NEW YORK — The New York Yankees are the most decorated franchise in MLB history. Twenty-seven World Series titles. Forty pennants. A roster of legends that stretches from Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig to Derek Jeter and Aaron Judge.
But every dynasty has a beginning. And for the Yankees, that beginning traces back to a cold April afternoon in Washington, D.C., in 1903, and a man almost no one remembers.
His name was Alphonso DeFord “Lefty” Davis. He was the first batter to ever step into the box for the franchise that would become the Yankees. His story is one of the strangest and most overlooked Yankees chapters in all of MLB history.
Yankees franchise born from the ashes of Baltimore
The team we now know as the New York Yankees did not start out in the Bronx. It did not start out as the Yankees at all. The franchise was born in 1903 as the New York Highlanders, the product of a bitter war between the American League and National League.
For years, the National League’s New York Giants had blocked the AL from placing a team in New York City. But after the Baltimore Orioles folded following the 1902 season, baseball’s power brokers finally struck a deal. Of the 16 major league owners, 15 voted to approve a new AL club in New York.
The Highlanders needed players fast. They raided the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had won back-to-back NL pennants in 1901 and 1902. Jack Chesbro, Jesse Tannehill, Wid Conroy, Jack O’Connor and Lefty Davis all jumped ship to join the new club. Tommy Leach initially agreed to come but later changed his mind.
It was a bold start for a franchise that had no home, no history and no identity. Yankees manager Clark Griffith assembled his roster and prepared for the first game.
April 22, 1903: The at-bat that started it all
The date was April 22, 1903. The Highlanders (Yankees) traveled to American League Park in Washington, D.C., to face the Senators in their inaugural game. A crowd of 11,050 turned out for the occasion. Chesbro, the ace, got the ball on the mound.
Under the rules of 1903, the home team could choose whether to bat first or second. The Senators chose to bat first. That meant the Highlanders came up in the top of the first inning. And leading off was Davis.
Facing Washington pitcher Al Orth, Yankees’ Davis stepped to the plate and grounded out. It was quiet. It was unremarkable. But it was historic. That ground ball was the first at-bat in the 123-year history of the franchise that would become the New York Yankees.
The Highlanders lost that day, 3-1. Both starters pitched complete games. Wee Willie Keeler scored the team’s only run after drawing a walk in the first inning. It was hardly the stuff of legend. But it was the start.
Who was Lefty Davis?
Alphonso DeFord Davis was born on Feb. 4, 1875, in Nashville, Tennessee. He grew up during the rise of organized baseball in the South, when the Southern League was the dominant minor league circuit in the region.
Davis spent several years in the minors before breaking into MLB with the Brooklyn Superbas in 1901. He then moved to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1902, where he batted .313 with a .415 on-base percentage and 22 stolen bases in 87 games. He helped the Pirates win their second straight NL pennant that season but suffered a broken leg that would haunt him going forward.
When the Highlanders came calling before the 1903 season, Davis made the jump. Griffith inserted him into the leadoff spot on Opening Day. But the broken leg from the prior year clearly limited him. Over 104 games in 1903, Davis hit just .237 with a .319 on-base percentage, no home runs and 11 stolen bases in 372 at-bats.
Griffith was not impressed. Reports from the time indicate the manager actively looked to move Davis off the roster. He was gone after that one season.
A wandering career and a strange ending
After leaving the Highlanders, Davis dropped back to the minor leagues. He played two seasons with Class-A Columbus in 1904 and 1905, batting .275 and .279 respectively. He did not resurface in the majors until 1907, when he played 73 games for the Cincinnati Reds. That was the final chapter of his MLB career.
Across four major league seasons with four different teams, Davis posted a .261 career batting average with 3 home runs, 110 RBIs and 65 stolen bases in 348 games. He was a journeyman outfielder in the Deadball Era, never quite good enough to stick with one club for long.
Davis died on Feb. 4, 1919, in Collins, New York. It was his 44th birthday. The coincidence of his death falling on the exact date of his birth remains one of the more eerie footnotes in MLB history.
A forgotten name in a franchise of giants
The Yankees have retired 23 numbers. They have sent dozens of players to Cooperstown. Their history is filled with moments that define American sports itself.
But before Ruth, before Gehrig, before DiMaggio, Mantle, Jeter or Judge, there was Lefty Davis. A Nashville-born outfielder with a bad leg and a one-year stay in New York. He was not a star. He was barely a footnote.
Yet his name sits at the top of the most important page in the franchise’s history book. The first batter. The first at-bat. The first moment in what would become the most successful dynasty in professional sports.
As the 2026 MLB season approaches and the Yankees chase their 28th championship, it is worth remembering where it all started. It started with a ground ball to the infield on a spring afternoon in Washington in 1903. It started with Lefty Davis.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
There should be a plaque in monument park commemorating this.