Mickey Cochrane
Mickey Cochrane | |
---|---|
![]() Cochrane 1933 Goudey baseball card | |
Catcher | |
Born: Bridgewater, Massachusetts | April 6, 1903|
Died: June 28, 1962 Lake Forest, Illinois | (aged 59)|
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |
debut | |
April 14, 1925, for the Philadelphia Athletics | |
Last appearance | |
May 25, 1937, for the Detroit Tigers | |
Career statistics | |
Batting average | .320 |
Home runs | 119 |
Runs batted in | 832 |
Teams | |
As player As manager | |
Career highlights and awards | |
[[{{{hoflink}}}|Member of the {{{hoftype}}}]] | |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |
Induction | 1947 |
Vote | 79.5% (fifth ballot) |
Gordon Stanley "Mickey" Cochrane (April 6, 1903 – June 28, 1962) was a professional baseball player and manager.[1] He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers. Cochrane was considered one of the best catchers in baseball history and is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.[2][3][4]
Playing career
Philadelphia Athletics
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Jimmie_Foxx%2C_Babe_Ruth%2C_Lou_Gehrig%2C_Al_Simmons.jpg/200px-Jimmie_Foxx%2C_Babe_Ruth%2C_Lou_Gehrig%2C_Al_Simmons.jpg)
Cochrane was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts to Northern Irish immigrant John Cochrane, whose father had immigrated to Ulster from Scotland and Scottish immigrant Sadie Campbell.[2] He was also known as "Black Mike" because of his fiery, competitive nature.[2][3] Cochrane was educated at Boston University, where he played five sports, excelling at football and basketball.[5] Although he considered himself a better football player than a baseball player, professional football wasn't as established as major league baseball at the time, so he signed with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League in 1924.[6]
After just one season in the minor leagues, Cochrane was promoted to the major leagues, making his debut with the Philadelphia Athletics on April 14, 1925 at the age of 22.[1] He made an immediate impact by becoming Connie Mack's starting catcher in place of Cy Perkins, who was considered one of the best catchers in the major leagues at the time.[7] A left-handed batter, he ran well enough that manager Mack would occasionally have him bat leadoff. He hit third more often, but whatever his place in the order his primary role was to get on base so that hard-hitting Al Simmons and Jimmie Foxx could drive him in. In May, he tied a twentieth-century major league record by hitting three home runs in a game.[8] He ended his rookie season with a .331 batting average and a .397 on base percentage, helping the Athletics to a second place finish.
By the start of the 1926 season, Cochrane was already considered the best catcher in the major leagues.[9] He won the 1928 American League Most Valuable Player Award, mostly for his leadership and defensive skills, when he led the American League in putouts and hit .293 along with 10 home runs and 58 runs batted in.[2][10] He was a catalyst in the Athletics' pennant-winning years of 1929, 1930 and 1931 when he hit .331, .357 and .349 respectively.[1][5] He played in those three World Series, winning the first two, but was sometimes blamed for the loss of the 1931 World Series, when the St. Louis Cardinals, led by Pepper Martin, stole eight bases and the Series, although, in his book, The Life of a Baseball Hall of Fame Catcher, author Charlie Bevis cites the Philadelphia pitching staff's carelessness in holding runners as a contributing factor.[11][12] But notwithstanding this, the blame for the 1931 World Series loss would dog Cochrane for the rest of his life.[11]
Detroit Tigers
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Mickey_Cochrane_1935.jpg/200px-Mickey_Cochrane_1935.jpg)
In 1934, Connie Mack started to disassemble his dynasty for financial reasons and sold Cochrane to the Detroit Tigers, who made him player-manager.[5] It was as a Tiger that he cemented his reputation as a team leader.[5] His competitive nature drove the Tigers, who had been picked to finish in fourth or fifth place, to the 1934 American League championship, their first pennant in 25 years.[5][13][14] His leadership skills won him the 1934 Most Valuable Player Award, remarkable considering that Lou Gehrig had won the Triple Crown and finished with a much higher W.A.R. (10.7 versus 4.3).[5][15] He followed this by leading the Tigers to another American League pennant in 1935 and a victory over the Chicago Cubs in the 1935 World Series.[16] Due in part to his high-strung nature, however, he suffered a nervous breakdown during the 1936 season.[5]
Cochrane's playing career came to a sudden end on May 25, 1937 when he was hit in the head by a pitch by Yankees pitcher Bump Hadley. Hospitalized for seven days, the injury nearly killed him. His accident generated a call for protective helmets for batters, but tradition won out at that time.[17] Ordered by doctors not to play baseball again (he was just 34 years old), he returned to the dugout to continue managing the Tigers but had lost his competitive fire.[14] He managed for the remainder of the 1937 season, but was replaced midway through the 1938 season.[5] His all-time managerial record was 348-250, for a .582 winning percentage.[18]
Despite his head injury, Cochrane served in the United States Navy during World War II[3][5] as did Bill Dickey of the Yankees, giving the Navy the two greatest catchers baseball had yet seen; with Yogi Berra also serving but not yet having reached the major leagues, there were actually three possible "greatest catchers ever" in the WWII-era Navy. A heavy smoker, Cochrane was only 59 when he died in 1962 in Lake Forest, Illinois of lymphatic cancer.[3]
Career statistics and honors
Mickey Cochrane was honored alongside the retired numbers of the Detroit Tigers in 2000. |
Cochrane compiled a .320 batting average while hitting 119 home runs over a 13 year playing career.[1] His .320 batting average was the highest career mark for catchers until Joe Mauer surpassed it in 2009.[19] His .419 on-base percentage is among the best in baseball history, and is the highest all-time among catchers.[2][20] In 1932, he became the first major league catcher to score 100 runs and produce 100 RBI in the same season.[21] He hit for the cycle twice in his career, on July 22, 1932 and August 2, 1933.[22][23] In his first 11 years, he never caught fewer than 110 games.[2] He led American League catchers six times in putouts and twice each in double plays assists and fielding percentage.[23][24]
In 1947, Cochrane became the third catcher enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame after Roger Bresnahan and Buck Ewing.[4][25] Long after the Athletics left Philadelphia for Kansas City in 1954 without retiring his uniform number 2, the Philadelphia Phillies honored him by electing him to the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame at Veterans Stadium,[26] although the Athletics' plaques from that display have been moved to the Philadelphia Athletics Museum in Hatboro, Pennsylvania. The Tigers honored him by renaming National Avenue (behind the third-base stands of the old Tiger Stadium) Cochrane Avenue, but have never retired the uniform number 3 he wore with them.
