Alexander Marcus Hooks (August 29, 1906 – June 19, 1993) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player. He had a 17-season (1928–1943; 1946) career in

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

, and appeared in 15 Major League

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

as a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...

for the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

during the season. A native of

Edgewood, Texas Edgewood is a city in Van Zandt County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,530 at the 2020 census. The town draws its name from its location on the far western edge of the East Texas timberline on U.S. Highway 80, approximately 60 miles ...

, he threw and batted left-handed, stood tall and weighed . Hooks attended

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

Career

Hooks' Major League trial occurred at the outset of the 1935 season when he was 28 years old. The previous year, he had batted a robust .340 for the

Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tulsa ...

of the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

.Information
at

Baseball Reference Baseball Reference is a baseball statistics database maintained by Sports Reference. The site provides career statistics for Major League Baseball (MLB) players and teams as well as records, MLB draft history, and sabermetrics. History Founder ...

In his big-league debut, Hooks went 2-for- 5 against the Washington Senators,Information
at

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores fr ...

but then went hitless in seven at bats in his next two starts, and failed to hold the Athletics' starting first baseman job. After his last MLB appearance on May 20, he was sent to the

Atlanta Crackers The Atlanta Crackers were a Minor League Baseball team based in Atlanta, Georgia, between 1901 and 1965. The Crackers were Atlanta's home team until the Atlanta Braves moved from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1966. History Atlanta played its inaugu ...

of the

Southern Association The Southern Association (SA) was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class B (1902-19 ...

, where he batted .341. Hooks also briefly managed in the minors, with the 1938

Montreal Royals The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm club ( Class AAA) of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939; pi ...

and the 1946 Greenville Majors. His ten Major-League hits included three doubles.

References

External links

1906 births 1993 deaths Atlanta Crackers players Baseball players from Van Zandt County, Texas Chattanooga Lookouts players Decatur Commodores players Fort Worth Cats players Greenville Majors players Hazleton Mountaineers players Indianapolis Indians players Knoxville Smokies players Major League Baseball first basemen Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Montreal Royals managers Montreal Royals players New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players Oklahoma City Indians players People from Edgewood, Texas Philadelphia Athletics players 20th-century American sportsmen SMU Mustangs baseball coaches Terre Haute Tots players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players Wichita Aviators players {{US-baseball-infielder-stub