View source for Ralph Houk

{{short description|American baseball player and coach (1919-2010)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Ralph Houk
|image=Ralph Houk 1975.jpg
|caption=Houk in 1975
|position=[[Catcher]] / [[Manager (baseball)|Manager]]
|bats=Right
|throws=Right
|birth_date={{birth date|1919|8|9}}
|birth_place=[[Lawrence, Kansas]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|2010|7|21|1919|8|9}}
| death_place =[[Winter Haven, Florida]], U.S.
|debutleague = MLB
|debutdate=April 26
|debutyear=1947
|debutteam=New York Yankees
|finalleague = MLB
|finaldate=May 1
|finalyear=1954
|finalteam=New York Yankees
|statleague = MLB
|stat1label=[[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
|stat1value=.272
|stat2label=[[Hit (baseball)|Hits]]
|stat2value=43
|stat3label=[[Run batted in|Runs batted in]]
|stat3value=20
|stat4label=Managerial record
|stat4value=1,619–1,531
|stat5label=Winning %
|stat5value=.514
|teams=
'''As player'''<br />
*[[New York Yankees]] ({{baseball year|1947}}–{{baseball year|1954}})
'''As manager'''<br />
*[[New York Yankees]] ({{baseball year|1961}}–{{baseball year|1963}}, {{baseball year|1966}}–{{baseball year|1973}})
*[[Detroit Tigers]] ({{baseball year|1974}}–{{baseball year|1978}})
*[[Boston Red Sox]] ({{baseball year|1981}}–{{baseball year|1984}})
|highlights=
* 6× [[World Series champion]] ({{wsy|1947}}, {{wsy|1952}}, {{wsy|1953}}, {{wsy|1958}}, {{wsy|1961}}, {{wsy|1962}})
}}
'''Ralph George Houk''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|aʊ|k}}; August 9, 1919 – July 21, 2010), nicknamed "'''the Major'''", was an American [[catcher]], [[coach (baseball)|coach]], [[manager (baseball)|manager]], and front office executive in [[Major League Baseball]]. He is best known as the successor of [[Casey Stengel]] as manager of the [[New York Yankees]] from 1961 to 1963, when his teams won three consecutive [[American League]] pennants and the 1961 and 1962 [[World Series]] championships. In {{mlby|1961}} he became the second rookie manager to win [[List of Major League Baseball 100 win seasons|100 games]] in a season and third rookie manager to win a World Series.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mlb.com/news/rookie-managers-who-won-the-world-series-c299658998 | title=Rookie managers who won the World Series | website=[[MLB.com]] }}</ref> He was the first manager to win World Series titles in his first two seasons and the first manager since [[Hughie Jennings]] to win three pennants in his first three seasons.

==Playing career==
A native of [[Lawrence, Kansas]] ([[Stull, Kansas|Stull Community]]), Houk was a catcher working his way through the Yankees' [[farm system]] when the U.S. entered World War II. He enlisted in the armed forces, serving with Company I, 89th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized) of the [[9th Armored Division (United States)|9th Armored Division]] in July 1944.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.baseballinwartime.com/player_biographies/houk_ralph.htm|title = Baseball in Wartime - Ralph Houk}}</ref> He rose to the rank of Major (the source of his Yankees nickname). He was a combat veteran of [[Siege of Bastogne|Bastogne]] and the [[Battle of the Bulge]], and was awarded the [[Silver Star]] with an Oak Leaf Cluster, the [[Bronze Star]] with an Oak Leaf Cluster and [[Purple Heart]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/sports/baseball/25anderson.html?ref=sports&pagewanted=print|title=Lucky to Be Yankee and Lucky to Be Alive|date=July 25, 2010|first=Dave|last=Anderson|newspaper=New York Times|author-link=Dave Anderson (sportswriter)}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/sports/baseball/22Houk.html?_r=1&hpw=&pagewanted=print|newspaper=New York Times|date=July 22, 2010|title=Ralph Houk, Yankees Manager, Dies at 90|first=Richard|last=Goldstein|author-link=Richard Goldstein (writer born 1942)}}</ref>

