June 12, 1928 Age 37
By James J. Long Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph
Bill Doak, former Knoxville citizen, is a remarkable pitcher in several ways. They used to say that Bill was too frail to be able to last long or to stand much, yet here he is winning 1-to-0 games from first-place teams in spite of the fact that he is speeding along toward his 38th birthday anniversary.
And that’s not mentioning the handicap that he was out of the game in 1925 or 1926, and that the dope says a player who remains out of harness is unlikely ever to regain his old stuff.
Another feature that makes Doak’s major league career an outstanding one is recalled by Sid Keener, the veteran critic of St. Louis.
After being cast aside after a three-game tryout by the Reds in 1912, Bill joined the Cardinals in 1913, and Keener recollects that in 1914 he beat the Giants by a score of 1 to 0, New York being in first place at the time.
Last Thursday, another first-place club, Cincinnati, was defeated by Doak by the same score, 1 to 0, Bill allowing only six hits and not walking a batter.
You can search the records for a long time without finding another instance of a pitcher, particularly one as “frail” as Doak was said to be, hurling l-to-0 games against league leaders in 1911 and 1928 – hurling the same brand of ball after years. It is an amazing exhibition of lasting qualities. Just how prominently Doak stands out in that respect may be judged from the tact that of the more than 200 players who participated in pennant games for the eight National League clubs when Bill pitched that l-to-0 game against the Giants in 1914, only nine remain with Doak in the big show. They are Luque, Rixey and Hargrave, of the Reds; Maranville and Alexander, of the Cards; Mann, of the Giants; Gonzales, of the Cubs; Carey, of the Robins, and Gerber, of the Red Sox. The last named was a Pirate that season.
Bill Doak – Age 37
