Jim Davenport Joins Sports Hall of Fame

Local sports hero Jim “Peanut” Davenport was inducted into the State of Alabama Sports Hall of Fame on May 21, along with seven other significant sports figures from around the state.

Davenport was born in Siluria, Ala., in 1933 and graduated from Thompson High School, where he was a star quarterback on the football team.

“When I went to Thompson High School, it wasn’t near the Thompson High School it is now. I think we had like 20-something kids in the graduating class. Of course, you know now what they’ve got in the senior graduating class. But I enjoyed it. It was small at that time, and we had a good athletic program for our size,” Davenport said.

Davenport attended the University of Southern Mississippi on a football scholarship and quarterbacked the team to two victories over the University of Alabama. But it was in baseball that he would truly make his mark.

After his junior year of college, a Birmingham scout named Dickie Martin saw him playing baseball and offered him $4,000 to play professionally. Four years later, after three seasons in the minors, Davenport joined Major League Baseball with the San Francisco Giants.

“It was fairly exciting for me, an old country boy coming out of Alabama to go and be in San Francisco, but gosh, we came into a new city, which was great, out there, because they came out of New York in ’57, and moved to San Francisco. So it was new for the ball club and new for me and new for everybody,” he said.

Over the next 13 years, Davenport would excel at third base for the Giants, garnering a Gold Glove, an All-Star appearance, and even establishing the Major League record for consecutive errorless games at third base (97). He also led the National League in fielding percentage three years in a row.

Today, Davenport still works in the Giants organization, in player personnel, giving him 43 total years with the team, during which he’s experienced a lot of great baseball. Among the high points, he counts his 1962 All-Star appearance.

“It was great,” he said. “To me, sitting there in the All-Star Game with [Willie] Mays, [Hank] Aaron, [Stan] Musial, and all those great, great players, I felt very fortunate to be there alongside those people, so that was a great, great feeling.”

In 1962, he also made it to the World Series, when the Giants lost in seven games to the New York Yankees.

“That was the same year that we had the playoff with the Dodgers. We finished the season tied with the Dodgers, so we had a two-out-of-three playoff, and luckily we beat them to go to the World Series, and played the New York Yankees, which was a great organization at that time. Playing against [Mickey] Mantle, [Roger] Maris, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, and all those guys was just great for me,” Davenport said.

Of course, playing with the Giants at that time also meant playing with Willie Mays, another Alabama native that many consider the best of all time.

“I played my whole career with Willie, and of course, I still work with Willie and still see Willie all the time at the ballpark. We’re still both employed by the Giants, and I live about five minutes from him. But he was the greatest player that I saw. He could do everything and do it so, so good,” Davenport said.

The Hall of Fame induction was held in the Birmingham Ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel and featured a presentation ceremony with Governor Bob Riley.

Other inductees included Mia Hamm, Lionel James, Buddy McClinton, Joe Ciampi, Bob Veale, Mickey Andrews, and the late Tim Flock.

Davenport’s achievements were also honored locally by the City of Alabaster. In conjunction with his induction, the City proclaimed May 21, 2006 as Jim Davenport Day, a fitting honor for one of the city’s all-time greatest athletes.