Don Hoak

To his contemporaries, he was a hard-nosed player, a throwback to earlier days, when players like Ty Cobb played the game as if their lives depended on it. Opponents labeled him “hard-headed” and “red-nosed.” Latinos had their own title for him: El Divino Loco or the Divine Madman. But it was Pittsburgh Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince who coined the nickname for Don Hoak that stuck, “Tiger,” because of his ferociousness on the field. Tiger often played the game as if he had a chip on his shoulder. One writer went as far to say that he was “cruel and vulgar and aflame with hate.”1

On the other hand, by many accounts, Hoak was the exact opposite off the field: mannerly and charming. The hometown fans loved him because he was so friendly; the press loved him because he was so quotable.

Don Hoak, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound right-hander, played 11 seasons in the majors. He was the starting third baseman in two World Series’ seventh games, and was on the winning side both times. He was named to the National League All-Star team in one season, 1957, and finished second to teammate Dick Groat, for National League MVP in 1960. He set a record for one-game futility that still stands today, and single-handedly caused a midseason rule change. Toward the end of his life he was a minor celebrity and was mentioned in newspaper entertainment pages as frequently as the sports pages.

Donald Albert Hoak was born on February 5, 1928, in tiny Roulette Township, Pennsylvania, population 1,000, about 170 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, near the Pennsylvania-New York state line. He was the second of three children born to Andy and Orissa (Leitch) Hoak. Andy Hoak was a laborer for a road-construction company when Don was born, and later worked for the North Penn Gas Company.

Hoak preferred not to talk much about his childhood. In 1961, he said, “There’s no point in discussing (my childhood). It would just hurt a lot of people.” What is known is that he attended Roulette High School, where he played football and baseball, and played the trumpet in the band.2

While still in high school, Hoak enlisted in the US Navy during World War II, on February 27, 1945, in the waning days of World War II, 22 days after turning 17. On February 21, 1946, while Don was stationed at Pensacola, Florida, a tractor his father was attempting to drive onto a truck tipped over, killing him and leaving Don’s mother a widow at home with his 3-year-old brother, Denny. Less than six months later, Don was discharged from the Navy.3

It has been written about Hoak that he served in the Marines during World War II, that he went to bat against Fidel Castro when he played in Cuba, and that he was a professional prizefighter, but none of these things have been corroborated. Perhaps Hoak was not above promoting a good story. Subsequent research has debunked the Fidel Castro story. This author has not been able to verify the Marine or professional boxing claims.4

During Hoak’s military service, he realized that he was a good baseball player. After his discharge he sought out Spencer Harris, the business manager of the nearby Olean (New York) Oilers of the Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York League. According to Hoak, the New York Yankees were interested in signing him, but after finding out that the Oilers trained in Pensacola in the spring, he set out to talk to Harris.5

Since the Oilers were a Class D Brooklyn Dodgers affiliate, Hoak signed with the Dodgers. Instead of Pensacola, he was sent to a minor-league camp in High Point, North Carolina, at his own expense. The Dodgers liked what they saw and sent him to play for the Valdosta Dodgers of the Class D Georgia-Florida League for the 1947 season. It was the lowest rung of baseball but it was a start.6

Hoak had a very good season with Valdosta, playing third base and batting .295. In 134 games he scored 71 runs and had 68 RBIs. He struck out 100 times but also managed 87 walks. The next season the Dodgers jumped him two classifications to the Nashua Dodgers of the Class B New England League.

Hoak moved up the Dodgers ladder for the next few years, one rung at a time. After hitting .283 for Nashua, he hit only .231 the following year for the Greenville Spinners of the Class A South Atlantic League. Still, he was promoted to the Fort Worth Cats of the Double-A Texas League.

He had gained a reputation not only as a tough, hustling ballplayer but as a smooth fielder and a fleet runner. The combination of guts, grace, and speed stayed with him throughout his career even when his hitting sometimes did not.

