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Career Totals: AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO .320 1482 5169 1041 1652 333 64 119 832 857 217 |
Mickey Cochrane was a franchise player-literally. In 1924, Cochrane
had hit .333 for Portland in the Pacific Coast League and carried
a stiff $50,000 price tag. When Connie Mack found the whole club
could be had for $200,000, he bought the franchise, sold the other
players at a profit, and got Cochrane at a bargain price. "Black Mike" hit .331, .357 and .349 from 1929 to 1931 to lead
the A's to three pennants. A lifetime .320 hitter, he hit .300
or better nine times in his career. After he was sold to the Tigers
in 1934 as a player-manager, he led them to a pennant in 1934
and a world championship in 1935. Cochrane hit .400 in the 1929 Series, but Commissioner Landis
threatened to suspend him for his brutal bench jockeying. Chastened,
Cochrane greeted the Cubs with, "Hello, sweethearts! We're gonna
serve tea this afternoon." After the A's won Game Five to secure
the championship, Landis congratulated every Athletic except Cochrane.
Just before he left, the Judge said to Mickey, "Hello, sweetheart.
I came in after my tea. Will you pour?" Mack sold Cochrane to the Tigers after the 1933 season. Just as
he had sparked the A's, Black Mike led a fifth place team to the
pennant his first year. As the season wore on, the exhausted Cochrane
played but spent the night in a nearby hospital. The Gashouse
Gang won the 1934 classic in seven games. Next year it was Cochrane's
turn. He scored the run that clinched the World Series and later
said, "It was my greatest day in baseball." There would not be too many others. In a game against the Yankees
in May 1937, Cochrane homered off Bump Hadley. On his next trip
to the plate he took a fastball to his right temple and collapsed
in a heap. He was unconscious for ten days but finally pulled
through; he never played again. Elected to the Hall of Fame in
1947, he went on to serve as general manager of the A's under
Mack and became a Tiger VP in 1961.
