Born in Watseka, Illinois, he threw and batted right-handed, and was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 185 pounds (84 kg).

He signed originally with the New York Giants, but made his MLB debut with the Yankees in September 1959 when he went hitless in 11 at bats.

Traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the beginning of the 1960 campaign, he played for their Triple-A affiliates the Montreal Royals (1960) and Omaha Dodgers (early 1961), before his recall to Los Angeles for his most successful MLB stint.

[3] He rounded out his MLB tenure in 1962 by getting into 54 games combined for the Athletics and Angels, then spent 1963 at Triple-A before decamping for Japan.

In Nippon Professional Baseball, he got into 641 games, with 501 hits, including 86 homers, and posted a .255 batting mark.