Morton Cecil Cooper (March 2, 1913 – November 17, 1958) was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played eleven seasons 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). He played from 1938 to 1949 for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

. He batted and threw right-handed and was listed at and . He was the

National League Most Valuable Player The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual Major League Baseball (MLB) award given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers' ...

in 1942. His younger brother,

Walker Cooper William Walker Cooper (January 8, 1915 – April 11, 1991) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1940 to 1957, most notably as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals with whom h ...

, also played in the major leagues.

Biography

Born in

Atherton, Missouri Atherton is an unincorporated community in Jackson County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. History A post office called Atherton was established in 1888, and remained in operation until 1976. The community was named after a railroad employee. Nota ...

, Cooper signed for the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent in 1933 and played for seven of their minor league affiliates until 1938, when the Cardinals promoted him to the major leagues. Cooper debuted with the Cardinals in 1938 and had a 12–6 record as a 1939 rookie. He was 24–21 over the next two seasons before hitting his stride, helping the team to

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 ...

titles in both

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

and

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

. In 1942, Cooper led the National League with 22 wins, 10

shutouts In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

and a 1.78

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

, earning NL Most Valuable Player honors. At the start of the 1945 season, both Mort and his brother

Walker Walker or The Walker may refer to: People *Walker (given name) *Walker (surname) *Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Places In the United States *Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County *Walker, Mono County, California * ...

staged contract holdouts, demanding that the Cardinals raise their salaries to $15,000 each. Subsequently, Mort was traded that May to the Boston Braves after only three starts; bothered by longtime elbow problems, he ended the year only 9–4. After a 13–11 season in 1946, he began 1947 at 2–5 and was traded to the New York Giants in June. He was 1–5 for the Giants over the rest of the season, and was released in July 1948 after not pitching all year due to arm trouble. Cooper ended his career with a single 1949 relief appearance for the

in which he failed to record an out. He retired with a record of 128–75, a 2.97 ERA, 913

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s, and 33 shutouts in 1840

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

. He was selected to the NL All-Star team four times (1942–43; 1945-46). As a hitter, Cooper recorded a .194

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 ...

(127-for-654) with 50 runs, six

home runs 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 ...

and 68 RBI. Cooper gained induction into the St Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum on April 25, 2019.

Personal

Cooper was married to Bernadine, who filed for divorce in 1945. Together, they had one son, Lonnie. Cooper lived in Houston for several years in the 1950s. He developed

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...

and a

staphylococcal infection A staphylococcal infection or staph infection is an infection caused by members of the '' Staphylococcus'' genus of bacteria. These bacteria commonly inhabit the skin and nose where they are innocuous, but may enter the body through cuts or abrasi ...

. He was hospitalized at St. Vincent's Infirmary in

Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...

, for about three weeks before he died.

References

External links

Mort Cooper
at SABR (Baseball BioProject) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Mort 1913 births 1958 deaths Asheville Tourists players Baseball players from Missouri Boston Braves players Chicago Cubs players Columbus Red Birds players Deaths from cirrhosis Des Moines Demons players Elmira Red Wings players Houston Buffaloes players Major League Baseball pitchers Muskogee Oilers players National League All-Stars National League ERA champions National League Most Valuable Player Award winners National League wins champions New York Giants (NL) players People from Jackson County, Missouri Springfield Cardinals players St. Louis Cardinals players Wichita Oilers players

Biography

Personal

See also

References

External links