He took part in the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 and the Battle of the Bulge that December, when he received the Silver Star for exposing himself to enemy fire as he drove off German tanks near a village in Luxembourg. When he was discharged as a major at war’s end, Houk took home a souvenir: a helmet he had worn at Omaha Beach with holes in the front and back, a bullet having narrowly missed his skull.

In his first game with the Yankees, on April 26, 1947, Houk got three hits against the Washington Senators, and he went on to hit .272 in 41 games. But that was his best season. With Yogi Berra en route to the Hall of Fame as the Yankee catcher, Houk appeared in only 91 games and had 158 at-bats over seven seasons, never hitting a home run.

He spent most of his time in the bullpen.

“I used to sit out there with pitchers who weren’t in the starting rotation, and I learned exactly what went through their minds,” Houk told the sportswriter Lee Allen.

In 1955, Houk was named manager of the Yankees’ top minor league team, the Denver Bears, of the American Association. In three years at Denver he managed future Yankees like Tony Kubek, Bobby Richardson, Don Larsen and Johnny Blanchard.

After the Yankees lost the 1960 World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Stengel was forced out, at age 70, in favor of Houk, and General Manager George Weiss was replaced by his aide, Roy Hamey.

Houk made his debut as manager in an epic season: Roger Maris hit 61 home runs to break Babe Ruth’s record. The Yankees defeated the Reds in a five-game World Series, then captured the Series again in 1962, beating the San Francisco Giants in seven games. They repeated as pennant winners in 1963 but were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Series.

Houk joined Hughie Jennings, who managed the Tigers to American League pennants from 1907 to 1909, as the only managers to finish in first place in each of their first three seasons.