Welcome to the 2021 home run derby! Every Saturday morning a new cache will be released. After it is published you will have roughly a week to find it and select a slugger to represent you in that week's edition of the home run derby. Select one player and include his name in your log. The number of home runs he hits the following week (starting the Friday after cache publication) is your score; don't worry, we will handle all the scoring.
The series will be cumulative points from April through September, with a week off over the All Star break. The "catch" is every player must be unique, so FTF has choice of any player, second to find will have second pick and so on. The cache hiders will also be playing so the cache owner will select fifth each week. This is week 13 of the series (1 of 24). All scoring will take place Friday, July 2nd through Thursday, July 8th. Participation in the derby is strictly optional so feel free to find the cache and watch all the action from the grandstand. Game on!
Lawrence Columbus "Crash" Davis was an infielder for the Philadelphia Athletics whose name inspired that of the main character of the 1988 movie Bull Durham.
Born in Canon, Georgia, and raised in Gastonia, North Carolina, Davis earned the nickname "Crash" at age 14, when he collided with a teammate when chasing down a fly ball. Davis excelled as a middle infielder at Duke University, where he was the captain of the baseball team and a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity until he graduated in 1940. He played for Connie Mack and his Philadelphia As from 1940 to 1942 until he was drafted by the Navy. When he was discharged in 1946, Davis returned to Durham to begin graduate school at Duke and play for the Durham Bulls, then a part of the Carolina League. Davis would play in the minor leagues, with teams including the Reidsville Luckies and the Raleigh Capitals, until 1952.
After Bull Durham was released, Davis became a minor celebrity. He befriended the director of the film, Ron Shelton, and Shelton gave him a bit part in his movie Cobb about controversial baseball player Ty Cobb.
Davis died on August 31, 2001, from complications of stomach cancer.