Returning to baseball after the war, Houk eventually reached the major leagues, serving as the Yankees' second- and third-string catcher behind [[Yogi Berra]]. A right-handed hitter listed as {{convert|5|ft|11|in}} tall and {{convert|193|lb}}, Houk [[games played|played in]] only 91 games over eight seasons (1947–1954), finishing with a [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]] of .272. Although the Yankees participated in six World Series during that period, Houk had only two [[at bats]] (one in {{wsy|1947}}, the other in {{wsy|1952}}), batting .500.

==Coaching career==
During his last five years as a major-league player (1950–1954), Houk played in only 31 regular-season games, made 30 total [[plate appearances]], and caught 83 [[inning (baseball)|innings]].<ref>[http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/H/Phoukr101.htm Retrosheet]</ref>  By 1953 he had transitioned to becoming the Yankees' full-time bullpen coach, effectively beginning his managerial apprenticeship.

In 1955 he was named manager of the Yanks' [[Triple-A (baseball)|Triple-A]] affiliate, the [[Denver Bears]] of the [[American Association (20th century)|American Association]]. Following three highly successful seasons at Denver, culminating with the 1957 league playoff and [[Junior World Series]] championships, Houk returned to the Bronx as Stengel's first-base coach from 1958 to 1960. From late May through early June {{baseball year|1960}}, Houk served as acting manager of the Yanks for 13 games while Stengel, 70, was sidelined by illness. (The team won 7 and lost 6.) Then, after the Yanks lost the [[1960 World Series]] to the [[Pittsburgh Pirates]]—and with Houk one of the hottest managerial candidates in baseball—the Yankees "discharged" Stengel (to use Stengel's own words) and promoted Houk.

==A player's manager==
Houk was known as a "player's manager"—albeit one with a quick temper. Future [[Los Angeles Dodgers]] manager [[Tommy Lasorda]] briefly played for Houk at Denver and called Houk the best handler of men he ever played for, and modeled his managerial style on him.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lasorda|first1=Tom|last2=Plaschke|first2=Bill|title=I Live for This: Baseball's Last True Believer|url=https://archive.org/details/iliveforthisbase00plas|url-access=registration|location=Boston and New York|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co.|year=2007|pages=[https://archive.org/details/iliveforthisbase00plas/page/84 84–85]|isbn=9780618653874|author-link=Tommy Lasorda|author-link2=Bill Plaschke}}</ref> The [[Kansas Sports Hall of Fame]], of which Houk is a member, describes Houk as "rough, blunt and decisive" and his tantrums in arguments with [[umpire (baseball)|umpires]] earned him 45 ejections as a manager in the majors. Houk is tied with [[Billy Martin]] for fourteenth place on baseball's "most ejected" list.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/print?id=2903669&type=story|work=ESPN.com|title=Cox's favorite tune: Take me out of the ballgame!|first=Jayson|last=Stark|author-link=Jayson Stark|date=June 14, 2007}}</ref>

The early 1960s Yankees responded to Houk's leadership; the 1961 team led by [[Roger Maris]] (61 [[home run]]s), [[Mickey Mantle]] (54 homers) and [[Whitey Ford]] (25 victories) won 109 games and beat the [[Cincinnati Reds]] in five games in the [[1961 World Series|World Series]]. His {{baseball year|1962}} club won 96 games, and were victorious over the [[San Francisco Giants]] in seven games in the [[1962 World Series|Fall Classic]]. In {{baseball year|1963}}, the Yanks won 104 games and rolled to the pennant, but were swept in four games by the Dodgers in the [[1963 World Series|Series]].

