Today Tom Davis will be inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame. I worked with Tom for 17 years. I was with him in a small room for four-five hours everyday. I learned about this man during all that time together:
He loved sports and as a young man dreamed of following in the footsteps of his local broadcasting heroes. People like Chuck Thompson, Vince Bagli And Ernie Harwell.
He loved his hometown of Baltimore. As far as I know, he never ever thought of leaving for another opportunity in another town even though other offers were common.
He was a sports encyclopedia. I tried for 17 years to stump him with a baseball question. I was never successful.
He was the best on air partner I could have ever hoped for. That unbelievably infectious laugh of his set me up to sound like the funniest guy around.
He was extremely generous. He didn’t have to make sure Joe Blow had tickets to the game so his ailing wife could see her beloved Orioles one last time. He didn’t have to take time out from his never ending schedule to talk to a kid with aspirations about the broadcasting business and he certainly didn’t have to show up at the hundreds of appearances I did to support me, but these were things he often did.
Self effacing, gracious, a true gentleman, lover of life and what he got to do everyday, was Tom.
I remember when he worked in DC for Mutual Sports during the night, drove home in the early morning hours to record sports for his statewide sports network, when that was done, drove to WQSR to do our show and then start prepping for that nights Orioles game on Home Team Sports. I often wondered when the man slept?
Besides his precious family moments, I know today has to be the biggest thrill of his life. I’m so happy for him. There’s no one that deserves this honor more than Tommy D. Congratulations my friend.
