Harry Arthur "Cookie" Lavagetto (December 1, 1912 – August 10, 1990) was an American
professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Mod ...
player,
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
, and
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
. He played in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB) as a
third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...
from 1934 to 1947.
Lavagetto started his major league career with the
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...
in 1934. After the 1936 season, he was traded to the
Brooklyn Dodgers
The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...
and was a
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
(NL)
All-Star from 1938 to 1941. He then missed four full seasons due to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
service in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
.
[Baseball in Wartime.com](_blank)
/ref> He returned to the Dodgers and finished his MLB career with them in 1946 and 1947.
Lavagetto is best-known for his performance in game four of the 1947 World Series
The 1947 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Yankees won the Series in seven games for their 11th World Series championship in team history. Yankees manager Bucky Harris won the Series for the first time ...
, when he drove home the winning run with a double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* Th ...
while New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
pitcher Bill Bevens
Floyd Clifford "Bill" Bevens (October 21, 1916 – October 26, 1991) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher for the New York Yankees from through . Bevens is notable fo ...
was one out away from throwing what would have been the first no-hitter
In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...
in World Series history.
After his playing career ended, Lavagetto became a coach. He was the last manager of the American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
's first Washington Senators franchise, from 1957 through 1960, and the first manager of the Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...
when the Senators relocated there for the 1961 season.
Early playing career
Lavagetto, the son of a trash hauler,[James, Bill (2001). ''The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract''. p. 584.] was born in Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, in 1912.
Lavagetto started his professional baseball career with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...
in 1933. A , right-handed batter and thrower, he was nicknamed "Cookie" after the Oaks general manager Cookie Devincenzi.
In September 1933, Lavagetto was traded to the National League's Pittsburgh Pirates. He was a part-time player for the Pirates from 1934 to 1936, never playing more than 87 games in a season.["Cookie Lavagetto Stats"](_blank)
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
Brooklyn Dodgers
In December 1936, the Pirates traded Lavagetto to the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was a full-time player for the Dodgers from 1937 to 1941 and made the NL All-Star team four straight years from 1938 to 1941.
Among Lavagetto's best seasons was 1939, when he set career-highs with 153 games played, a .300 batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
, 10 home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s, 93 runs scored
In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls ...
, and 87 runs batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...
(RBI); his 87 RBI ranked sixth in the league. On September 23 of that year, he went 6-for-6 in the second game of a doubleheader in a 22–4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...
.
Lavagetto helped the Dodgers win the 1941 NL championship and played in his first World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
, which the Dodgers lost to the New York Yankees. He then joined the United States Navy during World War II and missed the next four seasons from 1942 to 1945. After the war ended, Lavagetto rejoined the Dodgers and spent the 1946 and 1947 seasons with them as a part-time player.
The Dodgers won the 1947 NL pennant and again faced the Yankees in the World Series. In game four, played on October 3 at Ebbets Field
Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball stadium in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. It is mainly known for having been the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team of the National League (1913–1957). It was also home to five p ...
, Yankees pitcher Bill Bevens had a no-hitter with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and was ahead 2–1. No one had ever pitched a no-hitter in a World Series before. However, two runners were on base from Bevens' ninth and tenth walks of the game. Lavagetto was then summoned by Dodgers manager Burt Shotton
Burton Edwin Shotton (October 18, 1884 – July 29, 1962) was an American player, manager, coach and scout in Major League Baseball. As manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers (1947; 1948–50), he won two National League pennants and served as Jackie Rob ...
to pinch-hit for Eddie Stanky
Edward Raymond Stanky (born Stankiewicz (September 3, 1915 – June 6, 1999) was an American professional baseball second baseman, shortstop, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston Br ...
. With no balls and one strike, Lavagetto cracked an opposite-field double off the right field wall to break up the no-hitter and score the two Dodger runners (pinch runner
In baseball, a pinch runner is a player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing another player on base. The pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been sub ...
s Al Gionfriddo
Albert Francis Gionfriddo (March 8, 1922 – March 14, 2003) was an American professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder.
Career
Gionfriddo made his major league debut on September 23, at the age of 22 with ...
and Eddie Miksis
Edward Thomas Miksis (September 11, 1926 – April 8, 2005) was an American professional baseball infielder and outfielder. He played fourteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1944 and 1958 for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, St ...
) to win the game for Brooklyn, 3–2. Lavagetto was the first player to end a World Series game with a hit when his team was one out away from losing the game; the only other players to ever accomplish that feat were Kirk Gibson
Kirk Harold Gibson (born May 28, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He is currently a color commentator for the Detroit Tigers on Bally Sports Detroit and a special assistant for the Tigers. As a player, Gibson ...
in 1988 and Brett Phillips
Brett Maverick Phillips (born May 30, 1994) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay Rays ...
in 2020. Lavagetto's game-winning double tied the series at two games apiece. It ended up being Lavagetto's only hit of the series and his last as a major league player. The Yankees defeated the Dodgers in seven games.
In May 1948, the Dodgers released Lavagetto. He finished his MLB career with a .269 batting average, 945 hits
Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block
* ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998
* ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...
, 183 doubles, 37 triples
TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...
, 40 home runs, 487 runs scored, and 486 RBI in 1,043 games played.