In Fort Worth Hoak found his hitting stroke, batting .280 while playing third base. On August 14, 1950, he wed his hometown girlfriend, Phyllis Warner, in an unusual ceremony at home plate that received national attention. Four teammates and their brides were wed by four ministers of different faiths at the same time before 9,800 fans at Fort Worth’s LaGrave Field.7

Hoak went back to high school and earned his diploma. In 1951 the Dodgers invited him to their major-league spring-training camp in Vero Beach, Florida. Hoak was now the property of the Montreal Royals, one of their two Triple-A teams.8 He made the Royals out of spring training and in his first game homered against the International League Baltimore Orioles. The next day, after his second game, he was sent to St. Paul because the Royals had signed someone else to play third base. Hoak responded by tearing up the American Association that first month, batting over .400.9 He cooled down, to finish with a .257 average. The Dodgers were still happy with his progress. Their farm director, Fresco Thompson, was said to “rave about him.”10

Hoak found himself in a tough spot, though, playing for an organization that was deep in talent at all levels, especially at the major-league level. To make matters worse, the Dodgers had Billy Cox, considered by many to be the finest-fielding third baseman in all of baseball.

In 1952 Hoak batted .293 and led the International League in triples (15) to help the Royals win the regular-season crown. He finished second in the International League Rookie of the Year voting, and was named to Look Magazine’s All-International League team.11

Hoak signed a $1,300-a-month contract with Cienfuegos of the Cuban Winter League to play there. But the Dodgers purchased Hoak’s contract from the Royals, and offered $6,500 for him not to play in Cuba. They wanted him to be fresh in 1953 spring training to battle for the starting third-base job. The Associated Press’s Joe Reichler speculated that the “glowing reports on Don Hoak, a kid third baseman brought up from Montreal for next season, make Cox dispensable.”12

Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen had four players vying for the third-base position when spring training opened, but Cox emerged victorious and Hoak was sent back to the Montreal for the second year and his third straight season in Triple-A.13

Back in Montreal, Hoak was hampered with a thumb injury and had an offyear. The Royals didn’t win the regular-season pennant but won the postseason playoff, which put them into the Little World Series against the Kansas City Blues. The Royals beat the Blues four games to one. Hoak batted .263 in the Series and connected for three doubles.14

After the 1953 season Hoak played in the Cuban Winter League for Cienfuegos and had a very good season.15 He was determined not to be sent down again in 1954, and he made it known that if the Dodgers didn’t have plans for him on their major-league roster, he wanted to be traded. He battled Cox again for the third-base job and it appeared at first, that the results would be the same.16

However, one component was different. The Brooklyn Dodgers had a new manager, Walt Alston, Hoak’s former manager in Montreal and an unabashed Hoak fan. Alston liked the way he “got the job done.” To Alston, Hoak was “a fine team player with plenty of determination.”17

Hoak made the Opening Day roster as Cox’s backup.18 He played in 88 games that season, starting at third base more often than Cox, who was injured that summer. Hoak’s first major-league hit came on April 25, 1954, when he doubled and scored against the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Paul LaPalme in a 4-2 win. He hit his first home run May 27 against the Philadelphia Phillies’ Curt Simmons in an 11-5 loss. He recorded his first grand slam on August 8 when he took the Cincinnati Redlegs’ Frank Smith deep in a 13-run eighth inning of a 20-4 blowout.

In 1955 Hoak’s competition wasn’t Cox, who had been traded to the Baltimore Orioles, but Jackie Robinson, who was moved to third base after dividing his time between third base and left field in 1954. Again the Dodgers were filled with talented players and looking for places to play them.

