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Growing up as teenagers in Los Angeles during the late 1970s, Eric Davis and Darryl Strawberry were two of the nation’s best high school baseball players and dreamed of playing in the major leagues one day. That dream came true and both ascended to become two of the most dynamic players in baseball during the 1980s, but also dealt with injuries and/or personal demons that would later derail their careers before making comebacks in the 1990s. Given the almost eerie similarities between their prodigious talent and career paths, it seems natural to make the comparison and ponder:
Who was better – Eric Davis or Darryl Strawberry?
The Beginning
Both Davis and Strawberry emerged out of Los Angeles and embarked on their professional baseball aspirations in 1980 – the latter was the more heralded prospect and would pay more immediate dividends at the major league level.
As one of three children, Davis excelled in both baseball and basketball (at one point, he aspired to become an NBA player), ultimately focusing on baseball because he did not want to play college basketball before a potential NBA career. In the 1980 MLB Draft, he was selected 200th overall in the eighth round by the Cincinnati Reds; following a few years in the minor leagues, Davis made his major league debut in 1984 and played in 57 games, putting up a .224 batting average with 10 home runs, 30 runs batted in, 33 runs scored, 10 stolen bases, a .320 on-base percentage, and a .466 slugging percentage, good for a 115 OPS+ (which measures on-base percentage plus slugging vs. a league-wide average set at 100).
In contrast, Strawberry was more laser-focused on baseball and was selected #1 overall in 1980 by the New York Mets (his older brother was drafted in the 31st round that year and would also later play in the big leagues). Rising quickly through the farm system, he joined the big league team in 1983 with a bang, winning NL Rookie of the Year honors on the strength of a .257 batting average with 26 home runs, 74 runs batted in, 63 runs scored, 19 stolen bases, a .336 on-base percentage, and a .512 slugging percentage (134 OPS+).
Career Comparison
During the 1980s, Davis and Strawberry were two of the best players in baseball, though each player fell on hard times in the 1990s before recapturing a glimpse of their former greatness.
After seeing limited action once again in 1985, Davis broke out in a big way in 1986 with a .277 batting average, 27 home runs, 71 runs batted in, 97 runs scored, a career-high 80 stolen bases, a .378 on-base percentage, and a .523 slugging percentage (143 OPS+) to finish 12th for NL MVP. As an encore, he soared to even greater heights in 1987 with a career year: by hitting .293 with career-highs of 37 home runs, 100 runs batted in, and 120 runs scored, and adding 50 stolen bases for a career-best .399 on-base percentage and a .593 slugging percentage (155 OPS+), Davis was a first-time All-Star, won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger, finished ninth for NL MVP, and not only joined the 30-30 club (30 home runs and 30 stolen bases), but became the first player ever with a 30-50 season. Over the next few seasons, Davis remained an elite all-around talent, hitting at least 20 home runs with 20+ stolen bases every season through 1990:
- 1988: .273 batting average with 26 home runs, 93 runs batted in, 81 runs scored, 35 stolen bases, a .363 on-base percentage, and a .489 slugging percentage (139 OPS+); won second Gold Glove
- 1989: .281 batting average with 34 home runs, 101 runs batted in, 74 runs scored, 21 stolen bases, a .367 on-base percentage, and a .541 slugging percentage (153 OPS+); earned his second All-Star selection, won a third Gold Glove and second Silver Slugger, and was again ninth for MVP
- 1990: .260 batting average with 24 home runs, 86 runs batted in, 84 runs scored, 21 stolen bases, a .347 on-base percentage, and a .486 slugging percentage (123 OPS+)
However, injuries from his all-out playing style took a toll on Davis’ health, as he played in only 89 games in 1991 and was subsequently traded to his Los Angeles Dodgers for Tim Belcher and John Wetteland. Another injury-plagued year (76 games played) ensued in 1992 and thus, midway through the 1993 season, he was traded once again, this time to the Detroit Tigers for John DeSilva – across Los Angeles and Detroit, Davis had 20 home runs and 35 stolen bases, but with only a .237 batting average. Following yet another injury-riddled year in 1994, he announced his retirement from baseball.
