About this website

The information I’ve gathered on Bill Doak covers a vast range of topics.  My goal is to present the most  interesting articles, as written by his contemporaries, and to create a narrative that weaves them all together.   The end product will paint a detailed picture of the life and times of Bill Doak, no holds barred.  Hopefully it will provide his family with a clearer picture of who he was and give baseball historians an additional perspective on “America’s game” in the early twentieth century.

Newspapers, magazines and books are the primary source, particularly newspapers.  I have identified hundreds of relevant articles, from his earliest days (a trip to the Pittsburgh Exposition at age 8), to his activities after major league baseball. I also have a substantial library of pictures from newspapers, libraries, museums, private collections and family collections.  I will be adding them as I go along.

The first page containing links to articles is Career Overview.  Check it out!  I will be adding content continuously, so keep checking in.  If you’d like to be on my mailing list to receive updates on new stuff, please add your email below.  

I was originally going to write a book, but decided to create a website instead.  It allows the content to reach a wider audience, to be updated continuously and to allow user feedback.  The outline below shows the content I will be adding.

Table Of Contents (a work in progress)

1.   Ancestry
2.  Childhood
   1.    Pittsburgh, Knoxville, neighborhoods, addresses
   2.    Parents, sister, grandparents, school, church
   3.    Expo
   4.    Idyllic life
3. Early Sports
4. Semi-pro & Minor Leagues
5. The Major Leagues
   1.    Cincinnati – The Try-out – 1912
   2.    St. Louis
      1. Getting started, partial year – 1913
      2. Stardom – 1914, 1919, 1920, 1921
      3. Ups and Downs
         1. Many amazing games
         2. Inconsistency
         3. Injury
      4. Traded – 1924
   3.    Brooklyn
      1. Jumping into the pennant race – 1924
         1. The Streak
   4.    Taking a break from baseball – 1924
      1. 1. Florida Real Estate Boom and Bust
   5.    Return to Brooklyn
   6.    Return to St. Louis
6. Life after Major League Baseball
   1. 1. 1. Tried to get ML job as player, then as manager or coach. No luck.
         2. Coached high school and youth baseball
         3. Golf Pro
         4. Doak’s Sweet Shop
7.  Legacy
   1. Anything is possible – the American Dream
   2. The Glove
   3. Model Behavior
8. Famous People He Played With, Against and For
   1. 1. Managers: Hank O’Day, Miller Huggins, Branch Rickey, Wilfred Robinson, all HOF
      2. Rogers Hornsby and countless others, including an appearance against Babe Ruth
9.  Context
   1. The Great War (WW1)
   2. The Pandemic of 1918
   3. Wife, kids, grandkids
   4. Salaries
   5. From the Roaring Twenties to the Great Depression
   6. The Spitball
   7. The Black Sox scandal, gambling in baseball
   8. Dead-ball to Live-ball Era
   9. Travel – horses and buggies, trains, automobiles
   10. Technology of the day
   11. Sports media – newspapers, magazines, radio, TV
   12. Babe Ruth and how he changed baseball
   13. Prohibition
   14. Free Agents, no Agents, no unions, no pensions
   15. Celebrity, player autographs, ball-players’ status in the world
   16. Sportswriters
   17. Popularity of Baseball
   18. Civility in Baseball – Fans, Players, Managers, Umpires
   19. Race, in and out of baseball
   20. His Teams
10. Stats
    1.    His place in baseball – a comparison to contemporaries and all-time greats
    2.    Modern statistical analysis using metrics such as WAR, WHIP, DIPS, BAPIP and whatnot