- Despite Pitching for One of Worst Teams in League
- Likes to work for Branch Rickey, struck an agreement with him
November 19, 1921 Age 30
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Chili Sauce by Chilly Doyle
Nearly any young man of 30 who had sensed the thrill of 120 pitching victories in the National League might be expected to be stepping around in noisy shoes. Quite a distinction, isn’t it? Here in our great community we have such a fellow, but he won’t know, until he reads this, that he has accomplished the feat.
There’s an old Irish expression. “Sure, you’d never know he was in it,” which fits white-haired Willie Doak of Knoxville like a kid glove graces a girl. The saying means that the one referred to could be within a circle, but nobody would know it on account of a natural backwardness.
Willie Doak has been a first-string pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals for the past eight summers. The poor Cards are generally regarded as a “losing team,” yet in those eight years Knoxville’s son has been a winner. When Bill chucked his glove in his locker after his last victory this year he had run his brilliant string to 120 over the eight years. Bill won a couple of games in 1913 when he first joined the Cardinals, but he did not begin as a regular until the following year.
The Cardinals stepped out this season and finished third. Doak showed that he was capable of staying in the pace by winning 17 against only six defeats. In other words, Doak finished second to Babe Adams and Whitey Glazner, who tied for the leadership of the league, according to unofficial percentages. The previous year brought 20 triumphs for Doak against 12 defeats. And Bill is looking forward to next season in his own quiet way.
Doak is one of the many athletes who has gone unsung. He rarely gets in a jam with the umpires and he is dissipating when he sits up later than 11 o’clock playing “hearts” with his teammates. He is one of the greatest spitball pitchers the game has had. When his saliva offering is under control he is a hard nut to crack and for this reason the batters don’t feel like cheering when they see him stroll out to the warm-up rubber. They know they are in for a strenuous afternoon.
Doak started his pitching career right here with the other kids who were his pals. Exemplary habits and his native skill sent him through the rough passages of the minor leagues. He arrived in St. Louis in 1913, a mere boy, but the following season he won 19 and lost six, a remarkable record for the youth.
Doak likes to work for Branch Rickey. Since Rickey his been in authority with the Cardinals Bill has been contented. He says Rickey’s word is his bond. He gives an illustration of this. Doak became dissatisfied with the management during one of the years of turmoil which has enlivened the career of the Cards. Bill was on the verge of leaving the team, but Rickey, who then was president of the club, telegraphed Bill for a meeting. Doak met the club president and Rickey persuaded him to change his mind. Rickey told him at the time that he would trade him at the end of the year if things weren’t O. K. every way. Rickey gave Doak generous treatment and was very anxious to retain him after the year was up. However, he reminded Bill of the promise and said he stood ready to go through with it, but would regret to lose the Pittsburgher. Doak thinks he made no mistake in favoring a man of this sort.
Bill’s record for the eight years is 120 won and 97 lost a great mark in view of the supporting cast over the heated journey.
November 19, 1921 – The dapper Bill Doak, age 30.