Hoak had become a father for the first time in February to daughter Kimberly. Alston gave Hoak every chance to win the starting job in spring training, which frustrated Robinson. “I’m fit and should be playing – and Alston knows it,” Robinson told the press. Eventually, Robinson won the starting job. Hoak, however, was the first player off the bench.19

While he got into six more games than in 1954, his production numbers fell. He didn’t start a game at third base until July 2, when Robinson hurt his knee. In all, he appeared in 94 games and batted .240. 20

The Dodgers, however, had a storied season, winning the National League pennant and facing the Yankees for the fifth time in nine seasons. Alston chose to start Robinson over Hoak for his experience and power-hitting ability. Hoak came into Game One as a pinch-runner and to Game Two as a pinch-hitter. (He walked.) In Game Seven Hoak started in place of Robinson, who had a sore Achilles tendon. He acquitted himself well by going 1-for-3 with a walk, and handled two chances cleanly in the field.21

The Dodgers won Game Seven, 2-0, to win their only world championship in Brooklyn. Readers of newspapers the next day saw Hoak pictured prominently in the iconic photo jubilantly running in to join an embracing Johnny Podres and Roy Campanella.

That winter Hoak played for Escogido of the Dominican Winter League. Before he left, he told his hometown newspaper, “I hope I’m still (with the Dodgers) but you never know in this business.”22

Unbeknownst to most, Hoak had irritated Alston by demanding to be traded if he didn’t play in the World Series. In December Hoak was traded with outfielder Walt Moryn and pitcher Russ Meyer to the Chicago Cubs for power-hitting third baseman Randy Jackson, and minor-league pitcher Don Elston.23

It came as a shock to Hoak but later in his career he considered it one of his luckiest breaks, saying, “(It was) the best thing that ever happened to me. I didn’t have a chance in Brooklyn.” He felt that he was destined for the minor leagues in 1956 if he stayed in the organization.24

Hoak was handed the starting job in Chicago but instead of thriving, he performed poorly. He tried to be a power hitter and starting swinging for the fences. He struggled to hit over .200. Perhaps the lowest point came on May 2, when he set a National League record and tied a major-league record by striking out six times in a 17-inning game against the New York Giants.

As the season closed, Hoak had started 108 games, batting .215 with 51 runs scored and 37 RBIs. He finished last in the major leagues in batting average for players who qualified for the batting title – hardly the breakout season he and the Cubs had hoped for.25

Shortly after Hoak finished up barnstorming with Frank “Spec” Shea’s baseball tour through New York and New England, he was traded again. This time, he was a throw-in in a trade between the Cubs and the Cincinnati Redlegs. Hoak, pitcher Warren Hacker, and outfielder Pete Whisenant were sent to the Reds for third baseman Ray Jablonski and pitcher Elmer Singleton. Hacker and Jablonski were the main parts of the trade. The Sporting News said the Redlegs “did not obtain any outstanding players” in the trade.26

After the trade was announced, Hoak called Reds general manager Gabe Paul and told him he wasn’t reporting unless he was on the major-league roster. Paul promised Hoak that he would be given every chance to win the third-base job.27

Two events during the offseason likely turned Hoak’s career around. The first was surgery for a deviated septum that had caused him violent headaches that deprived him of sleep.28 The second was a change in his batting stance ordered by Birdie Tebbetts, his manager, who told him to stop trying to hit home runs on every pitch. “He changed my whole way of thinking,” said Hoak.29 Previously, Hoak had crouched low at the plate causing New York Daily News sportswriter Dick Young to write, “He looked like the Holland Tunnel with a bat in its hands.”30

Hoak easily won the starting third-base job by hitting .416 in spring training.31 On April 21, playing against Milwaukee, Hoak was on second base with a runner on first base and one out in the first inning. Wally Post hit a chopper toward Braves shortstop Johnny Logan. Hoak, running toward third, grabbed the ball as it hopped along, then flipped it to Logan, effectively preventing a sure double play. Five days later, a new rule was enacted making both the player hit by the batted ball and the batter out if the runner purposely let himself be hit by the ball.32

Hoak continued his torrid hitting through the early 1957 season. On May 8 he was hitting .415 with 21 RBIs. He also was becoming widely popular because of his success at bat and his fiery demeanor on the field. On June 30 he was commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel by Kentucky Governor A.B. “Happy” Chandler, the former commissioner of baseball, and given the key to the city of Lexington, where he planned to reside during the offseason. By the middle of July Hoak was “unquestionably the best third baseman in the majors.”33

