"Think about this. What if Eddie Stanky had struck out? If he doesn't get on base, what happens to my shot at the big leagues?"

Today's Dodger of the Day is pinch-runner Otis Davis.

Yep. Pinch-runner.

Otis Davis was born September 24, 1920, in Charleston, Arkansas. He played football, track and baseball in high school. His high school only fielded a ball club in his senior year. They played roughly a dozen games, playing the three other schools in the area four times each. Davis had a weak knee that needed constant attention; he wrapped it during games. Still, six-foot and slender Otis Davis found his way into semi-pro ball.

Otis wouldn't be the only major leaguer to come out of the Charleston-area semi-pro leagues. Dodgers pitcher Preacher Roe and Phillies pitcher Ike Pearson also played in the league. In 1941, Davis graduated high school at the age of 20 (this was the Depression-era rural south, after all). That summer, he went to Kansas and played in the Ban Johnson League. He played for Marysville. At the end of the season, a scout from St. Louis Cardinals signed him to a contract.

The Cardinals shuffled him to three different minor-league teams in 1942. He first went to the New Iberia Cardinals in New Iberia, Louisiana. After that league folded, he went to the Hamilton Red Wings in Hamilton, Ontario. He batted .281 in 26 games before being drafted into World War II.

He reported to San Diego, but his military career wouldn't last long. His knee would swell up during exercises and make him unfit for duty. He was discharged in November and returned to the Cardinals organization.

He excelled with the PONY League's Jamestown Falcons in 1943. Playing in 108 games, he led the league in at-bats, runs scored and stolen bases. That success saw him elevated to the Rochester Red Wings in 1944, where he hit .241. He spent most of 1945 with the Class-B Allentown Cardinals after opening the season with a .195 batting average in Rochester. In Allentown, the Cardinals attempted to convert him from an outfielder to a shortstop, but it didn't take. He averaged .350 in Allentown, which got him an invitation to spring training.

After spring training in 1946, the Cardinals sold Davis to the Dodgers for the waiver price of $7,500. Davis made his only major league appearance early in the season.

It's April 22, 1946. Ebbets Field, Brooklyn. The Dodgers are playing the Boston Braves in the bottom of the 9th.

Eddie Stanky pinch hits for Ralph Branca. Braves starter James Wallace walks Stanky. Leo Durocher makes a decision; he puts the faster Davis in for Stanky. Wallace walks pinch hitter Bob Ramazzotti, moving Davis to second.

Dodger second baseman Billy Herman walks up to bat. He bunts twice, each time rolling the bunt foul. Each time, Davis slides into third. Each time, Davis aggravates his knee.

Herman sac bunts, moving Davis to third.

Third baseman Pete Reiser doubles, bringing in Davis to tie the game 4-4.

Pitcher Hugh Casey replaces Davis in the top of the 10th. At the bottom of the inning, Herman will drive home Pee Wee Reese for the winning run, and that will be all the major league action Otis Allen Davis ever sees.

At the end of an early May road trip, Durocher sits Davis down and asks him if he can run. Davis says no. He's sent to Montreal and then Fort Worth for rehab, but it's no use. The knee is shot. Davis retires. Gets a job at Bausch and Lomb. Meets a girl. Marries her. Stays with her until death did them part.

In 1947, he gave it another shot. The Dodgers took him back and sent him to Greenville, South Carolina. When the Nashua Dodgers needed an outfielder later that season, Davis was the man for the job. He played 115 games in Nashua, batting .302.

He split 1948 between the Pueblo Dodgers and Abilene Blue Sox but retired at the end of the season. Davis then joined a semi-pro league in Newark, New York and played for five seasons. He had a son in early 1949 and went to the Rochester Institute of Technology to become a machinist. He worked for the Sybron Corporation until 1969 when he moved to Eastman Kodak. He stayed at Kodak until his retirement in 1983.

Otis Davis should have been a regular, everyday player. Batting .300 for four different minor league clubs is no small feat. But that nasty knee kept him from even one major league at-bat. That's a shame.