Hofman's seven-year MLB playing career (1949; 1952–57) was spent entirely with the
New York Giants. After a 19-game trial with them in , Hofman made the Giants to stay in and was a member of their
1954 world championship roster. His
managers,
Leo Durocher and
Bill Rigney, used Hofman in a
utilityman role and as a right-handed
pinch hitter off the Giant bench. Over the course of his
National League career, he would appear in 86 games at
second base, 49 games at
first base, 45 contests as a
third baseman, and 26 as a catcher. As a hitter, he had some power, twice (in and ) reaching double figures in
home runs. Overall, he appeared in 341 games,
batting .248 with 32 home runs in 670
at bats. From 1958 through 1965, Hofman managed in
minor league baseball with the San Francisco Giants and
Kansas City Athletics organizations. In , former teammate
Alvin Dark (the starting
shortstop for most of Hofman's tenure with the Giants) was named manager of the Athletics, and he added Hofman to his coaching staff. Hofman would go on to coach in the
American League for 12 seasons (1966–72; 1974–78) with the Athletics in both Kansas City and Oakland, the
Washington Senators and
Cleveland Indians. He was a coach, under Dark, on Oakland's
1974 world championship team. After his coaching career, Hofman briefly was Oakland's traveling secretary and, during the 1980s, he served as director of
scouting and player development of the
New York Yankees. He also managed the
Richmond Braves for part of the 1973 season, and overall he compiled a record of 574 victories and 599 defeats (.489) as a minor league pilot. Hofman died of
cancer in
Chesterfield, Missouri, at the age of 68. ==References==