Not all players found him to be a stellar players' manager, though. He was featured a handful of times in [[Jim Bouton]]'s book ''[[Ball Four]]'', as Bouton was reminiscing about his time with the Yankees in 1969. Houk was described in one instance as "sometimes...99 percent pure bullshit."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bouton |first=Jim |author-link= |date= September 2000|title= Ball Four: The Final Pitch |url= |location= |publisher=Sports Publishing |page=184|isbn=1-58261-310-9}}</ref>

==In the Yankees front office==
Houk moved into the Yankees' front office as [[General Manager (baseball)|general manager]] on October 23, 1963,<ref name="rhoukfohbaed">{{cite web|url=http://www.baseballamerica.com/execdb/?show=exec&eid=houkra01|title=Ralph Houk (front office history)&mdash;''Baseball America'' Executive Database}}</ref> replacing [[Roy Hamey]], and Berra, at the end of his playing career, became the Yanks' new manager. The Yankees won the {{baseball year|1964}} pennant under Berra after a summer-long struggle with the [[Baltimore Orioles]] and [[Chicago White Sox]], but Houk and the Yankee ownership quickly became disenchanted with his work and in late August they made up their mind to fire him regardless of how the season turned out.  After the Yankees' seven-game loss to the [[St. Louis Cardinals]] in the [[1964 World Series]], Houk sacked Berra. Later, Houk said that the Yankee brain trust had concluded Berra wasn't ready to be a manager, though he didn't elaborate on the reasoning.<ref name=Houk1965>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19650228&id=ZRQfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EJsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4087,3836543|title=Notes: His biggest mistake was Yogi, Houk says|date=February 28, 1965|access-date=July 14, 2014|first=Joe|last=Reichler|agency=Associated Press|publisher=[[The Tuscaloosa News]]}}</ref>

To succeed Berra, he then hired [[Johnny Keane]], who had just resigned as manager of the champion Cardinals. Houk had admired Keane as a competitor in the American Association from almost a decade before and, according to author [[David Halberstam]], the Yankees had made overtures to Keane during the 1964 regular season about becoming their manager for 1965.<ref>{{cite book|last=Halberstam|first=David|author-link=David Halberstam|title=October 1964|location= New York|publisher= Random House|year=1994}}</ref> But the great postwar Yankee dynasty was aged and crumbling, the farm system had seriously deteriorated, and the [[Kansas City Athletics]] were no longer a reliable source for major league talent. Keane, a longtime minor league manager, was better suited by temperament for managing young players than established and aging superstars, and his hiring was a failure. The team fell to sixth in {{baseball year|1965}}—their first losing record since 1925, and only their second since 1918.  When they won only four of the first 20 games of {{baseball year|1966}}, Houk fired Keane on May 7 and named himself manager, assuming that job for the second time.

==Back to the bench==
[[File:Nixon Opening Day 1969 One.jpg|thumb|Houk (at front, in Yankees uniform) with [[Richard Nixon]] on April 7, 1969]]

===Second term with Yankees===
Houk (eventually succeeded as general manager by [[Lee MacPhail]]) thus began a second, and far less successful, term as Yankee manager, finishing the 1966 season. Their talent and farm system both depleted, the Yankees finished in last place for the first time since {{baseball year|1912}}. A long rebuilding process followed, including [[Bobby Richardson]]'s retirement (Richardson's roommate, [[Tony Kubek]], had retired because a bad back after the 1965 season) and the trading away of Maris, [[Clete Boyer]] and, during the 1967 season, [[Elston Howard]]. Houk continued to manage the Yankees from 1967 until 1973. His best season was {{baseball year|1970}}, when the Yanks won 93&nbsp;games, but finished 15 games behind the eventual World Series champion [[Baltimore Orioles]].

