Dave Hoskins

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Dave Hoskins

|position=Pitcher

|image=Dave Hoskins Indians.jpg

|bats=Left

|throws=Right

|birth_date={{Birth date|1917|8|3}}

|birth_place=Greenwood, Mississippi, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|1970|4|2|1917|8|3}}

|death_place=Flint, Michigan, U.S.

|debutleague = NgL

|debutdate=

|debutyear=1942

|debutteam=Cincinnati Clowns

|debut2league = MLB

|debut2date=April 18

|debut2year=1953

|debut2team=Cleveland Indians

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=September 21

|finalyear=1954

|finalteam=Cleveland Indians

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Win–loss record

|stat1value=9–4

|stat2label=Earned run average

|stat2value=3.81

|stat3label=Innings pitched

|stat3value={{frac|139|1|3}}

|teams=

;Negro leagues

;Major League Baseball

Cleveland Indians (1953–1954)

|highlights=

NgL All-Star (1949)

}}

David Will Hoskins (August 3, 1917 – April 2, 1970) was an American professional baseball player: a right-handed pitcher who appeared in 26 games for the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball during the 1953 season and 14 games during the 1954 campaign. Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, he moved to Flint, Michigan, shortly after graduating from high school in Highlandale in 1935. In Flint, he became an autoworker at General Motors and played semiprofessional baseball.{{cite web |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Dave-Hoskins/ |title=Dave Hoskins |last=Watkins |first=John J. |date=March 2023 |website=sabr.org |publisher=Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project |access-date=July 14, 2023 |quote=}}

Hoskins batted left-handed; he stood {{convert|6|ft|1|in}} tall and weighed {{convert|180|lb}}.

Negro leagues

Hoskins' professional career began in the Negro leagues with the Cincinnati Clowns in 1942. He also played for the Chicago American Giants, Homestead Grays and Louisville Buckeyes through 1949.

Minor leagues

Hoskins was the first African-American to play in the Double-A Texas League, pitching for the Dallas Eagles in 1952. He faced much the same kind of hostility that Jackie Robinson did when he first broke into the majors five years earlier. Though players loved him, some fans cursed and taunted him, especially outside Dallas. At first, he was not allowed to play in Shreveport when the Eagles traveled there to play the Shreveport Sports.{{cite web|url=http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/a-bush-league-of-their-own-6401884 | title=A bush league of their own, Dallas Observer, May 21, 1998 |website=DallasObserver.com |date= |accessdate=2017-04-02}}

Hoskins won 22 games for the Dallas Eagles in 1952 with a 2.12 earned run average. The pitcher made the All-Star team and also hit .328, an outstanding average for a moundsman. Six years later, he won 17 more games for the renamed Dallas Rangers in the same circuit.

Major League Baseball

Hoskins made the big-league Indians in 1953, going 9–3 with a 3.99 ERA. The following year, he had an ERA of 3.04, as the Indians won the American League pennant.

In {{frac|139|1|3}} major league innings, Hoskins allowed 131 hits and 48 bases on balls. He struck out 64.

As a hitter, Hoskins was better than average, posting a .227 batting average (15-for-66) with 12 runs, 1 home run and 9 RBI. He was used as a pinch-hitter 16 times in his brief major league career. Defensively, he handled 40 total chances (9 putouts, 31 assists) without an error for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.

Death

Hoskins died from a heart attack in Flint on April 2, 1970, at 52 years of age.

References

External links

{{baseballstats|mlb=116167|br=h/hoskida01|brm=hoskin001dav|retro=H/Phoskd101}}, or [https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ec0df53d SABR Biography Project] or [http://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=hoski01dav Seamheads]

Category:1925 births

Category:1970 deaths

Category:20th-century African-American sportsmen

Category:African-American baseball players

Category:American expatriate baseball players in Mexico

Category:American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela

Category:Baseball players from Flint, Michigan

Category:Baseball players from Mississippi

Category:Chicago American Giants players

Category:Cincinnati Clowns players

Category:Cleveland Indians players

Category:Dallas Eagles players