Mickey Cochrane

Philadelphia Athletics

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. He was also known as "Black Mike" because of his fiery, competitive nature. Cochrane was educated at Boston University, where he played five sports, excelling at football and basketball. Although he considered himself a better football player than a baseball player, professional football was not as established as Major League Baseball at the time, so he signed with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League in 1924.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. He was a catalyst in the Athletics' pennant-winning years of 1929, 1930 and 1931 when he hit .331, .357 and .349 respectively. 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. However, 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. But notwithstanding this, the blame for the 1931 World Series loss dogged Cochrane for the rest of his life.

Detroit Tigers

In 1934, Connie Mack started to disassemble his dynasty for financial reasons and put Cochrane on the trading block. He found a willing recipient in the Detroit Tigers. Their owner, Frank Navin, was also suffering from financial troubles. They hadn't finished higher than third since 1923, and had developed a reputation for being content with mediocrity. Attendance at Navin Field had sagged for some time. Navin had originally hoped to acquire Babe Ruth and make him player-manager, but after those talks fizzled, he turned to the A's. A deal to send Cochrane to Detroit was quickly arranged, and Navin immediately named him player-manager.

It was as a Tiger that Cochrane cemented his reputation as a team leader. 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. Cochrane routinely platooned Gee Walker, a right-handed batter, to spell left fielder Goose Goslin and center fielder Jo-Jo White, who were both left-handed batters. Cochrane's leadership and strategic skills won him the 1934 Most Valuable Player Award, remarkable considering that Lou Gehrig had won the Triple Crown. He followed this by leading the Tigers to another American League pennant in 1935 and earning a victory over the Chicago Cubs in the 1935 World Series. In late 1935, the Detroit Free Press speculated that Cochrane might eventually succeed Navin as team president. Due in part to his high-strung nature, however, he suffered a nervous breakdown during the 1936 season.

On May 25, 1937; Cochrane 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. Cochrane was forced to retire at the age of 34 after doctors ordered him not to attempt to play baseball again.

Cochrane compiled a .320 batting average while hitting 119 home runs over a 13-year playing career. His .320 batting average was the highest career mark for catchers until Joe Mauer surpassed it in 2009. His .419 on-base percentage is among the best in baseball history, and is the highest all-time among catchers. In 1932, he became the first major league catcher to score 100 runs and produce 100 RBI in the same season. He hit for the cycle twice in his career, on July 22, 1932 and August 2, 1933. In his first 11 years, he never caught fewer than 110 games. He led American League catchers six times in putouts and twice each in double plays assists and fielding percentage.

Cochrane returned to the dugout to continue managing the Tigers, but had lost his competitive fire. He managed for the remainder of the 1937 season, but was replaced midway through the 1938 season. His all-time managerial record was 348-250, for a .582 winning percentage.

Later life and legacy

Despite his head injury, Cochrane served in the United States Navy during World War II 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 World War II-era Navy.

In 1947, Cochrane became the third catcher enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame after Roger Bresnahan and Buck Ewing. 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, 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.

Cochrane owned an automobile business after his baseball days; he sold it in the mid-1950s. A heavy smoker, Cochrane was only 59 when he died in 1962 in Lake Forest, Illinois of lymphatic cancer.

In his book, The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, baseball historian Bill James ranked Cochrane 4th all-time among major league catchers. 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. Yankee Hall of Fame slugger Mickey Mantle was named after him.