He is best known as the successor of Casey Stengel as manager of the New York Yankees from 1961 to 1963, when his teams won three consecutive American League pennants and the 1961 and 1962 World Series championships.

A native of Lawrence, Kansas (Stull Community), Houk was a catcher working his way through the Yankees' farm system when the U.S. entered World War II.

[3][4] Returning to baseball after the war, Houk eventually reached the major leagues, serving as the Yankees' second- and third-string catcher behind Yogi Berra.

A right-handed hitter listed as 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and 193 pounds (88 kg), Houk played in only 91 games over eight seasons (1947–1954), finishing with a batting average of .272.

During his last five years as a major-league player (1950–1954), Houk played in only 31 regular-season games, made 30 total plate appearances, and caught 83 innings.

Following three highly successful seasons at Denver, culminating with the 1957 league playoff and Junior World Series championships, Houk returned to the Bronx as Stengel's first-base coach from 1958 to 1960.

[11] But the great postwar Yankee dynasty was aged and crumbling, the farm system had seriously deteriorated, and the Kansas City Athletics were no longer a reliable source for major league talent.

Despite two years left on a three‐year contract, Houk announced his resignation immediately after a season-ending 8–5 loss to the Detroit Tigers on September 30, 1973, in the final game at Yankee Stadium prior to its closure for a two-year renovation.

He succeeded former Yankees teammate Billy Martin, who had been fired on September 2 and Joe Schultz, who served in the interim for the remainder of the 1973 season.

But the team was in need of a rebuild and began moving on from their longtime stars -- including future Hall of Famer Al Kaline, who retired after Houk's first season.

Although not as daunting as his Detroit assignment, Houk faced another rebuilding job: the powerful Boston team of the 1970s was about to lose marquee players such as Carlton Fisk and Fred Lynn and needed to retool its roster.

On his watch, Boston broke in young players Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, Bruce Hurst and Marty Barrett.

When Houk retired from managing permanently in October 1984, just after his 65th birthday, he bequeathed the core of another pennant winning ballclub (in this case, the 1986 Red Sox) to his successor, John McNamara.

[16] Houk served with the Minnesota Twins as a special assistant to general manager Andy MacPhail, Lee's son, from 1987 to 1989 before retiring from the game for good.

On July 22, 2010, the Yankees announced players and coaches would wear a black armband in Houk's memory on the left sleeve of their home and away uniforms for the remainder of the 2010 season.