[4] He attended Boys High School in Brooklyn, where he was a basketball teammate of future Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens and played for coach Mickey Fisher.

"[8] Towards the end of the season, Davis was promoted again, this time to the Triple-A Montreal Royals of the International League where he won the year-end Governors' Cup with the team, defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in five games.

[6][9] Davis was moved to the Spokane Indians of the Pacific Coast League for the 1959 season, where he won another batting title.

[13] The following season, on June 18 at Dodger Stadium, after the two pitchers matched eight scorless innings, Davis hit a walk-off home run off Gibson.

"[15] In 1963, Davis won his second batting title, edging Roberto Clemente by six points, and finished eighth in the MVP balloting.

Only two right-handed hitters have won multiple National League batting titles since: Bill Madlock with four, and Roberto Clemente with four.

[1] On November 29, 1966, Davis was traded to the New York Mets along with Derrell Griffith in exchange for Ron Hunt and Jim Hickman.

[19] In 1968, in what would become the "Year of the Pitcher", Davis led the White Sox in hitting with a .268 average, and posted eight home runs and 50 RBI in 132 games.

[1] Teammate Tommy John felt the trade was a mistake because the White Sox at that time were based more on defense and speed, neither of which was Davis's strong point.

[1] The Cubs released him in December, and he re-signed with the A's as a free agent, rebounding with a .324 campaign, three home runs and 42 RBI in 79 games in 1971.

[1] However, Oakland released him at the end of 1972 spring training; he signed with the Cubs again in July, but played only a month before being traded to the Baltimore Orioles, where he would spend the next three seasons.

In Baltimore, he served as the designated hitter from 1973 to 1975, finishing third in the 1973 batting race with a .306 mark and placing tenth in the MVP vote.

From June to September he hit .265 with three home runs and 26 RBI in 72 games with the California Angels before ending the season with the Kansas City Royals who released him on January 17, 1977.

But he conceded his reputation as having a casual style of play, noting, "the lazier I felt the better I hit", and admitting that he often went into the clubhouse to read and even to shave between at bats as designated hitter with Baltimore.