A native of Chester, he played soccer and baseball at Chester High School and worked in the shipyards there before beginning his career in professional baseball. He spent four years in the minor leagues, starting in 1937, then joined the Philadelphia Phillies as a second baseman in 1941. After serving as an infantryman in Europe and the Pacific in 1944-45, he returned to baseball, finishing his career with the Boston Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates, compiling a .254 career batting average. After several seasons as a minor league manager, he took over as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1957. He won the first of three National League Manager of the Year awards in 1958 as the Pirates moved up to second place. In 1960, his Pirates team won the National League pennant for the first time in more than 30 years, then defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series, winning the seventh game on Bill Mazeroski's home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. He retired as Pirates manager after the 1964 season, but returned in 1967. His 1971 team defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. He retired again in 1972 but returned as manager again in 1973, retiring in October 1976, two months before he died.