Harry Keller Hoch (January 9, 1887 – October 26, 1981) was a 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 and

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

. He pitched in

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), ...

for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

and

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they ...

in 1908, 1914, and 1915. Hoch was 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighed 165 pounds."Harry Hoch Statistics and History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 13, 2011.

Baseball career

Hoch was born in

Woodside, Delaware Woodside is a town in Kent County, Delaware, United States. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 181 at the 2010 census. History Woodside was originally named the "Village of Fredonia" and underwen ...

, in 1887. He attended Kutztown State Normal School (now

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (Kutztown University or KU) is a public university in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher ...

), where he played baseball in 1905 and 1906, and is a member of that school's Athletics Hall of Fame. He started his professional baseball career in 1907 with the

Tri-State League The Tri-State League was the name of six different circuits in American minor league baseball. History The first league of that name played for four years (1887–1890) and consisted of teams in Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia. The second leagu ...

's Wilmington Peaches. In 36 games, he had a

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

of 12–18."Harry Hoch Minor League Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 13, 2011. The following season, he made his major league debut for the Philadelphia Phillies on April 16, 1908. Hoch started three games for Philadelphia and went 2–1 with a 2.77

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. However, he did not stay on the roster and spent most of the season in the Tri-State League, where he went 11–15. Hoch played in the

New York State League The New York State League was an independent baseball league that played six seasons between 2007 and 2012 in New York State and the New York City metro area. Over 500 NYSL players have been signed by professional teams. Players from forty-eight ...

from 1910 to 1913. He won a career-high 17 games in 1910 while pitching for the Elmira Colonels, and then he won 16 games in 1911. In August 1913, Hoch was purchased by the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

's St. Louis Browns. He appeared in 15 games for them in 1914 and went 0–2 with a 3.00 ERA. In 1915, his ERA rose to 7.20, and he made his last MLB appearance on June 24.

Law career

Unlike many ballplayers of his era, Hoch was educated and attended

Dickinson Law School Penn State Dickinson Law, formerly Dickinson School of Law, is a public law school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It is one of two separately accredited law schools of The Pennsylvania State University. According to Penn State Dickinson Law's 2019 A ...

in the offseason. He was nicknamed "Schoolmaster" because of this.Gelbert, Doug (1995).
The Great Delaware Sports Book
'. Cruden Bay Books. p. 98. After Hoch's baseball career ended in 1915, he became a lawyer in Delaware and practiced until 1962. Among his clients was inventor

Alfred Lawson Alfred William Lawson (March 24, 1869 – November 29, 1954) was an English born professional baseball player, aviator and utopian philosopher. He was a baseball player, manager, and league promoter from 1887 through 1916 and went on to play a ...

.Kuntz, Jerry (2009).
Baseball Fiends and Flying Machines
'. McFarland. pp. 182–185. Hoch died in

Lewes, Delaware Lewes ( ) is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population is 2,747. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Delawar ...

, in 1981 and was buried in Townsend Cemetery.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoch, Harry 1887 births 1981 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Philadelphia Phillies players St. Louis Browns players Wilmington Peaches players Harrisburg Senators players Elmira Colonels players Binghamton Bingoes players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Baseball players from Delaware Delaware lawyers Kutztown Golden Bears baseball players Dickinson School of Law alumni 20th-century American lawyers