In the 2001 book ''The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
''The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract'' is a reference book written by Bill James featuring an overview of professional baseball decade by decade, along with rankings of the top 100 players at each position. The original edition was publi ...
'', writer Bill James
George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. ...
ranked Lavagetto as the 92nd greatest third baseman in baseball history.
Major league coach
Lavagetto returned to Oakland and finished his playing career with the Oaks (1948–1950), where he was a mentor to a young Billy Martin
Alfred Manuel Martin Jr. (May 16, 1928 – December 25, 1989), commonly called "Billy", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman and manager who, in addition to leading other teams, was five times the manager of the New York Yan ...
. When Oakland manager Chuck Dressen
Charles Walter Dressen (September 20, 1894Dressen's birthdate has been revised from 1898, as was commonly reported in ''The Sporting News' Baseball Register'' and ''Macmillan's Baseball Encyclopedia'', to 1894 by both Baseball Reference and Retr ...
was named the field leader of the Dodgers in 1951, Lavagetto accompanied him and returned to Brooklyn as one of his coaches. He was an aide to Dressen with Brooklyn (1951–1953) and the Pacific Coast League Oaks (1954), and followed him a third time as a member of the coaching staff when Dressen became manager of the Washington Senators in 1955.Dressen set to overhaul Senators
/ref>
Manager of the Senators/Twins
On May 7, 1957, with the Senators in last place, Dressen was fired and Lavagetto named as his successor. The team improved slightly, but finished last in 1957, 1958, and 1959. Finally, in 1960, Lavagetto's Senators rose to fifth place in the eight-team American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
. The club featured promising young players such as Harmon Killebrew
Harmon Clayton Killebrew Jr. (; June 29, 1936May 17, 2011), nicknamed "The Killer" and "Hammerin' Harmon", was an American professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and left fielder. He was a prolific power hitter who spent most of hi ...
, Jim Kaat
James Lee Kaat (; born November 7, 1938) is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a left-handed pitcher for the Washington Senators / Minnesota Twins (–), ...
, Earl Battey
Earl Jesse Battey, Jr. (January 5, 1935 – November 15, 2003) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Chicago White Sox (1955–1959) and Washington Senators / Minnesota Twins (1960â ...
, and Bob Allison
William Robert Allison (July 11, 1934 – April 9, 1995) was an American professional baseball outfielder who played for the Washington Senators / Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball from to .
Allison attended the University of Kansas for ...
, as well as veteran pitcher Camilo Pascual
Camilo Alberto Pascual Lus (born January 20, 1934) is a Cuban former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. During an 18-year baseball career (1954–71), he played for the original modern Washington Senators franchise (which became the Mi ...
, just entering his prime. However, the Senators' encouraging 1960 season came too late to keep the franchise in Washington; owner Calvin Griffith
Calvin Robertson Griffith (December 1, 1911 – October 20, 1999), born Calvin Griffith Robertson, was a Canadian-born American Major League Baseball team owner. As president, majority owner and ''de facto'' general manager (baseball), general m ...
moved the club to Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is commonly known as the Twin Cities ...
, where it became the Minnesota Twins in 1961.
Lavagetto was the first manager in Twins history, but he did not finish the 1961 season. With the Twins mired in ninth place in the new ten-team AL, he took a seven-game leave of absence on June 5 and then returned to the helm on the 13th, but was fired on June 23 with the club still in ninth place. He was replaced by coach Sam Mele
Sabath Anthony "Sam" Mele (January 21, 1922 – May 1, 2017) was an American right fielder, manager, coach and scout in Major League Baseball. As a manager, he led the Minnesota Twins to their first American League championship in .
Early li ...
, under whom the Twins became pennant contenders in 1962 (finishing in second place to the Yankees) and pennant winners in 1965. Lavagetto, as manager for the so-called "Griffs", won 271 games and lost 384 (.414).
Later life
Lavagetto then returned to the coaching ranks with the New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
(1962–1963), and — back home in the Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
— the San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...
(1964–1967) before leaving baseball.
Lavagetto died in his sleep at his home in Orinda, California
Orinda is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city's population as of the 2020 census is estimated at 19,514 residents.
History
Orinda is located within four Mexican land grants: Rancho Laguna de los Palos Colorados ...
, in 1990 at the age of 77.
See also
*List of Major League Baseball single-game hits leaders
In baseball, a hit is credited to a batter when he reaches first base – or any subsequent base – safely after hitting a fair ball, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice. One hundred seventeen different players have recorde ...
References
External links
Oakland Oaks
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060718000859/http://www.users.qwest.net/~yarnspnr/baseball/bevans/bevans.htm Bill Bevens No-Hit Bid in '47 World Seriesbr>Audio – Cookie Lavagetto breaks up Bill Bevens' No-Hit Bid in 1947 World Series
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavagetto, Cookie
1912 births
1990 deaths
American people of Italian descent
Baseball coaches from California
Baseball players from Oakland, California
Brooklyn Dodgers coaches
Brooklyn Dodgers players
Major League Baseball first base coaches
Major League Baseball third base coaches
Major League Baseball third basemen
Minnesota Twins managers
National League All-Stars
New York Mets coaches
Oakland Oaks (baseball) players
People from Orinda, California
Pittsburgh Pirates players
San Francisco Giants coaches
United States Navy personnel of World War II
Washington Senators (1901–1960) coaches
Washington Senators (1901–1960) managers