On this day in 1868 George Washington Davies was born in Portage, Wisconsin. He went to college at UW-Madison and appeared in 69 games as a member of the Western Association's Milwaukee Creams before pitching his first major league game as a member of the American Association's 1891 Milwaukee Brewers.
Davies pitched in 12 games as a rookie, completed them all and won seven of them, posting a 2.65 ERA over 102 innings of work. Following the season he jumped over to the National League's Cleveland Spiders, where he pitched in 1892 and 1893 in his final major league seasons.
Davies was just 38 when he died in September of 1906, or he would have turned 145 today. He's buried in Waterloo Cemetery in Waterloo, Wisconsin.
With help from the B-Ref Play Index, we'd also like to wish a happy birthday today to:
- Seattle Pilot Steve Barber, who would have turned 75.
- Cazenovia, Wisconsin native Ryne Duren, who would have turned 84. Duren pitched ten seasons in the majors between 1954-65 as a member of the Yankees and six other teams. We covered his birthday in this space last year.