, Boy Erased, the sequel Mary Poppins Returns, the Rocky franchise film Creed II, the Lisbeth Salander franchise film The Girl in the Spider's Web, the Harry Potter franchise film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the Transformers franchise film Bumblebee, the Wreck-It Ralph sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet, the sequel How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, and the alleged last Madea film, Tyler Perry's A Madea Family Funeral.
Also, the Neil Armstrong biopic First Man, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex, the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, the Gary Hart campaign story The Front Runner, and the heavily-dramatized British royalty films Mary Queen of Scots (reigned 1542-67) and The Favourite (about Queen Anne, 1702-14).
Also, a "live-action" version of Disney's Dumbo, the remake The Grinch, a remake of Stephen King's Pet Sematary, Lady Gaga's remake of A Star Is Born (either the 4th or the 5th version of this film, depending on whether you count the 1932 film What Price Hollywood? as the 1st), the Sherlock Holmes spoof Holmes & Watson, yet another version of Robin Hood, and the superhero films Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Aquaman, Glass, Alita: Battle Angel, a reboot of Hellboy, and 2 films with heroes named Captain Marvel: Marvel Comics' Captain Marvel and DC Comics' Shazam! Another 13 days, and Davis' slump would have included Avengers: Endgame. And he really wouldn't have felt so good.
TV shows that debuted during the slump included FBI, A Million Little Things, The Cool Kids, God Friended Me, The Romanoffs, The Rookie, Proven Innocent, Whiskey Cavalier, The Code, the superhero series Titans, a TV series based on the 1989 film Heathers, the U.S. edition of the reality show The Masked Singer, and the spinoff Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists.
Iconic late 1980s, early 1990s sitcoms Roseanne and Murphy Brown were both revived after more than 20 years. But, due to Roseanne Barr's despicable tweets, her character Roseanne Conner was killed off in a very unsympathetic way, and the revived Roseanne was adjusted to The Conners. Sabrina, the Teenage Witch was rebooted, but not as a comedy: As The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Also rebooted: Roswell, New Mexico and Carmen Sandiego.
Shows airing their last first-run episodes during the slump included House of Cards, The Last Ship, Timeless, Teachers, You're the Worst, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the rebooted One Day at a Time, and the superhero shows Daredevil and The Punisher, with the cancellation of related series Jessica Jones announced. Another 12 days, and Davis' slump would have included the finale of Gotham. (UPDATE: The new One Day at a Time got a reprieve from another network.)
The Number 1 song in America was "In My Feelings" by Aubrey Drake Graham -- who, like his ex-girlfriend, Robyn Rihanna Fenty, uses his middle name as a stage name. Drake and his fellow Ontarian Justin Bieber seem to be in a contest to see how many different people in sports they can jinx with their support. (UPDATE: The Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA Championship, perhaps breaking their jinx.)
Since Chris Davis' slump began, the world has seen the murder, and the cover-up thereof, of journalist Jamal Khashoggi; the legalization of the sale and use of cannabis in Canada, a deadly pipeline explosion in Mexico, the election of right-wing fanatic Jair Bolsonaro as President of Brazil, and a deadly dam break in that country; an impeachment movement for the President of Venezuela, and a suicide bombing in Colombia.
On the other side of the world, there has been a plane crash killing soccer star Emiliano Sala in the English Channel, civil unrest in France, the settling of the Macedonian naming dispute with the former Yugoslav republic becoming North Macedonia, a bombing in Crimea, a coup in Sudan, a plane crash in Ethiopia, a cyclone in Mozambique, suicide bombings in Iran and Kashmir, a major train derailment in India, a deadly fire in Bangladesh, a cathedral bombing in the Philippines, a chemical plant explosion in China, a mass shooting at a mosque in New Zealand; and, in Indonesia alone, a major earthquake, a plane crash and a deadly tsunami.
In America, there has been the murder of 11 people in a gun massacre in a synagogue in Pittsburgh, a huge wildfire in California, the murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle, the depression-induced suicide of competitive cyclist Kelly Catlin, and a big drop and then the 1st 1,000-point one-day gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
And there was a monthlong shutdown of the U.S. federal government, because Donald Trump couldn't reach an agreement with a Congress controlled by his own party. And Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered his report to Attorney General William Barr, who released a summary stating that there was no collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia, which has already been proven to be a lie.
Former President George H.W. Bush died. So did former Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, former U.S. Senators Harris Wofford of Pennsylvania, Birch Bayh of Indiana and Ernest "Fritz" Hollings of South Carolina; and the longest-serving Congressman ever, 59-year veteran John Dingell of Michigan. So did computer pioneer Paul Allen, owner of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks and formerly of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers; and Tim Hortons chain co-founder Ron Joyce. So did comic book legend Stan Lee, and science fiction writer Vonda N. McIntyre. So did fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.
So did actors Geoffrey Hayes, Sondra Locke, Douglas Rain, Ken Berry, Philip Bosco, Penny Marshall, Donald Moffat, Bob "Super Dave Osborne" Einstein, Carol Channing, Kaye Ballard, Kristoff St. John, Albert Finney, Jan-Michael Vincent, Bruno "Ranting Hitler" Ganz, Morgan Woodward, Katherine Helmond and Luke Perry; and directors Bernardo Bertolucci and Stanley Donen.
So did music legends Marty Balin, Otis Rush, Charles Aznavour, Montserrat Caballe, Tony Joe White, Roy Clark, Nancy Wilson, Daryl "the Captain" Dragon, Michel Legrand, James Ingram, Peter Tork of the Monkees, Andre Previn, Hal Blaine and Dick Dale.
So did sports legends Tommy McDonald, George Taliaferro, Tex Winter, Willie McCovey, Frank Robinson, Gordon Banks, Ted Lindsay, Green Bay Packer legends Jim Taylor and Forrest Gregg, San Diego Chargers owner Alex Spanos, former San Francisco Giants owner Peter Magowan, and sportswriter Dave Anderson.
Babies were born to celebrities Kate Upton and Justin Verlander, Hilary Duff and Matthew Koma, and Derek and Hannah Jeter. Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade adopted a child.
September 14, 2018. Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles got a hit. He didn't get another until yesterday afternoon.
May no player ever have to go through such a drought again.
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