Happy Birthday to the late and great Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane. In a career that lasted thirteen seasons, Cochrane established himself as one of the greatest all-around Catchers ever to play. Cochrane played for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Detroit Tigers, where he accomplished individual and team success.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1925-1937):

.320 BA 1,652 HITS 119 HR 830 RBI .419 OBP 1,041 RUNS

  • 2x All-Star
  • 2x MVP (1928 & 1934)
  • 3x World Series Champion (1929, 1930 & 1935)

As a Hitter

No Catcher in baseball history has a higher lifetime AVG or OBP than Cochrane. As a Left Handed Hitter, Cochrane was everything you could ask for at the plate; he hit contact, had power, and had a good eye. In terms of contact, Cochrane batted .300 or higher nine times, as high as .357 in 1930. Cochrane was very patient, drawing 857 Walks to only 217 Strikeouts, only striking out as high as 26 times in 1934. In terms of having power and quality baserunning twice, he hit for the cycle, and in 1932, Cochrane became the first catcher to drive in and score 100 Runs in a single season. 

As a Fielder

As a Catcher, not only was Cochrane great at having the right attitude for making pitchers feel comfortable to make them pitch their best. Cochrane had great defensive instincts, a strong throwing arm, and an excellent way of calling pitches. His lifetime .985% Fielding Percentage was above league average for Catchers, and multiple times he led all Catchers in Putouts, Assists, Double Plays, and Fielding Percentage.

Best Years

Below are Cochrane’s first eleven seasons; you can pick out his best eight. In those eleven years, not only did Cochrane win two MVPs and three World Series, but he did that by Catching 110 or more games in each season. There was no DH in those days, so all but one of the 1,411 games saw Cochrane behind the plate.

Legacy

Unfortunately, a nasty head injury in 1937 forced Cochrane to call it a career while still playing at an extremely high level. Nonetheless, Cochrane’s 13-year career is among the best all-time Catchers, like Bench, Campanella, Pudge, Berra, Etc. In 1947, Cochrane was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the third Catcher to earn the honor. In 1999, 37 years after his death, Cochrane was ranked 65th on The Sporting News 100 Greatest Players List.

References:

  1. Mickey Cochrane Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cochrmi01.shtml
  2. Beris, Charlie. Mickey Cochrane via SABR: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/mickey-cochrane/