While Hoak had a reputation as a hothead, and was involved in numerous dust-ups, he got into only a few actual fistfights on the field. One occurred on July 11, 1957, against the Dodgers’ Charley Neal. Both teams were in a pennant race and tensions were high. In the seventh inning there was a fracas between Redlegs pitcher Raul Sanchez and the Dodgers’ Junior Gilliam over an inside pitch. Then the Dodgers’ Charlie Neal got involved and landed a punch that decked Hoak. When Hoak recovered, he was livid and had to be restrained from going after Neal in the Dodgers’ dugout as the players went back to their benches.34

After the game, Hoak did not cool down. He threatened Neal, and when National League President Warren Giles heard the remarks, after fining the four players $100 each, he issued a stern warning to Hoak about retaliation. Hoak later said, “Charlie is all right. I’d just as soon forget the whole thing.” 35

Within a year, stories began appearing in the press that Hoak had boxed professionally before his baseball career. It may have been Hoak’s way of backing players off him. In fact, players around the league were aware that Hoak was not really a fighter.36

The Neal fight was but a blip in what was Hoak’s best season to date. He was voted onto the National League All-Star Team along with six of his Reds teammates due to ballot stuffing encouraged by the Cincinnati newspapers. Commissioner Ford Frick removed Gus Bell and Wally Post and replaced them with Willie Mays and Hank Aaron in the starting lineup. However he allowed Hoak to be the starting third baseman. It was his only All-Star Game appearance.

Hoak finished the 1957 season batting .293 with 78 runs scored and led the National League with 39 doubles. His 89 RBIs and 19 home runs set Redlegs records for third basemen and were career highs. He was voted the Redlegs’ MVP by the Cincinnati Baseball Writers Association and finished second to the Giants’ Hank Sauer in the voting for the NL Comeback Player of the Year. The Sporting News said the trade that brought Hoak to Cincinnati was “one of the finest ever made” in Reds’ history.37

While 1957 was a coming-out party for Hoak, 1958 was a step backward. Plagued by injuries most of the year, he saw action in only 114 games, batting .261. A rib injury ended his season in mid-September.38

In November Hoak’s wife, Phyllis, gave birth to a son, Donald Jeffrey, in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, and the couple started building a house in Don’s old hometown of Roulette, Pennsylvania, that they moved into in 1959.39

By early December, there were rumors that Hoak was to be traded. The Redlegs needed a right-handed power hitter and Pirates’ third baseman Frank Thomas fit the bill. On January 30, 1959, Hoak was traded to Pittsburgh with catcher Smokey Burgess and pitcher Harvey Haddix for Thomas, outfielder John Powers, outfielder Jim Pendleton, and pitcher Whammy Douglas. Twenty-four years later, Paul called call it the worst trade he ever made.40

Hoak responded with a great season at bat for the Pirates. Playing in all 155 games for the Pirates, he hit .294 with 60 runs scored and 65 RBIs, and led the league’s third basemen in putouts, assists, and total chances. He even garnered some votes for Most Valuable Player. It was during this season that Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince coined Hoak’s nickname of “Tiger.”41

It wouldn’t be a typical Hoak season without the Tiger being in the middle of something strange. On May 26, 1959, Pirates pitcher Harvey Haddix had a perfect game going through 12 innings in Milwaukee against the Braves in what would be remembered as one of the greatest pitching performances in major-league history. But in the bottom of the 13th, Hoak committed a throwing error on a Felix Mantilla grounder that ended the perfect game. Three batters later, Joe Adcock registered the first Braves hit of the game, a double, which drove home Mantilla with the winning run. (Adcock actually hit the ball out of the park, but was ruled out for passing Hank Aaron on the basepaths and his “homer” was reduced to a double.)

