Wednesday, March 10, 1999
Davis lashes out at Orioles
The Associated Press
JUPITER, Fla. — Given a choice, Eric Davis would have preferred to play another season or two in Baltimore.
He's with the St. Louis Cardinals now, and while he relished his time with the Orioles, the two-time all-star is more than a bit miffed that Baltimore let him walk away.
Davis, who batted cleanup for the Cardinals against Baltimore on Tuesday, said before the game the Orioles told him during the offseason that signing him to a new contract was not a primary concern — even though he finished fourth in the AL with a career-high .327 batting average and set a team record by hitting in 30 consecutive games.
“For the money it was going to take, I didn't see a full-time role for him here,” General Manager Frank Wren said Tuesday.
So the Orioles signed Albert Belle as their full-time right fielder and re-signed B.J. Surhoff to play left.
“The only thing I know is that it was told to me that I wasn't a priority, so I took that to heart,” Davis said. “That meant I had to go out and solidify my situation. Was I supposed to sit around and wait? That wasn't going to happen. I've been around the game too long for that.”
Davis, 36, also blamed the Orioles for a sore elbow that limited his time in the outfield last year and said the team struggled in part because it took manager Ray Miller almost half the season to set a lineup.
Concerns over Davis' endurance — he has battled injuries his entire career — combined with the signing in August of designated hitter Harold Baines pretty much spelled the end of Davis' marvelous two-year run in Baltimore.
“Once we got Baines it was kind of hard to find a place for Eric, especially with his arm. The arm was a problem,” Miller said Tuesday.
Davis said the injury occurred during a drill in which the players threw from behind the mound before stepping onto the hill. “It was something I shouldn't have been doing,” he said.
Davis, who hit 28 home runs with 89 RBI, ended up signing an $8 million, two-year contract with the Cardinals. But he loved his time in Baltimore and said he enjoyed the game and the fans there more than anywhere he had played.
“It was probably the most fun I had. I had a great time in Baltimore; they were probably the best teammates I ever played with,” he said.
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