Despite two years left on a three‐year contract, Houk announced his resignation immediately after a [[1973 New York Yankees season|season-ending]] 8&ndash;5 loss to the [[Detroit Tigers]] on September 30, 1973, in the final game at [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]] prior to its closure for a two-year renovation.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/01/archives/houk-out-as-yanks-manager-the-pennant-race-houk-turns-in.html Goldaper, Sam. "Houk Out As Yanks' Manager," ''The New York Times'', Monday, October 1, 1973.] Retrieved March 25, 2022.</ref> While first-year team owner [[George Steinbrenner]]'s commanding style has led some to think the new owner influenced Houk's departure, he told Bill Madden of the ''[[New York Daily News]]'' it was the constant booing of Yankee fans that pushed him. Houk even said that Steinbrenner insisted he'd get some new players to restore the team's greatness. "And he did, bringing in [[Catfish Hunter|Catfish]] and [[Reggie Jackson|Reggie]], " Houk told Madden in ''Pride of October.'' "That'll make you good in a hurry!"  Apart from a brief stint with the  Tigers' Class B affiliate in [[Augusta, Georgia]], he had spent the first 35 years of his adult life on the Yankees' payroll.

===Detroit Tigers===
Houk signed a three-year, $225,000 contract to join the Tigers in a similar capacity just less than two weeks later, on October 11. He succeeded former Yankees teammate [[Billy Martin]], who had been fired on September 2 and [[Joe Schultz Jr.|Joe Schultz]], who served in the interim for the remainder of the [[1973 Detroit Tigers season|1973 season]].

Aware of the challenge he was going to face, he stated, "I'm more concerned with winning than rebuilding, but we have to rebuild, there's no doubt about it."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/12/archives/tigers-gethouk-as-pilot-houk-given-long-term-tiger-pact.html Chass, Murray. "Tigers Get Houk As Pilot," ''The New York Times'', Friday, October 12, 1973.] Retrieved March 25, 2022.</ref> A veteran team -- Detroit's [[1973 Detroit Tigers season|1973]] roster averaged 31.8 years of age<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/DET/1973.shtml Baseball Reference]</ref> -- the Tigers were [[1968 World Series|five years removed from winning the World Series]] and had just had won the [[American League East Division|AL East]] in 1972 under Martin. But the team was in need of a rebuild and began moving on from their longtime stars -- including future Hall of Famer [[Al Kaline]], who retired after Houk's first season.

The low point came in {{baseball year|1975}}, when Houk's team lost 102&nbsp;games -- at the time the second-most losses in a season in franchise history -- but the {{baseball year|1976}} Tigers improved their record by 14 games behind the heroics of rookie pitcher [[Mark Fidrych]], who won 19 games while becoming a national sensation. By {{baseball year|1978}}, Houk had restored Detroit to respectability and the Tigers won 86 games, but because Houk overpitched Fidrych in far too many games for a rookie, The Bird would only last two more seasons. 1978 was tgeir first winning season since 1973, and the first of 10 consecutive winning seasons -- with future stars of the [[Sparky Anderson]]-led 1980s Tigers such as [[Lou Whitaker]], [[Alan Trammell]] and [[Jack Morris]].

After the 1978 season, with the roster's average age a youthful 26.3,<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/DET/1978.shtml Baseball Reference]</ref> Houk retired from baseball.

===Boston Red Sox===
Houk's name had been linked by the media with the [[Boston Red Sox]]' managerial job since his days as a Yankees' coach. After two years of retirement, in the autumn of {{baseball year|1980}}, Houk, then 61, was ready to get back into baseball. In late October, when the Red Sox called about their opening after they had fired [[Don Zimmer]], he jumped at the chance.

Although not as daunting as his Detroit assignment, Houk faced another rebuilding job: the powerful Boston team of the 1970s was about to lose marquee players such as [[Carlton Fisk]] and [[Fred Lynn]] and needed to retool its roster. But Houk rose to the challenge, and in four seasons produced three over-.500 teams. On his watch, Boston broke in young players [[Wade Boggs]], [[Roger Clemens]], [[Bruce Hurst]] and [[Marty Barrett (second baseman)|Marty Barrett]]. When Houk retired from managing permanently in October {{baseball year|1984}}, just after his 65th birthday, he bequeathed the core of another pennant winning ballclub (in this case, the [[1986 Boston Red Sox season|1986 Red Sox]]) to his successor, [[John McNamara (baseball)|John McNamara]].