The Pirates were injury-riddled that year and limped home to a fourth-place finish. But in 1960 it was a different story. Pittsburgh, led by Dick Groat (who was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player) and Hoak, and with fine pitching from Vernon Law and Elroy Face, won the pennant and the World Series. Hoak had another fine year, again playing every game for the Pirates. He batted .282 with 97 runs scored and 79 RBIs. Beyond his bat, his leadership seemed to propel the Pirates to their first World Series championship since 1925.

“I’d say Don Hoak was the difference,” said Law. “He was the backbone. He had the fighting spirit that rubbed off on everyone. He just wouldn’t let us lose.”42

Hoak played much of the season in pain. On August 13 he cut his foot severely at a pool party. He had his foot stitched up by a doctor whom he had sworn to secrecy, and played a doubleheader the next day. The injury bothered him for much of the season but wasn’t revealed until midway through the World Series, when Hoak had a painful groin injury as well. If that wasn’t bad enough, he had a temperature of 103 degrees during Game One. All the injuries prompted broadcaster Joe Garagiola to quip during the Series, “He’s the first ballplayer in World Series history to be sponsored by Blue Cross.”43

Hoak’s Series wasn’t sensational; he batted just .217 and drove in three runs, but the Pirates still were able to beat the Yankees in seven games propelled by Bill Mazeroski’s dramatic Game Seven walk-off home run. After the season, Hoak finished second in the MVP voting to teammate Dick Groat.44

With the team’s first World Series championship in 35 years, Pittsburgh was crazy for its Pirates. The Pirates were “feted endlessly” throughout the offseason. While Hoak made his share of banquet appearances, he didn’t become complacent. He went to Puerto Rico as an instructor in a series of clinics for youths of the island. Then when February rolled around, he was the first everyday player in camp.45

While many of his teammates had subpar seasons in 1961, Hoak responded with career highs in batting average (.298) and on-base percentage (.388). The team didn’t fare as well, finishing a disappointing sixth.

Hoak found himself in the news after the 1961 season as much as during the season. In a whirlwind few months, Hoak divorced and remarried. At the same time, he managed a team in the Dominican Winter League.

In 1960 he had separated from his wife and become smitten with singer and actress Jill Corey, who was introduced to him at Forbes Field during a pregame publicity appearance. Corey, born Norma Jean Speranzo, also hailed from a small town in Pennsylvania.46

Though Hoak was smitten from the outset, Corey rebuffed his advances because she was dating a Brazilian diplomat. Eventually she agreed to a date, and by late October 1960 the two became a regular item in the entertainment gossip columns.47

He filed for divorce in September 1961, then left for the Dominican Republic to manage Santiago in the Winter League there. The season ended abruptly, however, when the country devolved to chaos months after the nation’s dictator, Rafael Trujillo, was assassinated.48 When he came home he was a single man, and a few months later married Corey in Pittsburgh.49

Hoak came roaring out of the box to start the 1962 season. Typically, he began a season hitting well early and then limped home by the end of the season. He played hard during the season, and wore himself down. So this spring training, he told reporters that he was not going to hustle to conserve energy for the end of the season. It didn’t work.50 Hoak played in only 121 games, his lowest total since his injury-plagued year of 1958. Nagging injuries sidelined him for more than 30 games. His batting average dropped to .241, his lowest since 1956. However, he did get his 1,000th hit, off the Cubs’ Dick Ellsworth on June 14.

The Pirates finished fourth, though only eight games back of pennant-winning San Francisco Giants, and rumors soon started that Hoak would be traded. The Pirates had decided to rebuild, and on November 28 he was sent to the Philadelphia Phillies for first baseman Pancho Herrera and outfielder Ted Savage.

