(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos courtesy of San Francisco Giants & FIBS)
  Former Major Leaguer & Team Italy Manager Jim Davenport passed away
Nederlands
IN MEMORIAM 
...Jim Davenport...
(1933 - 2016)
(© Photo: San Francisco Giants)
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 REDWOOD CITY, California (USA) -
Jim Davenport, who played his entire 13-year Major League-career at third base for the San Francisco Giants, has passed away on Thursday, February 18 at age 82.
Davenport, who had health problems in recent years, also was the Manager of the Giants briefly in 1985.
In 2001, Jim Davenport was the Manager of the National Baseball Team of Italy for one year.
In 1958, James Houston Davenport was a rookie with the Giants during its first season in San Francisco after the team moved from New York in the previous winter.
He won the Gold Glove in 1962.
In that season, he hit a career-high 14 homeruns and was elected for the All Star Game.
In 2008, he was one of the first three personalities to be inducted to the Giants Wall of Fame.
Davenport retired as a player after the 1970 season, having played in 1501 Major League-games.
He then was the Manager of the Phoenix Giants (Triple-A) for three seasons, followed by two seasons as a coach with the San Diego Padres.
Thereafter, he was the 3B Coach for the big league-Giants for seven years, starting in 1976.
In 1985, he started the season as Manager of the Giants, but was replaced during the season.
Davenport was a member of the coaching staff of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1986 and 1987, then the Cleveland Indians in 1989.
After being active as a scout for the Detroit Tigers for several years, he returned to the Giants as 1B Coach in 1996.
Davenport was associated with the Giants for 51 years, as a player, coach, manager and front office executive.
Through last year, he served as the club's Special Assistant in Player Development.
Early 2001, Giampiero Faraone was initially been named as Manager of the National Team of Italy.
At that time, Faraone also was the Manager of Nettuno.
However, it was then stated that a Manager of a clubteam couldn't serve as a National Team Manager and so, Jim Davenport was named instead.
After having played some seasons in the Minor League, his son Gary Davenport had moved to Italy to play there in 1985 for Nettuno and stayed there.
Later, he became a coach of Nettuno and also with the Italian National Team.
He served as his father's Bench Coach in 2001.
Nick Davenport, the son of Gary and thus the grandson of Jim, played for Nettuno2 in the Italian Baseball League in 2014.
Mauro Mazzotti, who recently was named Manager of the Greek National Team, was the 3B Coach in the staff of Davenport in 2001.
Later, Gary returned back to the USA, where he became a Coach and Manager of Minor League-teams in the organization of the Giants since 2004.
...Jim Davenport as Manager of the...
...Italian National Team in 2001...
(© Photo courtesy of FIBS) |
In Davenport's lone year as Italian Manager, the squad first participated in the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam (Netherlands), where it ended in third place behind Cuba and the Netherlands.
Hereafter, the European Championship in Bonn and Cologne (Germany) followed.
For the first time since 1957, Italy didn't finish in first or second place, but had to settle for the Bronze Medal.
The Netherlands captured the title, winning the final against Russia, which had eliminated Italy in the Semi-Final, winning 2-0.
In November of 2001, Italy participated in the World Championship in Taiwan.
There, the team was unable to qualify for the Play-Offs.
After completion of the the World Championship, Davenport's contract expired.
In December, he was succeeded by Giampiero Faraone, who went on to lead the team in 2002-2007.
Two years later winning the bronze in 2001, Italy would finish in fifth place during the Championship in the Netherlands, but would end up in second place again in 2005 (Czech Republic).
After finishing in a disappointing seventh place in 2007 (Spain), Italy captured the Championship-title again in 2010 (Germany) and 2012 (Netherlands), led by Marco Mazzieri.
Two years ago in the Czech Republic, the Italians finished in second place.
(February 27)
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