Major League Baseball Player. Played Major League Baseball for 18 season (1949, 1951-1967) as a catcher and pinch hitter with the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox. Arriving in the Majors in 1949 with the Cubs, he played sparingly with them for two season. After being aquired by the Reds, he was traded after the end of the 1951 to the Phillies in a 7-player deal that sent 1950 Whiz Kid Heroes Andy Seminick and Dick Sisler to Cincinnati. He would blossom into a star for the Phillies, becoming their regular catcher. In 1954 he had a career year, hitting .368 and being named to the NL All-Star squad. Seven games into the 1955 season he was traded back to the Reds in a 6-player deal (which brought Seminick back to the Phils), and proceeded to bat .306, and was named to his second consecutive All-Star game. On July 29, 1955 he hit 3 home runs (one a grand slam) and drove in 9 runs, all off the Pirates’ Vern Law (a future teammate). In 1956 he was the catcher of record when 3 Reds pitchers combined to No-Hit the Milwaukee Braves on May 26. After playing for the Reds the next three years (and never playing in more than 100 games in each season) he was traded with Harvey Haddix and Don Hoak to the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he would have his most productive period of his career. He was named to 4 NL All-Star squads as a Pirate, hit .328 in 1962, and was an integral part of their 1960 World Series champion team. In that Series against the heavily favored New York Yankees (who fielded legends like Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford), he hit .333 while appearing in 5 Games as the Pirates defeated the Yankees in 7 Games (capped by Bill Mazerowski’s famous Series ending Home Run). He also caught all 12 innings of pitcher Harvey Haddix’s incredible May 26, 1959 12-inning perfect game against the Braves that was lost in the 13th. Towards the end of the 1964 campaign the Pirates sold him to the White Sox, where he finished out his career in 1967, being mainly used as a pinch-hitting specialist. Throughout his career he was one of the best pinch-hitters of all time, and is currently 3rd on the All-Time Pinch-Hit list with 145 (5 behind Manny Mota, 3 behind current player Lenny Harris). He also holds the Major League Record for most Pinch-Hit At-Bats with 507. His career totals were 1,691 Games Played, 1,318 Hits, 485 Runs, 126 Home Runs, 673 RBIs and a .295 career Batting Average. He had a .268 lifetime pinch-hit Average, and was named to a total of 6 National League All-Star teams.