Mark Davis Hopes His Identity Crisis Ends Here

Mark William Davis wants to be Mark William Davis.

“I’m nobody else,” he insisted one afternoon this week. “Just me.”

Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

Wrong.

Davis, one of the four Padres acquired in the July 4 trade with the San Francisco Giants, spent the early part of his career suffering from what might be called the Bengston Syndrome . . . or maybe it should be called the Bartow or Murcer Syndrome.

It was a matter of being someone else, or at least folks expecting him to be someone else.

Phil Bengston would be Vince Lombardi and Gene Bartow would be John Wooden and Bobby Murcer would be Mickey Mantle. Because of whom they had to follow, none of them were allowed to be the person he was born to be.

Is it a burden? Would Secretariat win the Triple Crown with William Perry as a jockey?

Mark Davis started his professional career as Mark Davis, a No. 1 draft choice signed by Philadelphia out of Chabot College in Hayward. He would shed his own identity very early, and it was his fault. He pitched too well.

In his second year in organized ball, he started the season with Double-A Reading. He was 19-6 with a 2.57 earned-run average and 185 strikeouts in 193 innings. The Phillies called him up for one of those September cameos.

The year was 1980 and Davis was 19 years old.

“I had a fastball and a breaking pitch,” he said, “and I’d had a pretty good year.”

What’s more, he was left-handed.

This prompted folks in Philadelphia to think that this kid might just be . . . roll the drums . . . the new Steve Carlton.

“They called me Lefty Jr.,” Davis said.

This sobriquet was concocted by fans, writers and broadcasters. It spread and it stuck, though it was both premature and inappropriate.

Larry Bowa, Padre manager, was a Philadelphia player when Davis came up for that first trial.

“It puts a lot of pressure on a kid when everyone starts comparing him to a great pitcher like Carlton,” Bowa said. “Make comparisons after a guy’s been around three or four years, but not right out of the chute.”

When Davis came up again midway through the 1981 season, his arrival was hailed. He was all of 20 then, and already seemingly there to stay. He was 1-4 with a 7.74 earned-run average.

Thus, he was disappointing people because he was not someone he never wanted to be in the first place.

“It’s nice to have people think highly of you,” Davis said, “but it can make you try to be too perfect. It gets you worrying about not succeeding rather than taking it pitch-by-pitch and just doing a job.”

Mark Davis would have to win 27 games a season (or at least 20) to be what he was expected to become in Philadelphia. He would need to strike out 19 batters in a game . . . and probably even hit a few home runs. After all, the Lefty did things like that.

Davis won one game in Philadelphia, that one victory in 1981. He spent 1982 in the minor leagues and then went to the Giants in an off-season trade.

This represented a homecoming. He had been a Giant fan as a kid, preferring real baseball to American League baseball. He liked the National League because he disliked the designated hitter and all the tactical maneuvering it took from the game. He also may have been prejudiced because he was a pitcher who liked to hit, whether or not he could hit with much success.

The Giants were not expecting to get Steve Carlton, but they did expect a lot of Mark Davis. He was their Opening Day pitcher in 1984. Understand that the Opening Day pitcher is the ace, the best bet for a 20-win season, the stopper. The local kid could really be a hero.

He lost 17 games in 1984, and spent much of the year shuffling back and forth between starting and relieving.

Ultimately, the Giants determined Davis would be a relief pitcher. He pitched in 77 games in 1985, and might have made 80 if his one start did not take him out of the bullpen for three days before and three days after. He pitched in 67 games last year, and had a 2.99 earned-run average.

Though he had found comfort in the bullpen, he still had not really found comfort in a home city. There had to be a place where he did not have to be either Lefty Jr. or Local Boy Makes Good, a place where he could simply do his job.

He suspects San Diego may be the place.

“I was really pleased when I heard about the trade,” he said. “I’m enjoying myself, and I think I’m helping the team. It’s only been a couple of weeks, but I hope things keep going the way they’ve been going.”

He is definitely getting plenty of work. As he stood in the clubhouse late Thursday afternoon, he had pitched in 10 games in a little more than two weeks with one win, two saves and a 1.84 earned-run average in 14 innings. He had at least warmed up in all but one game.

It might be tempting to suggest that a nickname might be appropriate for Mark Davis. Maybe something like Ironman.

Forget it.

Just call him Mark.