His final record, over 20 years with the Yankees (1961–1963, 1966–1973), Tigers (1974–1978) and Red Sox (1981–1984) was 1,619&nbsp;wins and 1,531 losses (.514), plus eight wins and eight losses in the World Series. In twenty seasons as manager, he had eleven winning seasons, with six finishes of third or better and five seasons with a finish of sixth or worse. After his first three championship seasons, he never appeared in the postseason.<ref name="managerial record">{{cite web |title=Ralph Houk |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/houkra01.shtml |website=Baseball Reference |publisher=Sports Reference LLC |access-date=September 22, 2018}}</ref>

==Late career==
Houk served with the [[Minnesota Twins]] as a special assistant to general manager [[Andy MacPhail]], Lee's son, from 1987 to 1989 before retiring from the game for good.<ref name="rhoukfohbaed"/> He thus enjoyed one additional world championship season, when the Twins defeated the Cardinals in the [[1987 World Series]].

Colorful opinions about Houk can be found in [[Jim Bouton]]'s classic 1970 memoir, ''[[Ball Four]]''. Houk was Bouton's first big league manager and sparred with him over contracts when Houk was the Yankees' GM.

Houk was portrayed by [[Bruce McGill]] in the 2001 film ''[[61*]]''.

He died on July 21, 2010, in [[Winter Haven, Florida]], just nineteen days before he would have turned 91.  At age 90 he was, at the time, the oldest living manager of a World Series-winning, pennant-winning or post-season team.  He was survived by a daughter, Donna; a son, Robert; four grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

On July 22, 2010, the Yankees announced players and coaches would wear a black armband in Houk's memory on the left sleeve of their home and away uniforms for the remainder of the 2010 season.<ref>{{cite news|title=Yankees plan to honor late manager Ralph Houk|date=July 22, 2010|url=http://blog.nj.com/yankees_main/print.html?entry=/2010/07/yankees_plan_to_honor_late_man.html|access-date=2010-07-23|first=Marc|last=Craig|newspaper=Newark Star-Ledger|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727133916/http://blog.nj.com/yankees_main/print.html?entry=/2010/07/yankees_plan_to_honor_late_man.html |archive-date=July 27, 2010}}</ref>

