Athletes - Don Hoak

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	Athletes - Don Hoak

Donald Albert (Don) Hoak (born February 5, 1928 in Roulette, Pennsylvania - died October 9, 1969 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was a Major League Baseball player. Nicknamed "Tiger," Hoak was a third baseman who played ten season in the Majors with the Brooklyn Dodgers (1954-1955), Chicago Cubs (1956), Cincinnati Reds/Redlegs (1957-1958), Pittsburgh Pirates (1959-1962) and Philadelphia Phillies (1963-1964). He played 1263 games and compiled a .265 batting average with 89 home runs and 498 runs batted in. As a youngster, Hoak was a professional boxer, but traded in his boxing gloves for baseball gloves after losing seven straight knockouts. He broke into the Major Leagues in 1954 after a stint in the United States Marines. During his two seasons with the Dodgers, he shared third base duties with Jackie Robinson and Billy Cox. In 1955, his Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series to win their only championship in Brooklyn, but Hoak was traded to the Chicago Cubs that off-season. In 1956 he batted only .215 with 5 home runs and 37 RBI’s. At the end of the season he was traded again, this time to the Cincinnati Redlegs.

In 1957 Hoak improved his batting average to .293 and set career highs in home runs (19) and RBI’s (89). He also made his only All-Star appearance that year, but it would be shrouded in controversy. At the time, as they do now, fans had the right to vote for the starters (minus the starting pitchers). As a result, a ballot stuffing campaign by Redlegs (during this Cold War era, the name "Reds" drew connotations of Communism) fans resulted in Hoak, Ed Bailey, Roy McMillan, Johnny Temple, Frank Robinson, Wally Post and Gus Bell being voted into the starting lineup. First baseman George Crowe, then 36 and the eventual team home run leader with 31, was the only Red not selected; the fans instead voted for Stan Musial. (Coincidentally, Crowe was selected to the All-Star team the following year.) Commissioner Ford Frick removed Bell and Post from the starting lineup and replaced them with Willie Mays and Hank Aaron; Bell remained on the team as a reserve, but Post was taken off altogether. Frick also stripped the fans of the right to vote for the starters, which they’d held since 1947 and wouldn’t hold again until 1970 (ironically, the Reds’ newly opened Riverfront Stadium would host the All-Star Game that year). Hoak was limited to one plate appearance in the game before being replaced by Eddie Matthews.

Hoak batted .261 during the 1958 season before being traded, along with Harvey Haddix and Smoky Burgess to the Pittsburgh Pirates for four players (one of whom was Frank Thomas) and cash in January of 1959. Hoak batted .294 in 1959 and .282 in 1960 as the Pirates won the World Series; like the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, Pittsburgh had defeated the Yankees in seven games. Before Bill Mazeroski’s ninth inning home run won the Series for the Pirates, Hoak had been the last Pirate to bat; he had made the last out in the eighth. During the Pirates’ championship season, Hoak finshed second in National League MVP honors to teammate Dick Groat.

Hoak played two more seasons with the Pirates (in 1961 he batted a career-high .298) before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. After batting .231 during the 1963 season he was released in early 1964.

After his playing career, Hoak was a Pirates' broadcaster for two years, a coach for the Phillies in 1967, and a manager in the Pirates' farm system for the next two years. He died on October 9, 1969, at the age of 41, of a heart attack while chasing his brother-in-law’s stolen car. Earlier that very day, the Pirates had re-hired Danny Murtaugh as their manager—a position for which Hoak had been a leading contender.

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