The 89th round of voting for the Circle of Greats inducts Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane, winning election in only his third round on the COG ballot. After solid support in his first two ballot appearances, it was only a matter of time before voters gave the nod to Cochrane, who edged out teammate Al Simmons in a runoff election following a tie vote on the main ballot. Cochrane backstopped the Athletics and Tigers to consecutive pennants, earning a World Series ring and league MVP honors for both franchises.
More on Cochrane after the jump.
Cochrane packed a lot of success into a relatively short career, playing just 13 seasons, including only 11 as a regular. His 52.1 WAR ranks 7th all-time among players with fewer than 7000 career PA. Among catchers on that list, Cochrane’s WAR total tops a tightly clustered group of Buck Ewing (47.7), Gene Tenace (46.8), Thurman Munson (45.9) and Ernie Lombardi (45.9). Among all catchers over the first 11 seasons of a career, Cochrane’s 49.7 WAR trails only Johnny Bench (59.4), Gary Carter (55.5) and Mike Piazza (54.0). Cochrane’s WAR total was built on consistent production, posting WAR between 4.0 and 6.3 each year for 9 straight seasons (1927-35), the longest streak of WAR totals in that range by a player at any position.
Cochrane debuted for a 1925 As team that was just beginning to assert itself as a force to be reckoned with. Philadelphia finished 24 games over .500 that year, the franchise’s first .500 campaign since its last championship season more than a decade earlier. That was the first of 8 straight 80-win seasons that included 6 straight 90-win campaigns and three straight over the century mark, the latter good for AL pennant honors in 1929-31, displacing the first Yankee dynasty. In all, Cochrane would spend 9 seasons as an Athletic, catching at least 115 games every year, and starting a run of 7 consecutive 30 double seasons (1929-35), the longest such streak by a catcher. Included was his MVP season in 1928, and a triple century season in 1932 with 100 runs, walks and RBI, a catcher feat matched only by Darrell Porter.
After the As dynasty had run its course, Connie Mack traded away his star players to raise cash, resulting in Cochrane’s move to the Tigers where he assumed the dual role of catcher and manager in 1934. In his first season at the helm, Cochrane led Detroit to its first pennant in 25 years, earning his second MVP title in the process. Detroit would lose the World Series that year in 7 games to the Cardinals, but would make amends the next season, Cochrane’s last as a regular, ousting the Cubs in 6 games. Though nobody knew it then, early in that 1935 season Cochrane passed Wally Schang for the career WAR record for catchers, and would hold that mark for 5 years, until passed by Gabby Hartnett early in the 1940 season.
Cochrane would see limited playing time for two more seasons, also splitting his managerial duties those years with Del Baker (Cochrane started and finished the 1936 and 1937 seasons as Tiger manager, but passed the reins for significant periods to Baker and, in 1937, also to Cy Perkins). Cochrane again started the 1938 season in the manager’s chair but, after the Tigers won 9 of 10 to get back to .500, a 4-game slide in early August (in which Detroit allowed 41 runs) spelled the end of Cochrane’s managerial tenure, as he gave way to Baker for good.
Trivia time: Cochrane was the first catcher with World Series home runs in consecutive games and consecutive plate appearances, accomplishing both feats with his knocks in the first two games of the 1930 Classic. Who is the only other catcher to homer in the first two games of a World Series?
