Mickey Cochrane
Hall of Famers at War
| Date and Place of Birth: | April 6, 1903 Bridgewater, MA |
| Date and Place of Death: | June 28, 1962 Lake Forest, IL |
| Baseball Experience: | Hall of Fame |
| Position: | Catcher |
| Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Military Unit: | US Navy |
| Area Served: | United States/Pacific Theater |
Gordon S. "Mickey" Cochrane attended Boston University but dropped
out in his junior year. He broke in with the Philadelphia Athletics in
1925 as the team's starting catcher, quickly establishing himself as one
of the best offensive players ever at the position.
In 13 major league seasons with the Athletics and Tigers, Cochrane
played in five World Series and scored the run that clinched the 1935
Series. "That was my greatest day in baseball," he later said.
From 1934 he was the Tigers' player-manager and Elden Auker called him
the greatest player-manager in the history of baseball. In May 1937,
Cochrane took a fastball to his right temple and collapsed in a heap. He
was unconscious for ten days and never played again.
Cochrane joined the Navy in 1942, and on July 7, 1942, he managed an
All-Service team that played against an American League all-star squad
at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. Before 62,059 fans, the American
League beat the servicemen, 5-0. Cochrane was stationed at Great Lakes
Naval Training Station where he coached their formidable baseball team
until 1944.
Tragedy struck Cochrane in 1944, his only son, Private First Class
Gordon S. Cochrane, Jr., was killed in action in Holland on February 25,
1945.
Former major league pitcher, Elden Auker, wrote in his autobiography,
Sleeper Cards and Flannel Uniforms: “The bullet that killed him [Gordon,
Jr.] had some kind of range. It traveled all the way across the
Atlantic, lodged itself into the spirit of Gordon's father, the great
Mickey Cochrane, and slowly killed him. Mickey's gravestone shows he
died June 28, 1962, but he started [in 1945]. Consider his
another life claimed by World War II.”
In 1945, Cochrane went to Gab Gab Beach, Guam, to head the Navy’s fleet
recreational center.
Cochrane was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947. He went on to serve as
general manager of the Athletics and later became Vice President of the
Tigers. He succumbed to cancer in June 1962, aged 59.
Service All-Stars at Cleveland, 1942. Cochrane is middle row, seventh
from left
Date Added July 27, 2016
Mickey Cochrane at Baseball-Almanac
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