Allen Lindsey "Dusty" Cooke (June 23, 1907 – November 21, 1987), 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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Modern professional ...
outfielder
An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...
,
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 ...
, 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), who played for three different big league teams, between and . During his playing days, Cooke stood tall, weighing . He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
He was born in
Swepsonville, North Carolina.
Playing career
Cooke's professional playing career lasted for 16 seasons (1927–1942). Known mainly for his defensive abilities, he was a competent fourth outfielder who was able to handle all three outfield positions. In , Cooke reached the major leagues with the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
. He spent three seasons there before moving on to the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
(–) and
Cincinnati Reds (). Cooke's most productive season came in 1933 with Boston, when he
batted .293 and posted career-best numbers in
games played (119),
runs (86),
doubles (35),
triples (10), and
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 ba ...
(RBI) (54). In , he hit a career-high .306, in 100 games, while compiling a .400
on-base percentage (tenth in 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 ...
).
In his eight-season
MLB
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), ...
career, Cooke was a .280 lifetime hitter (
489
__NOTOC__
Year 489 ( CDLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Probinus and Eusebius (or, less frequently, year 1242 ' ...
-for-
1,745), with 24
home runs and 229 RBI in 608
games played, including 324 runs, 109 doubles, 28 triples, 32
stolen bases, .384 on-base percentage, .416
slugging percentage and a solid
walk-to-strikeout ratio In baseball statistics, walk-to-strikeout ratio (BB/K) is a measure of a hitter's plate discipline and knowledge of the strike zone. Generally, a hitter with a good walk-to-strikeout ratio must exhibit enough patience at the plate to refrain from ...
of 1.06 (290-to-276).
Military service
Cooke enlisted in the
Navy's Aviation Cadet Training Program located on the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
campus in 1943. Cooke was stunned that one of the first recruits he met upon his arrival in the dormitory was
Ted Williams
Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 1 ...
, 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 ...
batting champion.
Cooke did not complete aviation training and instead spent the war as a
Navy pharmacist's mate, 3rd class. During the
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
, Cooke participated in the
Iwo Jima where his ship was attacked for more than three hours by
Kamikaze
, officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending t ...
, and then several months later in the
Battle of Okinawa.
[ via ]Newspapers.com
Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites.
In November 2018, ...
Athletic trainer, coach and manager
Leveraging the fitness conditioning training he received in the Navy, after the war Cooke became the athletic trainer for the Philadelphia Phillies in . Two years later, in , he joined the Phillies' coaching staff
The coaching staff is a group of non-athletes tied to a sports team. A coaching staff can be existent at all levels of athletics. It is led by a head coach (known as a manager or senior coach in some sports) and consists of one or more assistant c ...
. Cooke was a coach through June 30, 1952, including service on the 1950 "Whiz Kids" team, that won the 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 ...
pennant. He also was the Phillies' interim
An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities.
Interim may also refer to:
Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept)
*Provis ...
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 ...
, from July 16–25, 1948, after the firing of Ben Chapman. Cooke posted a 6–6 record (.500), before handing over the reins to the team's permanent skipper, Eddie Sawyer.
Cooke died in Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southe ...
, November 21, 1987, at age 80.
References
External links
Dusty Cooke
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Dusty
1907 births
1987 deaths
United States Navy personnel of World War II
Asheville Tourists players
Baseball players from North Carolina
Boston Red Sox players
Cincinnati Reds players
Durham Bulls players
Jersey City Giants players
Major League Baseball outfielders
Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players
Newark Bears (IL) players
New York Yankees players
People from Swepsonville, North Carolina
Philadelphia Phillies coaches
Philadelphia Phillies managers
Rochester Red Wings players
St. Paul Saints (AA) players
United States Navy sailors