Damaged Davis Is Doing Major Damage

BALTIMORE — One can only wonder how magnificent Eric Davis’ numbers would be had he remained healthy throughout his major-league career.

Davis doesn’t.

The Baltimore Orioles’ right fielder is batting .371 this season, which would place him second on the list of AL leaders -- if he had enough at-bats to qualify. But Davis’ playing time has been limited because of a sore shoulder and a hamstring pull.

Injuries have been a major facet of Davis’ career, and that is why he scoffed at the idea of projecting his numbers over the entire 1997 season.

“I’ve been dealing with that my whole career, talking about games I don’t play in and what would be if,” he said. “But that ain’t going to happen, so I prefer not to even get involved with that.”

Davis, signed as a free agent by the Orioles during the offseason, has never played in more than 135 games in one season since making his debut with the Cincinnati Reds in 1984.

In 1992, his first season with the hometown Los Angeles Dodgers, Davis missed 86 games with a herniated disc in his neck, a sprained left shoulder and a fractured wrist.

He retired after an injury-plagued 1994 season with Detroit in which he appeared in only 37 games, but returned last year and had 26 homers and 83 RBIs with Cincinnati despite spending time on the disabled list with bruised rib muscles.

At 34, Davis refuses to waste time wondering if his myriad of injuries prevented him from putting up Hall of Fame numbers.

“It’s reality,” he said. “Some guys are going to get hurt. I’ve been one of the unfortunate, but I’ve been lucky to be able to play as long as I’ve been playing.”

Teammate Cal Ripken, who hasn’t missed a game in 15 years, knows that Davis is a key ingredient in the Orioles’ bid to get into the World Series for the first time since 1983. He also knows that Baltimore can’t depend on Davis to be an every-day contributor.