LOPES, DAVID  
 
Nickname:   DAVEY Position:   1ST BASE COACH
Home: Pacific Palisades, California Team:   PHILLIES
Height: 5' 9" Bats:   R
Weight: 170 Throws:   R
DOB: 5/3/1946 Agent: Tony Attanasio
Birth City: East Providence, Rhode Island Draft: Dodgers #26 (secondary) - Jan.1968 - Washburn Univ. (Kansas)
Uniform #: N/A  
 
YR LEA TEAM SAL(K) G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO OBP SLG AVG
1972 -87 FOUR TEAMS           232 50 155 614 557   833 852     .263
PERSONAL:

  • Lopes grew up in East Providence, Rhode Island, the third of 10 children and the oldest male. His mother is Irish. His father, a man Davey barely knew as a child and hasn't seen in over 35 years, traces his ancestry to Cape Verde, a group of islands off the West African coast.

    The Lopes family lived in a tenement: Mary Rose (as everyone calls her), her 10 kids, three bedrooms, one bathroom. Mary Rose cleaned other people's houses. State aid helped some, and his older sisters quit school early (but eventually returned) to get jobs and help. Davey worked when he wasn't playing basketball or baseball.

  • If you ask Lopes to describe his upbringing, he tosses out a deep laugh and says, "Socioeconomically deprived."
  • "When you grow up mixed race, even as a kid you have a tough time identifying where you fit in. I went to Catholic schools, where it was 99% black. When you're deciding who you are, you're caught in between. When you look in a mirror, what do you see looking back at you? With me, it's a person of color. If I said I was Irish, you'd laugh, but my sister's got auburn hair and blue eyes. But you can't go around saying you're white when you look black. You're going to be perceived by the world as being a black person. When I was coming along, it was a detriment to you to say you were black. A lot of doors closed."

  • Lopes spent a year after high school working as a box boy for a clothing store, planning all the while to join the military. His mother wanted him to go to college, so when Davey told her of his plans, she expressed her opinion by slapping her 18-year-old son across the face.

    Within two months, Lopes had enrolled at Iowa Wesleyan College in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, where he'd been recruited by a former Providence high school basketball coach who had become athletic director.

    "My first night in Iowa, I got drunk," Lopes says. "The athletic director said to me the next day, 'I thought you didn't drink.' I said, 'I didn't until I saw this place.'"

    After two years, in which he played both basketball and baseball, Lopes transferred, along with the athletic director, to Washburn University in Kansas, where he earned his degree in elementary education.

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  • Davey always kept his compact body in good shape.

  • He has a B.S. Degree in Education from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. And he has taught in grade school.

  • Davey and his former wife, Linda Lee were married July 12, 1968. They have a daughter, Vanessa (December19, 1981).

  • In 2001, Davy became engaged to Mandy, a flight atendant for TWA.

  • Davey is the godfather of Dusty Baker's oldest daughter, Natosha.

  • Lopes is a big fan of the TV show "The Sopranos."
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    BATTING:

    PLAYING CAREER NOTES

    • Davey played mostly at second base during his 16-year Major League career with the Dodgers (1972-1981), Oakland A's (1982-1984), Cubs (1984-1986), and Astros (1986-1987).

    • He was an All-Star four times.

    • Davey could bat anywhere in the batting order. He could be efficient as a lead-off man or produce runs with good power numbers in the middle of the order.

    • When hot, he could hit most any pitch. But he was a high fastball hitter who pulled mostly to left field. His weakness was a good breaking pitch.

    • He was good at putting the ball in play.

    • He was an excellent baserunner. Davey is the only player in Major League history to steal more than 30 bases after his 39th birthday. He could steal anytime off any pitcher. Lopes knew when he could take the extra base and always got a good jump. He'd study a pitcher -- how he moved to first, where he positioned his feet, how he turned his shoulder -- until he could calibrate a lead to the nearest inch. He stole 557 bases in his career and was caught just 17% of the time. His 83 percent success rate ranks as the game's sixth-highest of all time.

  • He was a very good second baseman. Later in his career, he became more versatile, doing a better-than-average job as an outfielder.

