Penn League pioneer Duke Davis dies at 97
Howard “Duke” Davis, one of the oldest living minor league baseball players, died in September of natural causes in Vestal, N.Y. He was 97.
Davis was a catcher for the 1944 Olean Oilers, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ full-season Class D affiliate. Unlike the Dodgers’ Duke Snider, who received his nickname from his parents, young Howard Davis earned his moniker on the sandlots of Vestal when he responded to “Duke” for a pick-off throw to first base.
Davis carried his love of baseball from the sandlots to the Vestal High School team and graduated with letters in baseball, basketball, football and track. In 2005, he was inducted into New York State’s High School Section IV Hall of Fame.