Davis did not stay retired for long though, and returned to the Reds in 1996 to have his best season in years: .287 batting average with 26 home runs, 83 runs batted in, 81 runs scored, 23 stolen bases, a .394 on-base percentage, and a .523 slugging percentage (140 OPS+). He was not re-signed by Cincinnati and subsequently joined the Baltimore Orioles, but was diagnosed early in the 1997 season with colon cancer; despite the diagnosis, Davis recovered to make a late-season return and won the Roberto Clemente Award, which is given annually to the player that “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team”. Healthy in 1998, Davis had a huge bounce-back season, hitting a career-high .327 with 28 home runs, 89 runs batted in, 81 runs scored, a .388 on-base percentage, and a .588 slugging percentage (151 OPS+). The success was ephemeral, though, and after bouncing around with the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants for a few more injury-plagued seasons, Davis retired for good after the 2001 season at age 39.
Concurrently, Strawberry was one of the best sluggers of the 1980s, producing nine straight years of 25+ home runs to begin his career. As an encore to his rookie campaign, he earned the first of eight straight All-Star selections in 1984 by hitting .251 with 26 home runs, 97 runs batted in, 75 runs scored, 27 stolen bases, a .343 on-base percentage, and a .467 slugging percentage (127 OPS+). Two similar seasons followed in 1985 (29 home runs/26 stolen bases) and 1986 (27 home runs/28 stolen bases) before a career year in 1987: Strawberry hit a career-high .284 with 39 home runs, 104 runs batted in, a career-best 108 runs scored, and a career-high 36 stolen bases for career-best marks of a .398 on-base percentage and a .583 slugging percentage (162 OPS+) to finish sixth for NL MVP while joining the 30-30 club (fun fact: Mets teammate Howard Johnson also achieved 30-30 that year).
In 1988, Strawberry won his first Silver Slugger and finished second for NL MVP to Kirk Gibson by hitting .269 with league-leading 39 home runs plus 101 runs batted in, 101 runs scored, a .366 on-base percentage, and a league-high .545 slugging percentage (165 OPS+). Though he slumped to just .225 in 1989, he quickly bounced back in 1990 with a .277 batting average, 37 home runs, a career-best 108 runs batted in, 92 runs scored, a .361 on-base percentage, and a .518 slugging percentage (140 OPS+) to win another Silver Slugger and finish third for MVP behind Pirates teammates Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla. As a free agent after the season, Strawberry signed with the Dodgers to return home to Los Angeles and had a strong first year with his new team: .265 batting average with 28 home runs, 99 runs batted in, 86 runs scored, a .361 on-base percentage, and a .491 slugging percentage, good for 140 OPS+ and a ninth-place MVP showing. Things went downhill from there, however, as he only played 75 total games over the next two seasons and was later released.
Post his age-29 season, Strawberry could not recapture his former glory – he signed with the Giants in 1994, but played only 29 games before being suspended in 1995 for cocaine use. At that point, he returned to New York by joining the Yankees, but played sparingly over the next couple of seasons – between 1992 and 1997 (his age 30-35 seasons), Strawberry never appeared in more than 63 games in a season. The 1998 season would be his most productive campaign in years – in 101 games played, he hit .247 with 24 home runs, 57 runs batted in, 44 runs scored, a .354 on-base percentage, and a .542 slugging percentage (160 OPS+). However, like Davis, he was diagnosed with colon cancer and though he made a comeback in 1999, Strawberry was once again suspended for cocaine possession and at age 37, would never play another MLB game.
Technically, both Davis and Strawberry had 17 years of MLB service, but each actually played roughly 10 full season’s worth of games; over that span, the duo have relatively similar career numbers: Davis had a higher batting average with more hits, scored more runs, stole more bases, and had a slightly higher on-base percentage, while Strawberry had more power and was better at drawing walks, which equated to a better slugging percentage and higher OPS+. This statistical split is also reflected in their seasonal trends: Strawberry was more likely to hit 30+ home runs (3x vs. 2x), drive in 100+ runs (3x vs. 2x), and score 100+ runs (2x vs. 1x), whereas Davis was more consistent at stealing bases (7x 20+ stolen bases vs. 5x). Though Strawberry also made the All-Star team far more frequently (8x vs. 2x), both players won a pair of Silver Sluggers and Davis also has three Gold Gloves vs. Strawberry’s Rookie of the Year award. All in all, Strawberry comes out on top for advanced metrics with a higher career Wins Above Replacement (WAR) at 42.2 vs. 36.1, but both players fall short of the Hall of Fame due to their precipitous declines in the 1990s.