  • He rarely threw to the wrong base, no matter what position he played.

  • Davey was a fierce competitor.
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    FIELDING:

    MANAGERIAL/COACHING TRAITS

    • It seemed like Davey couldn't get a managerial position because it was said he doesn't communicate well with kids.

    • Lopes is an old-school baseball man. But he says, "My style is some of the old school and some of the new. I believe in discipline and sound fundamental baseball, but also will be flexible when called for."

    • Davey speaks his mind. And that turns off some in baseball's hierarchy. Faced with a controversy, the baseball establishment prefers to say something that sounds good, then retire to the cocktail lounge.

    • "They always say I'm too honest," Lopes said. "What is that?" Does too honest mean that Davey didn't go into an interview with the idea of telling the interviewers what they wanted to hear, an approach that is sometimes the most direct route to the job? His answer: "You mean kissing ass? No, I'm not going to do that."
  • Lopes said, "I'm not going to B.S. people or give the politically correct answer to get their vote. I can't be a politician. They might not like what I say, but they'll appreciate that I'm telling the truth."

  • Lopes really maintains an even-keel, tranquil composure to look at him in the dugout, no matter what is going on on the field. "That doesn't mean it's not eating inside you," Davey said. "Overtly, you see a calm picture, but inside there's a lot of things spinning." Much of his managerial calmness rubbed off from Padres manager Bruc Bochy, under whom he coached for five seasons in San Diego. Bochy, a player's manager, takes things in stride and never shows up his troops in public.

  • Davey is a positive, optimistic man. He is always rooting for the player and trying to make the player better. He is fun to play for.

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  • Lopes bemoans the lack of emphasis on baserunning. "It's hitting, pitching, fielding, and then baserunning. Players are paid to hit and pitch. You don't get paid for the little things like running the bases. "The problems with baserunning are only glaringly obvious when it affects the outcome of a game."

  • Lopes said the problem isn't limited to the lost art of the stolen base.

    "The most glaring problem is the lack of hustle. I was taught early in my career that hustle is one thing you have total control over. Not hustling shows a disrespect for the game, and there's too much of it. My thing is that you should run however hard it takes to reach second on a flyout."

  • Lopes' other thing is runners getting from base to base in as little distance as possible. "Guys round first now like they are going out to center to shake hands with the center fielder," said Lopes.

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  • In 2007, his first year with the team, Davey coached the Phillies to the best stolen-base success rate in Major League history - 87.9 percent.
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    RUNNING:

    POST-PLAYING CAREER POSITIONS

    • 1988: He was the Rangers' organizational baserunning and outfield coach.

    • 1989: He became Texas's Dugout Coach for Bobby Valentine. Then he was fired at the end of the 1991 season. Sources within the Ranger organization said Lopes got canned because he was a bit too aggressive in campaigning for then-manager Bobby Valentine's job. Baseball protocol frowns on that kind of thing.

    • The Orioles soon hired Davey as first base and baserunning coach for 1992 through 1994.

    • The Padres hired Davey as first base coach for 1995 through 1999.

    • November 4, 1999: Lopes was named manager of the Milwauke Brewers. GM Dean Taylor hoped Davey could stop their streak of seven straight losing seasons.

      Taylor said, "When Davey interviewed, he told us, 'There's a right way to win and a right way to lose. My team will know how to do both.'"
  • April 18, 2002: Lopes was fired when the Brewers started off 3-12.

  • 2003: Davey returned to the Padres' coaching staff.

  • October 14, 2005: The Padres fired Lopes (and Rob Piccioli).

  • 2006: Davey joined the Washington Nationals as first base Coach.

  • October 16, 2006: Lopes moved to the Phillies as first base Coach under manager Charlie Manuel.
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    CAREER INJURY REPORT:

    • March 3, 2008: Lopes was diagnosed with prostate cancer, undergoing surgery a few weeks later. He was expected to make a full reccovery and be back to his coaching duties with the Phillies by the end of April.
     
     
    Last Updated 12/15/2008. All contents © 2000 by Player Profiles. All rights reserved.