Davis tallies 3rd straight 40-HR, 100-RBI year
OAKLAND -- Khris Davis notched home run No. 40 on Saturday night, and in doing so joined Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx as the only two players in A's history with three consecutive 40-homer seasons.
"Pretty amazing," A's manager Bob Melvin said after an 8-7 loss to Seattle. "He's been stuck on 39 for a little bit. I think that happened maybe the first year or two. Now he's past it.
"It's just miraculous numbers that he puts up. We've had a long history of power hitters here, and to be with Jimmie Foxx and that kind of company, and we're still looking at close to a month left, he's been as consistent a power hitter as anybody who's been in Oakland."
Consistency is what Davis, short with words, strives for, saying of the 40-homer plateau, "It's just a number. I'm more focused on my career."
Davis, who leads the Majors in homers, has more than any other player since the start of 2016, with 125. His latest blast, his first since Aug. 23, was an opposite-field solo offering opposite Mariners reliever Alex Colome in the eighth inning.
"It felt good to get it off my chest," Davis said. "I was thinking about it for a while. They just come and go, and you gotta weather the storm and do what you can to help the ballclub win."
Davis, who also has 105 RBIs to his name, second-most in the Majors to J.D. Martinez's 115, joins this short list of players who have strung together three straight 40-homer, 100-RBI seasons:
Babe Ruth, NYY 7 1926-32
Alex Rodriguez, 1998-2003
Sammy Sosa, 1998-2003
Ken Griffey Jr., 1996-2000
Ralph Kiner, 1947-51
Ryan Howard, 2006-09
Albert Pujols, 2003-06
Jim Thome, 2001-04
Mark McGwire, 1996-99
Ernie Banks, 1957-60
Duke Snider, 1953-56
David Ortiz, 2004-06
Barry Bonds, 2000-02
Vinny Castilla, 1996-98
Andres Galarraga, 1996-98
Juan Gonzalez, 1996-98
Jay Buhner, 1995-97
Frank Howard, 1968-70
Ted Kluszewski, 1953-55
Eddie Mathews, 1953-55
Jimmie Foxx, 1932-34