PADRES / OPENING DAY : Rookie Davis Beat the Odds : Outfielder Will Start Against San Francisco

In a year in which nary a rookie figured to make the Padre 25-man roster, Jerry Davis has beaten the odds in a very big way.

The 26-year-old from Trenton, N.J., will be starting in left field and batting leadoff when the Padres begin the defense of their National League championship against the San Francisco Giants at 1:05 today.

Certainly, he did get a couple of breaks. He is starting because (a) Carmelo Martinez is injured and (b) the Giants are starting left-hander Atlee Hammaker.

However, the circumstances are of no consequence to Mr. Davis.

“I’m excited just to be here, period,” he said. “I don’t care whether it’s starting or sitting on the bench.”

And it was not that he backed into his dream because no one else was available.

“He’s earned everything he’s got,” Manager Dick Williams said. “He started hitting at the start of spring training, and he kept on hitting.”

In fact, Davis hit .378 in 23 exhibition games. Tack that to a .302 average at Las Vegas last year and a .333 mark in a September trial with the Padres in 1983. The man hits.

Davis was still far from certain that all those numbers would add up to a chance to start the season in the major leagues, at least with the Padres.

“I was with the club right up until opening day last year,” he said. “When they got Graig Nettles, I went down. I was the last guy cut.”

When the Pacific Coast League season ended, he was not one of the players recalled from Las Vegas for September. It was, to him, an ominous sign that maybe his future was not in San Diego.

“It was a disappointing year for me,” he said. “Here I had been so close to making the club, but I ended up at home on the other side of the U.S. watching the World Series on television. So close and yet so far. No money and no ring.”

And maybe no future. With Martinez, Kevin McReynolds and Tony Gwynn, the Padres did not seem in dire need of any short-range help in the outfield.

And here was Jerry Davis, already a veteran of 2 1/2 seasons in the PCL.

“I thought I’d become a spare ballplayer,” he said. “I heard trade rumors all winter, but nothing happened. I decided I just had to get ready and try to impress somebody in spring training. I wanted to try to make somebody’s ballclub.”

Of course, New Jersey was no place to get ready for what Davis considered a pivotal spring in his baseball career.

“We had 10 inches of snow on the ground,” he said. “I wanted to get outside and hit. I drove out west early in February.”

And landed in Carson, Calif., where he went to work with a group of friends from an assortment on organizations.

“It gave me a jump on spring training,” he said. “I was two to three weeks ahead of the guys coming from cold climates.”

Jerry Davis would seem to be a rather organized and methodical fellow.

“Realistic,” he said. “I like to think of myself as realistic.”

When he graduated from high school, for example, he could have signed with the Boston Red Sox for $10,000. He was also offered a scholarship worth $35,000 at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He took the scholarship, and the education.

“This is probably the most unsure profession of all,” he said. “It’s not like football or basketball, where you jump from college to the big leagues. You’ve got to work your way through the farm system, and it’s 70-30 against you even getting to Triple-A. Those are serious odds.”

And so Davis studied sociology to position himself for an alternate career. He has worked in the off-season as a substitute teacher, handling classes ranging from journalism to Spanish.

“No math or science,” he said with a laugh.

He may not teach math, but he understands batting averages. He had beaten the odds on making the Triple-A level, and did not want to languish there.

His statistics, in fact, were down from 1983 in all categories but batting average.

“I was in my third year in the same league and I just wasn’t getting anything to hit,” he said. “I saw some weird pitches. Guys were throwing me knuckleballs who didn’t even have knuckleballs.”

Bob Cluck, the manager, finally decided to move Davis to the leadoff spot.

“He told me I may as well bat leadoff if they were going to walk me all the time,” he said. “So he batted me leadoff and gave me a green light and I stole a few bags.”

While Davis’ home runs dipped from 23 to 9, his stolen bases jumped from 11 to 35. He had uncovered one more weapon in his arsenal.

And that was good, because he does not figure to be a home-run hitter in the major leagues.

“I’m a line-drive hitter with power,” he said. “I hit my home runs when the pitcher gets behind and throws it into my wheelhouse. I’m not going to go the other way and take an outside slider over the fence in right-center.”

Realistic, right?

Davis maintained that realism throughout spring training, when he kept hearing whispers that this time he had made the team.

“I didn’t want to hear it then,” he said. “I didn’t want to set myself up for a serious fall. I’ll know I’m here when I get this.”

He turned and leaned into his locker and turned one of the Padres’ new pinstriped uniforms so he could see “Davis 28” on the back. He handled it like a society matron might stroke a mink coat. It was special.

Now, of course, it is a matter of staying. Martinez will likely be ready to play by the time the Padres return home next Monday.

“My job is to prove they can still use Davis,” he said. “I don’t care how they use me. They can use me as a pinch-hitter or a defensive replacement or a pinch-runner. I want to stay here. I’ve got to make up their minds for them.”