Mickey Cochrane

Gordon Stanley Cochrane, known as Mickey, hit .320 over 13 major league seasons, won two American League MVP awards, and managed the Detroit Tigers to consecutive pennants in 1934 and 1935. He was the best-hitting catcher of his era and arguably any era before him. A pitch to the head in 1937 ended his playing career at 34 and nearly killed him.

Bridgewater to Philadelphia

Cochrane was born on April 6, 1903, in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He attended Boston University, where he played football, basketball, boxing, track, and baseball. Connie Mack signed him for the Philadelphia Athletics after he spent two seasons in the minor leagues, with Dover of the Eastern Shore League in 1923 and Portland of the Pacific Coast League in 1924.

Cochrane arrived in the major leagues in 1925 and hit .331 as a rookie. He was not a typical catcher. He ran well, hit for average and power, and played with an intensity that bordered on rage. He batted over .300 in seven of his first ten seasons and drove in 80 or more runs five times.

He was the anchor of Mack's second great dynasty. Alongside Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Lefty Grove, Cochrane helped the Athletics win three consecutive pennants from 1929 to 1931 and World Series titles in 1929 and 1930. He won the American League MVP award in 1928, hitting .293, and won it again in 1934 as player-manager of the Tigers.

Detroit

After Mack dismantled his championship roster for financial reasons, he sold Cochrane to the Detroit Tigers before the 1934 season for $100,000. Cochrane became player-manager immediately and led the Tigers to the pennant in his first year. They lost the 1934 World Series to the Cardinals' Gashouse Gang in seven games.

In 1935, the Tigers won the pennant again and beat the Cubs in six games to give Detroit its first World Series championship. Cochrane hit .319 that season and handled a pitching staff built around Schoolboy Rowe and Tommy Bridges. He was 32 years old and at the height of his influence as a field leader.

The Beaning

On May 25, 1937, Bump Hadley of the New York Yankees hit Cochrane in the head with a fastball. Cochrane fractured his skull and hovered near death for days. He spent weeks in the hospital and never played again. He continued managing the Tigers through the first part of the 1938 season before being fired, and he later served as general manager of the Athletics in 1950 and as a scout for the Yankees.

The injury cast a shadow over the rest of his life. He struggled with depression and his post-playing career never matched the intensity of his years behind the plate.

The Record

Cochrane finished with a .320 career batting average, the highest of any catcher in major league history at the time. He caught 1,451 games and threw out baserunners with a quick, accurate arm. His .419 career on-base percentage remains among the highest ever for a catcher.

He died on June 28, 1962, in Lake Forest, Illinois, at age 59. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947.