==Managerial record==
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="5"|Regular season !! colspan="4"|Postseason
|-
!Games!!Won!!Lost!!Win %!!Finish!! Won !! Lost !! Win % !! Result
|-
|-style="background:#fde910"
![[1961 New York Yankees season|NYY]]|| {{mlby|1961}}
||162||109||53||{{Winning percentage|109|53}}|| '''1st in AL''' || 4 || 1 || .800 || '''Won [[1961 World Series|World Series]] ([[1961 Cincinnati Reds season|CIN]])'''
|-style="background:#fde910"
![[1962 New York Yankees season|NYY]]|| {{mlby|1962}}
||162||96||66||{{Winning percentage|96|66}}|| '''1st in AL''' || 4 || 3 || .571 || '''Won [[1962 World Series|World Series]] ([[1962 San Francisco Giants season|SF]])'''
|-style="background:#fdd"
![[1963 New York Yankees season|NYY]]|| {{mlby|1963}}
||161||104||57||{{Winning percentage|104|57}}|| '''1st in AL''' || 0 || 4 || .000 || Lost [[1963 World Series|World Series]] ([[1963 Los Angeles Dodgers season|LAD]])
|-
!colspan="11"|
|-
![[1966 New York Yankees season|NYY]]|| {{mlby|1966}}
||139||66||73||{{Winning percentage|66|73}}|| 10th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1967 New York Yankees season|NYY]]|| {{mlby|1967}}
||162||72||90||{{Winning percentage|72|90}}|| 9th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1968 New York Yankees season|NYY]]|| {{mlby|1968}}
||162||83||79||{{Winning percentage|83|79}}|| 5th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1969 New York Yankees season|NYY]]|| {{mlby|1969}}
||161||80||81||{{Winning percentage|80|81}}|| 5th in AL East || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1970 New York Yankees season|NYY]]|| {{mlby|1970}}
||162||93||69||{{Winning percentage|93|69}}|| 2nd in AL East || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1971 New York Yankees season|NYY]]|| {{mlby|1971}}
||162||82||80||{{Winning percentage|82|80}}|| 4th in AL East || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1972 New York Yankees season|NYY]]|| {{mlby|1972}}
||155||79||76||{{Winning percentage|79|76}}|| 4th in AL East || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1973 New York Yankees season|NYY]]|| {{mlby|1973}}
||162||80||82||{{Winning percentage|80|82}}|| 4th in AL East || – || – || – || –
|-
! colspan="2"|NYY total || 1750 || 944 || 806 || {{Winning percentage|944|806}} || || 8 || 8 || .500 ||
|-
![[1974 Detroit Tigers season|DET]]|| {{mlby|1974}}
||162||72||90||{{Winning percentage|72|90}}|| 6th in AL East || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1975 Detroit Tigers season|DET]]|| {{mlby|1975}}
||159||57||102||{{Winning percentage|57|102}}|| 6th in AL East || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1976 Detroit Tigers season|DET]]|| {{mlby|1976}}
||161||74||87||{{Winning percentage|74|87}}|| 5th in AL East || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1977 Detroit Tigers season|DET]]|| {{mlby|1977}}
||162||74||88||{{Winning percentage|74|88}}|| 4th in AL East || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1978 Detroit Tigers season|DET]]|| {{mlby|1978}}
||162||86||76||{{Winning percentage|86|76}}|| 5th in AL East || – || – || – || –
|-
! colspan="2"|DET total || 806 || 363 || 443 || {{Winning percentage|363|443}} || || 0 || 0 || – ||
|-
!rowspan="2"| [[1981 Boston Red Sox season|BOS]]|| rowspan="2"| {{mlby|1981}}
||56||30||26||{{Winning percentage|30|26}}|| 5th in AL East || rowspan="2"| – || rowspan="2"| – || rowspan="2"| – || rowspan="2"| –
|-
||52||29||23||{{Winning percentage|29|23}}|| 2nd in AL East
|-
![[1982 Boston Red Sox season|BOS]]|| {{mlby|1982}}
||162||89||73||{{Winning percentage|89|73}}|| 3rd in AL East || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1983 Boston Red Sox season|BOS]]|| {{mlby|1983}}
||162||78||84||{{Winning percentage|78|84}}|| 6th in AL East || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1984 Boston Red Sox season|BOS]]|| {{mlby|1984}}
||162||86||76||{{Winning percentage|86|76}}|| 4th in AL East || – || – || – || –
|-
! colspan="2"|BOS total || 594 || 312 || 282 || {{Winning percentage|312|282}} || || 0 || 0 || – ||
|-
! colspan="2"|Total<ref name="managerial record"/> || 3150 || 1619 || 1531 || {{Winning percentage|1619|1531}} || || 8 || 8 || .500 || 
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Baseball}}
* [[List of Major League Baseball managers with most career ejections]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball managers with most career wins]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{baseballstats|br=h/houkra01|brm=houk--001ral}}
{{Baseball-reference manager|houkra01}}
*{{Find a Grave|55259772}}

{{New York Yankees managers}}
{{New York Yankees general managers}}
{{Detroit Tigers managers}}
{{Boston Red Sox managers}}
{{1947 New York Yankees}}
{{1952 New York Yankees}}
{{1953 New York Yankees}}
{{1958 New York Yankees}}
{{1961 New York Yankees}}
{{1962 New York Yankees}}
{{Sporting News Manager of the Year Award}}

{{Authority control}}

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