[7] Although many baseball references show Davalillo's birthplace as Cabimas, Venezuela, in 2006 he told a biographer that he was born in Churuguara, Falcón on 31 July 1939.

[2][10][13] Davalillo became the eighth Venezuelan to play in Major League Baseball when he joined the Indians in 1963 as their leadoff hitter and center fielder.

[20][21] He ended the 1965 season with a .301 batting average, third-best in the American League behind Tony Oliva and Carl Yastrzemski, the only other players to break the .300 mark that year.

He was originally credited with 24 pinch hits in 1970, which broke the National League record set by Sam Leslie (1932) and tied by Red Schoendienst (1962).

[1] The Cardinals traded Davalillo along with Nelson Briles to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Matty Alou and George Brunet in January 1971.

[5] Davalillo ended the year with a .285 batting average, helping the Pirates clinch the National League Eastern Division title.

In 1972, he continued to be a valuable role player, hitting for a career-high .318 batting average in 117 games, helping the Pirates win the Eastern Division pennant, before they lost to the Cincinnati Reds in the 1972 National League Championship Series.

[1][5] In July 1973, the Pirates sold Davalillo to the Oakland Athletics, who were in the midst of a pennant race with the Kansas City Royals.

Davalillo had five hits in eight at-bats for a .625 batting average during the championship series, including a crucial RBI triple in the deciding Game 5.

[6][10][4] As a pinch hitter and a defensive substitute, he posted a .313 batting average in 24 games for the Dodgers in 1977, helping them win the National League West Division crown.

[16][37] Davalillo's pinch-hitting talent played a prominent role in the Dodgers' come-from-behind victory in Game 3 of the 1977 National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

[42] Manny Mota drove Davalillo home with a double, then scored on a single by Davey Lopes to tie the game.

[37][45] At the age of 42 in 1978, Davalillo hit for a .312 average as a pinch hitter for the Dodgers as they once again claimed the National League pennant before losing to the New York Yankees for a second consecutive year in the 1978 World Series.

[1][46] Davalillo remained on manager Tommy Lasorda's squad to start the 1979 season, but in mid-June, he returned to Triple-A ball for the first time in 17 years.

If Liga Nacional records still exist, they would be extremely difficult to find, but apparently Davalillo hit .360 in 124 games for the Lettuce Growers.

In 1986 he was invited to join another Liga Nacional club, Tuzos de Zacatecas, but the circuit folded before he played for the Gophers.

[6] In March 2022, a youth baseball program in Caracas called "Escuela de Beisbol Menor Víctor Davalillo" began operations.

[6] The book "Portrait of a Franchise: An Intimate Look at Cleveland Indians Baseball during the Rockin' Sixties" includes a chapter about Davalillo.