A longtime minor league player and manager, he is best remembered for his brief term as pilot of the Detroit Tigers in 1958–59.

A right-handed hitting and throwing outfielder who stood 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall and weighed 190 pounds (86 kg), he rose quickly to the Major League level as player.

In 1954, he joined the Tigers' organization as a scout and minor league manager, and rose to the Triple-A level as skipper of the Charleston Senators of the American Association in 1957.

But during the 1950s, the Tigers were undergoing a period of transition in their ownership and front office and in rebuilding mode on the field.

After he returned to his job as a White Sox scout, Norman died from a heart attack[3] at the outset of the 1962 season, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the age of 51.