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Davis Harbors Some Bitter Memories : Reds: He says Schott’s lack of communication after his kidney injury will not be forgotten.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Cincinnati Red left fielder Eric Davis has recovered from the physical injuries suffered in the World Series, but says he will never forget the mental anguish.

“I have two years left on my contract, and I’ll honor it,” he said. “I have a job to do, and I’ll do it professionally. After that we’ll see what happens, but I’ll never forget the way I was treated.”

Davis suffered kidney lacerations attempting to make a diving catch of a line drive hit by Willie McGee of the Oakland Athletics in Game 4. He was hospitalized--in Oakland and then in Cincinnati--for 11 days.

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He claims, then and now, that while the Reds celebrated their World Series sweep, he never heard from team owner Marge Schott inquiring as to how he felt or offering transportation home. It wasn’t until Davis went public with this absence of communication that Schott arranged to pay for the $15,000 charter flight from Oakland to Ohio.

They made up, but Davis sat at his locker the other day and said:

“The $15,000 was never the issue. It was the fact that there was never a call, never an explanation, never an apology. I was left 3,000 miles from home with the feeling that the club didn’t know I was still alive. It was disrespectful.

“I mean, it didn’t take anything away from winning the World Series, from feeling I was a part of that, but if they can show disrespect to me, they can do it to anyone, and that’s why I made my stand, why I’ll never forget.”

Despite all that, there have been indications that Davis and the club are willing to discuss an extension to his three-year, $9.3-million contract that expires after the 1992 season.

Asked if he wouldn’t be interested in returning to his hometown of Los Angeles as a teammate of close friend Darryl Strawberry, Fremont High graduate Davis said:

“Home isn’t for everybody. I’ll have to weigh the pros and cons. What’s good for Darryl may not be good for me.”

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Though the World Series injuries and a knee operation in November prevented Davis from doing the winter weightlifting he had planned, one positive might have emerged. Davis, who hit 24 home runs and drove in 86 runs in 127 games last year, has never played in more than 135 games in a season. It has been suggested, at times, that he is unwilling to play in pain.

The perception seemed to change last year when Davis played despite the frequent need to have fluid drained from his knees and a severely bruised shoulder suffered when he ran into the fence while making a spectacular catch at Riverfront Stadium in September. The injuries suffered on the diving attempt to catch McGee’s liner in the World Series seemed to enhance the new perception.

Said Davis, forcing a smile: “It’s as if I had to be carried off the field to prove I can play in pain. That’s not strange as much as it is sad, but after seven years of the same stuff I don’t worry about it anymore and I don’t feel vindicated because I don’t feel there was a need for vindication.”

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