In 1999, he was ranked 65th on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.[27][28] Yankee Hall of Fame slugger Mickey Mantle was named after him.[2][29]
See also
- 1935 Detroit Tigers season
- 1937 Detroit Tigers season
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
- Hitting for the cycle
- List of Major League Baseball player–managers
References
- ^ a b c d "Mickey Cochrane at Baseball Reference". Baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ a b c d e f g Bevis, Charlie. "The Baseball Biography Project: Mickey Cochrane". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Mickey Cochrane Obituary at Baseball Almanac". Baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ a b "Mickey Cochrane at The Baseball Hall of Fame". Baseballhall.org. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i ''The Detroit Tigers Encyclopedia, Honoring a Detroit Legend'', by Jim Hawkins, Dan Ewald, George Van Dusen, Sports Publishing LLC, 2002, ISBN 1-58261-222-6, ISBN 978-1-58261-222-5. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ "Mickey Cochrane minor league statistics". Baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ "Pick Mickey Cochrane As Biggest Find Of The Season". The Southeast Missourian. 20 August 1925. p. 9. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
- ^ "Connie Mack Is Well Satisfied With Payouts". The Miami News. 5 June 1925. p. 3. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
- ^ "'We're In' Scribe Hears The 'Kid' Say". Palm Beach Daily News. United Press International. 19 March 1926. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
- ^ "1928 American League Most Valuable Player Award voting results". Baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ a b Bevis, Charlie (1998). The Life of a Baseball Hall of Fame Catcher. Books.Google.com. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
- ^ "Dollars Rolling In For The Great 'Diz'". Rochester Evening Journal. Associated Press. 3 October 1934. p. 3. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
- ^ "1934 World Series at Baseball Reference". Baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ a b ''They Earned Their Stripes: The Detroit Tigers' All-Time Team'', Detroit News, Sports Publishing LLC, 2001, ISBN 1-58261-365-6, ISBN 978-1-58261-365-9. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ "1934 American League Most Valuable Player Award voting results". Baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ "1935 World Series at Baseball Reference". Baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ "Helmet for Baseball Batters is Urged as Safety Measure" Popular Mechanics, July 1937
- ^ "Mickey Cochrane manager statistics at Baseball Reference". Baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ "Career Batting Averages at The Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers". Members.tripod.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ "On Base Percentages at The Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers". Members.tripod.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ Baseball Digest, September 1995, Vol. 54, No. 9, ISSN 0005-609X. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ "Catchers Hitting for the Cycle at The Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers". Members.tripod.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ a b "Mickey Cochrane at www.thehitters.com". Thehitters.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ Baseball Digest, July 2001, P.86, Vol. 60, No. 7, ISSN 0005-609X. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ "Mickey Cochrane at The Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers". Members.tripod.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ "Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame at mlb.com". Mlb.mlb.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ "Mickey Cochrane at The Sporting News 100 Greatest Baseball Players". Archive.sportingnews.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ "Mickey Cochrane at The Major League Baseball All-Century Team". Mlb.mlb.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ Lewis Early (1931-10-20). "Mickey Mantle biography at www.themick.com". Themick.com. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
- Mickey Cochrane managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
Mickey Cochrane at the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Mickey Cochrane at The Society for American Baseball Research
- The Hitters: Gordon Stanley Cochrane
- Mickey Cochrane by Charlie Bevis
- Mickey Cochrane official web site
Sporting positions | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | Detroit Tigers Manager 1934–1938 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by n/a
|
Detroit Tigers General Manager 1936–1938 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by n/a
|
Philadelphia Athletics General Manager 1950 |
Succeeded by |
- 1903 births
- 1962 deaths
- Baseball players from Massachusetts
- Boston University Terriers baseball players
- Major League Baseball catchers
- American League All-Stars
- Major League Baseball executives
- Major League Baseball general managers
- National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
- Major League Baseball managers
- Major League Baseball player–managers
- Detroit Tigers managers
- Detroit Tigers players
- Detroit Tigers executives
- Detroit Tigers scouts
- New York Yankees scouts
- Philadelphia Athletics players
- Philadelphia Athletics executives
- Portland Beavers players
- American Episcopalians
- American people of Scotch-Irish descent
- American philanthropists
- People from Bridgewater, Massachusetts
- Dover Senators players