Donald Harris Hood (born October 16, 1949) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player. He played in the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

as a left-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

from 1973 to 1983 for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

, and the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

Baseball career

Hood was born in

Florence, South Carolina Florence is a city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. It lies at the intersection of Interstates 20 and 95 and is the eastern terminus of the former. It is the primary city within the Florence metropolit ...

. He pitched as both a starting pitcher and as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

during his major league career. Hood was selected in the first round, 17th overall, in the

1969 Major League Baseball Draft The 1969 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft took place prior to the 1969 MLB season. The draft featured future Hall of Famers Bert Blyleven (pick 55) and Dave Winfield (pick 882). First round selections The following are the first round picks ...

by the Baltimore Orioles. He made his major league debut on July 16, 1973, pitching in relief of starter

Jesse Jefferson Jesse Harrison Jefferson (March 3, 1949 – September 8, 2011) was an American professional baseball pitcher with the Baltimore Orioles (1973-1975), Chicago White Sox (1975-1976), Toronto Blue Jays (1977-1980), Pittsburgh Pirates (1980) and Cali ...

in a 7–5 Baltimore victory over the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Oakland Coliseum, currently naming rights, branded as RingCentral Coliseum, is a stadium in Oakland, California. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880 (California), In ...

. He and

Boog Powell John Wesley "Boog" Powell (born August 17, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and left fielder from through , most prominently as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dyna ...

were traded to the Cleveland Indians for Dave Duncan and minor league outfielder Alvin McGrew on February 25 1975. He would spend the next four-and-a-half seasons in Cleveland, appearing in a career high 41 games in 1977. During the 1979 season Hood was traded to the New York Yankees for catcher/designated hitter Cliff Johnson.Cliff Johnson traded
/ref> He appeared in 27 games with New York that season, finishing with a 3.07

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

. Following the 1979 season, Hood was granted free agency and he subsequently signed with the St. Louis Cardinals on March 13, 1980. He appeared in just 33 games with the Cardinals, as the club released him on October 25, 1980. Hood then signed with the Kansas City Royals before the 1981 season and appeared in 57 games over the next two seasons. His final major league appearance came on October 2, 1983 at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, in an 8–4 Royals' loss.

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
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Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hood, Don 1949 births Living people Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from South Carolina Bluefield Orioles players Cleveland Indians players Dallas–Fort Worth Spurs players Florida Instructional League Orioles players Fort Myers Sun Sox players Kansas City Royals players Major League Baseball pitchers Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela New York Yankees players Omaha Royals players Sportspeople from Florence, South Carolina Rochester Red Wings players St. Louis Cardinals players Stockton Ports players Tigres de Aragua players