Regular Season Statistics
| Eric Davis | Player | Darryl Strawberry |
| 17 (1984-1994, 1996-2001) | Seasons | 17 (1983-1999) |
| 1,626 | Games Played | 1,583 |
| 5,321 | At-Bats | 5,418 |
| 1,430 | Hits | 1,401 |
| 938 | Runs | 898 |
| 282 | Home Runs | 335 |
| 934 | Runs Batted In | 1,000 |
| 740 | Walks | 816 |
| 349 | Stolen Bases | 221 |
| .269 | Batting Average | .259 |
| .359 | On-Base Percentage | .357 |
| .482 | Slugging Percentage | .505 |
| 125 | OPS+ | 138 |
| 36.1 | Wins Above Replacement | 42.2 |
| 2x | All-Star Games | 8x |
| – | MVP | – |
| 1x | World Series Titles | 3x |
| 2x Silver Slugger, 3x Gold Glove | Other Awards | 2x Silver Slugger, ROY |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
During their collective primes in the late 1980s and early 1990s, both Davis and Strawberry were integral pieces of World Series-winning teams.
In a 1990 World Series sweep of the Oakland Athletics, Davis improved upon his .174 batting average in the NLCS by hitting .286 (4 hits in 14 at-bats), including a home run in his first World Series at-bat vs. star Oakland pitcher Dave Stewart; however, a lacerated kidney suffered while trying to make a diving catch in the series-clinching Game 4 would be a precursor of the injuries that would plague him over the following years. Later on, Davis also made it to the ALCS and NLCS with the Orioles and Cardinals, respectively, but overall only hit around .200 in the postseason.
As for Strawberry, he was a key piece of the 1986 World Series-winning Mets – after hitting .227 (5 for 22) with 2 home runs and 5 runs batted in during an NLCS victory over the Houston Astros, he then batted .208 (5 for 24) with a solo home run in the seven-game World Series victory over the Boston Red Sox best remembered for Bill Buckner’s infamous error through the legs. Strawberry also later won two World Series rings with the Yankees in a reserve role in 1996 and 1999; notably, in the 1996 ALCS vs. the Orioles, he recaptured a glimpse of his former glory by hitting a blistering .417 (5 for 12) with 3 home runs and 5 runs batted in.
Playoff Statistics
| Eric Davis | Player | Darryl Strawberry |
| 25 | Games Played | 40 |
| 73 | At-Bats | 126 |
| 14 | Hits | 32 |
| 7 | Runs | 20 |
| 2 | Home Runs | 9 |
| 12 | Runs Batted In | 22 |
| 2 | Walks | 18 |
| – | Stolen Bases | 4 |
| .192 | Batting Average | .254 |
| .211 | On-Base Percentage | .345 |
| .301 | Slugging Percentage | .500 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; Davis and Strawberry had very similar career arcs – superstars in their 20s before mid-career struggles, followed by a brief comeback before fading into retirement. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Eric Davis | Player | Darryl Strawberry |
| 1986-1991, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2000 | Decade of Dominance | 1983-1991, 1998 |
| 1,226 | Games Played | 1,349 |
| 4,133 | At-Bats | 4,703 |
| 1,149 | Hits | 1,232 |
| 766 | Runs | 792 |
| 239 | Home Runs | 304 |
| 764 | Runs Batted In | 889 |
| 598 | Walks | 701 |
| 287 | Stolen Bases | 209 |
| .278 | Batting Average | .262 |
| .369 | On-Base Percentage | .359 |
| .504 | Slugging Percentage | .518 |
| 33.3 | Wins Above Replacement | 41.9 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Since their respective decades of dominance comprise the vast majority of each player’s actual games played, the resulting trends are essentially the same – Davis had a higher average and was better at getting on-base, stealing bases, and scoring runs (after adjusting for the difference in games played), but Strawberry was the superior slugger and overall accumulated more WAR.
My Thoughts
If you time-traveled back to 1990 and looked at the careers of 28-year-old superstars Eric Davis and Darryl Strawberry up to that point, you would probably be convinced that both were well on their way to Cooperstown. However, whether it be injuries, drugs, and/or cancer, both were dealt proverbial “curveballs” that derailed once-promising careers – like many baseball fans, I consider Davis and Strawberry to be two of the biggest “what if” players in MLB history: if they had sustained their greatness into the 1990s, what would each player’s career look like? In their respective primes, I think Davis was the better all-around player in terms of five-tool ability (e.g. he was superior on the basepaths and a better defensive outfielder), but Strawberry was an elite slugger with speed of his own to boot (both had 30-30 seasons) and was a more consistently productive player in his prime – the former’s peak essentially spanned five years from 1986 to 1990, while the latter was an All-Star-caliber player for nearly a decade. Around 1986 or 1987, I would rate the duo approximately equal, but ultimately, across two careers that burned brightly before getting sidetracked, Strawberry’s longer period of greatness gives him the advantage.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Darryl Strawberry
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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