The Phillies moved one of their best players, Don Demeter, from third base back to the outfield to accommodate Hoak. But Hoak fizzled. By late May, hitting only .197, he was benched. Age and injuries had taken a toll. Allen Lewis, a Phillies beat reporter, wrote in The Sporting News, “It has become evident that he had slowed down noticeably in running speed.”51

Hoak also encountered a problem he never had before: The Philadelphia press came down on him hard. He was back into the lineup in July and was the starting third baseman for the rest of the year, but batted only .231, fueling rumors that after the season the Phillies would make him available in the expansion draft for the New York Mets and Houston Colt .45s. 52

Hoak considered retirement but when 1964 spring training rolled around, he was still part of the Phillies. Instead of being handed the job however, he would have to beat out a much-heralded rookie by the name of Dick Allen.53

Allen tore up spring training pitching while Hoak brooded. Hoak took to standing behind Allen during infield practice with his arms crossed and staring at Allen’s back. Allen, when asked about their relationship late in spring training, simply said, “We haven’t spoken to one another.”54

Hoak made the Phillies’ Opening Day roster but didn’t last long. He pinch-hit in six games, went 0-for-4 with 2 sacrifices, and was released on May 18. The Phillies kept him on the payroll as a special-assignment scout. Toward the end of the season, when it looked as if the Phillies might make the World Series, he scouted their possible American League opponents.55

After the season Hoak was rumored to be in line to manage the Pirates after Danny Murtaugh’s departure. But in December it was announced that he would replace Claude Haring as the Pirates’ color commentator, working with Bob Prince.56

For two seasons Hoak was in the Pirates broadcast booth. During the first year, his wife gave birth to a daughter, Clare Michelle.

It was long rumored that Hoak was vying for a managerial or coaching position, and in December 1966 he accepted the third-base coaching job for the Phillies. However, Hoak lasted only one season with the Phils. He was arrested during the season when he knocked down a security guard in a Cincinnati hotel bar. The charges were later dropped when both attorneys claimed it was a misunderstanding. But Hoak was fired by the Phillies in October. The Phillies claimed they were going with only three coaches rather than the traditional four coaches on the bench. Whatever the reason, Hoak was out of a job.57

The Pirates quickly hired Hoak to guide their Class A team in the Carolina League, the Salem Rebels. Hoak won the Carolina League’s West Division with that club and was promoted in 1969 to the Pirates Triple-A team, the Columbus Jets.

After the 1969 season the Pirates fired manager Larry Shepard. Hoak was one of the three candidates mentioned for the job, along with Alex Grammas and Bill Virdon. On October 8, in typical Hoak fashion, he announced on television that “I’m the man for the job.”58

But unbeknownst to anyone, Pirates general manager Joe L. Brown had a fourth candidate – one who was eminently qualified: Danny Murtaugh. Murtaugh’s suspect health had forced him to quit the Bucs years before. Once Murtaugh decided that he was healthy enough to manage once again, Brown hired him on the spot.59

After being told he wasn’t the next Pirates manager, Hoak was downtrodden. He was planning to resign from the Pirates and possibly take a job with Gene Mauch in the Montreal Expos organization.60

On October 9, the day that Murtaugh was announced as the Pirates new manager for 1970, Hoak and Jill were sitting in an apartment when Hoak noticed that his brother-in-law’s car was being stolen. He ran down to his car and pursued the thief. He never caught him and was soon found slumped over the wheel of his car and was pronounced dead upon arrival at Pittsburgh’s Shadyside Hospital.61

The cause of death was officially “acute coronary occlusion” with “strong clinical evidence” of prior heart problems. Two hours after Murtaugh was announced as Pirates manager, Hoak was dead.62

In addition to his wife, Jill, and ex-wife, Phyllis, he was survived by three children, Kimberly, Donald, and Clare. Clare became a model, and an actress like her mother, Jill.

More than 600 people paid their respects the night before Hoak’s funeral. He was laid to rest in his old hometown of Roulette at Fishing Creek Cemetery. He was only 41 years old.63

This biography is included in the book “The Year of the Blue Snow: The 1964 Philadelphia Phillies” (SABR, 2013), edited by Mel Marmer and Bill Nowlin. For more information or to purchase the book in e-book or paperback form, click here.

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Notes