Doc Daugherty

Harold Ray Daugherty

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 180 lb.
• School Ohio State University
• High School Weir High School (Weirton)
• Debut April 22, 1951
• Final Game April 22, 1951
• Born October 12, 1927 in Paris, PA USA
• Died August 15, 2015 in Downingtown, PA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Shortstop Doc Daugherty was a Paris, PA-born student at Ohio State University, where he played on the Buckeyes football team when he was signed by the Detroit Tigers. He had made a brief stint in the United States Army before going to college, after being a multi-sport star in high school. He was named West Virginia's amateur athlete of the year in 1945, a rarity for a high school student.

Daugherty made the Tigers' roster out of spring training in 1951, at a time when teams were allowed to carry a few extra players at the start of the season, as they still do after September 1st. Before returning to the minors, he made his only appearance in a big league game in the early days of the season, striking out as a pinch-hitter against Billy Pierce of the Chicago White Sox on April 22nd. He never got to play the field.

Daugherty had been signed as an amateur free agent by the Detroit Tigers before the 1948 season and assigned to the class A Williamsport Tigers where he spent his first two seasons (1948 and 1949). In 1948, he appeared in 140 games, hitting .255 and in 1949, he was in 114 games and hit .203.

1950 saw him with the AA Little Rock Travelers, playing in 95 contests and hitting for an improved .251 average. This got him ready for his short stay in Detroit in Tigers and he finished out that year with the Travelers and the Toledo Mud Hens in a combined 79 games, during which he hit for a .236 average.

Daugherty spent two more seasons in pro baseball. In 1952 he hit .225 for the AAA Buffalo Bisons in 106 games. In 1953 he wound up his minor league playing days, spending time with Buffalo, Springfield and Charleston, all AAA clubs, getting into 125 games but hitting just .206. Doc spent six years in pro baseball, appearing in 679 games with a career .230 batting average.

After baseball, Doc became a high school teacher and football coach in Bedford, OH and stayed there until 1965 when he took the manager's job with the Duluth-Superior Dukes of the class A short season Northern League. He guided the team to a 31-35 record and a tie for second place in his last year of baseball. Daugherty also managed the Detroit entry in the 1964 Cocoa Rookie League.

Doc returned to teaching and coaching until retiring in 1983, and later lived in Russell Springs, Kentucky.

Sources

Baseball-Reference.com
Baseball Players of the 1950s
SABR MILB Database:page

Related Sites

• Doc Daugherty at the SABR Bio Project

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