Hoover was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1863. He started his baseball career in 1883, playing for the Reading Actives and Wilmington Quicksteps of the Interstate Association.\n', '

The following season, Hoover joined the Union Association\'s Philadelphia Keystones and made his major league debut on April 17, 1884. The Keystones played 67 games, and Hoover appeared in 63 of them, mostly in left field. Hoover was one of the best players in the Union Association that year. He hit .364 to finish second in the league batting race and also ranked third in both on-base percentage and slugging percentage. However, he was the only player on the Keystones "who was any offensive threat". The team folded in August, before the end of the season. Hoover then signed with the National League\'s Philadelphia Quakers. In 10 games with them, he batted .190.\n', '

Hoover played for the Eastern League\'s Washington Nationals in 1885. In 1886, he played 42 games for the Wilkes-Barre club in the Pennsylvania State Association and 40 games for the American Association\'s Baltimore Orioles. With Wilkes-Barre, he played well, batting .331 with seven home runs and 52 runs scored. He also led the league with a .589 slugging percentage. With the Orioles, he hit just .217.\n', '

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