Major League Baseball Player. Nicknamed "Doc" for being a medical aficionado in the Minor Leagues, he played Major League baseball for twenty seasons (1929 to 1948) as an outfield for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators and Detroit Tigers. Fleet footed and gifted with a strong, accurate arm (he had been a pitcher in the minors), he is considered one of the best center fielders of his era. As a hitter, he was a feared lead off hitter, having a knack for getting on base despite not having much power. Appearing in two games for the A's at the end of the 1929 season, he playing sparingly over the next three seasons, backing up A's center fielder Mule Haas. He was added to the A's postseason roster in 1931 when Philadelphia met the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, and had a hit in two pinch hitting plate appearances (his one hit came in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 7, knocking in the A's only two runs as the Cardinals clinched the Championship one out later). He hit .336 in 92 games the next year, and was given the starting center field job in 1933 after the A's, strapped for cash, traded away Mule Haas and other starting players. His breakout season came in 1934, when he batted .311 and smacked 202 Hits. He improved on that the next year, batting .332, getting 214 Hits (both career highs) and being named to his first American League All-Star team. However, it was to be his last with the A's, as Philadelphia's financial woes during the Depression forced them to sell off talent through the decade. Traded to the Red Sox on January 4, 1936, he would play his best years in Boston. He hit over .300 from 1937 to 1940, and was named to the All-Star game each of those years. In 1940 he led the American League in hits with 200 – 160 of them singles. Traded to the Senators in the off season for Gee Walker, he played only a year with Washington before being traded to the Tigers. Despite declining age and skills, he was a starter for Detroit, playing during World War II when many ball players were in military service. His last year as a regular starter was 1945, when he played in 141 games as a 40 year old, and helped the Tigers clinch the American League Pennant. Making his first World Series appearance in 14 years that year, he had a stellar series, hitting .379, knocking in 4 Runs, scoring 7 himself and getting 11 hits as the Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs 4 games to 3 in the first post-War Championship. He kept his career going a few more years by becoming a pinch hitting specialist. His last season was 1948, when he played in 4 games before retiring to become a coach for the Tigers. From 1951 to 1953 he was the Chicago White Sox batting coach, and under his tutelage second baseman Nellie Fox blossomed into a Hall of Fame career. His career totals were 2,239 Games Played, 2,705 Hits, 1,357 Runs scored, 842 Runs Batted In, 37 Home Runs and a career .296 Batting Average. He went six for six in a game twice in his career (both times with the A's), and to date is the only American League player to do so. His 1935 mark of 214 hits is still the Athletics' franchise record for hits by a left handed batter, and his 2,705 hits are the most by a pre-1975 player who has not been elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame. After he passed away in Manahawkin, New Jersey in 1990, a street was named there in his honor.