1913
Born March 2, 1913
Atherton, MO, USA
Mort Cooper Marquee
b. March 2, 1913 · St. Louis Cardinals 1938–1945, Boston Braves 1945–1947, New York Giants 1947, Chicago Cubs 1949
In 1942 he went 22-7 with a 1.78 earned run average and ten shutouts and was the Most Valuable Player; in 1943 he went 21-8 and in 1944 22-7. St. Louis won the pennant all three years and the World Series in two of them, and his brother Walker Cooper caught most of his starts.
Eleven seasons gave him 128 wins against 75 — a .631 percentage — with a 2.97 earned run average, 1,840 innings, 128 complete games and 33 shutouts, and four All-Star selections. He pitched with bone chips in his elbow through most of it and had them removed twice.
The brothers held out together in 1945 and were traded within weeks of each other; their father died the day of a World Series game in 1943 and both played that afternoon. He was out of the game at thirty-six and died in 1958, at forty-five. Four writers' ballots gave him no more than three votes.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star selection | 4 | 1942, 1943, 1945, 1946 |
| Baseball Magazine All-Star | 3 | 1942, 1943, 1944 |
| The Sporting News All-Star | 3 | 1942, 1943, 1944 |
| Most Valuable Player | 1 | 1942 |
| The Sporting News Guide Most Valuable Player | 1 | 1942 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 | STL | 4 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .222 |
| 1939 | STL | 47 | 69 | 4 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 13 | 0 | .232 |
| 1940 | STL | 38 | 83 | 5 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 0 | .157 |
| 1941 | STL | 29 | 70 | 4 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 0 | .186 |
| 1942 | STL | 37 | 103 | 6 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 21 | 0 | .184 |
| 1943 | STL | 37 | 100 | 7 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 14 | 0 | .170 |
| 1944 | STL | 34 | 94 | 9 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 0 | .202 |
| 1945 | BSN/STL | 24 | 32 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 0 | .250 |
| 1946 | BSN | 28 | 67 | 5 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 14 | 0 | .209 |
| 1947 | BSN/NYG | 18 | 27 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 0 | .222 |
| 1949 | CHC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Career | — | 297 | 654 | 50 | 127 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 68 | 23 | 118 | 0 | .194 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 | STL | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 23.2 | 17 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 3.04 |
| 1939 | STL | 12 | 6 | 45 | 26 | 4 | 210.2 | 208 | 76 | 97 | 130 | 3.25 |
| 1940 | STL | 11 | 12 | 38 | 29 | 3 | 230.2 | 225 | 93 | 86 | 95 | 3.63 |
| 1941 | STL | 13 | 9 | 29 | 25 | 0 | 186.2 | 175 | 81 | 69 | 118 | 3.91 |
| 1942 | STL | 22 | 7 | 37 | 35 | 0 | 278.2 | 207 | 55 | 68 | 152 | 1.78 |
| 1943 | STL | 21 | 8 | 37 | 32 | 3 | 274.0 | 228 | 70 | 79 | 141 | 2.30 |
| 1944 | STL | 22 | 7 | 34 | 33 | 1 | 252.1 | 227 | 69 | 60 | 97 | 2.46 |
| 1945 | BSN/STL | 9 | 4 | 24 | 14 | 1 | 101.2 | 97 | 33 | 34 | 59 | 2.92 |
| 1946 | BSN | 13 | 11 | 28 | 27 | 1 | 199.0 | 181 | 69 | 39 | 83 | 3.12 |
| 1947 | BSN/NYG | 3 | 10 | 18 | 15 | 0 | 83.1 | 99 | 50 | 26 | 27 | 5.40 |
| 1949 | CHC | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | — |
| Career | — | 128 | 75 | 295 | 239 | 14 | 1840.2 | 1666 | 607 | 571 | 913 | 2.97 |
On this day & linked events
1958
Died November 17, 1958
1938
Major-league debut: Mort Cooper
Mort Cooper made a major-league debut on September 14, 1938.
1946
Ed Head's No-Hitter
Ed Head threw a no-hitter for the Brooklyn Dodgers against the Boston Braves on April 23, 1946, winning 5–0.
1949
Final major-league game: Mort Cooper
Mort Cooper played a final major-league game on May 7, 1949.
Image: Public domain