Albert Cohen (December 25, 1908 – March 11, 2003), nicknamed "Alta", was an American professional baseball player. He attended South Side High School in New York. He was Jewish. In the minor leagues, he was an

All Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

with the Triple A

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A baseball team nicknamed the ...

. In 1931 he batted .316–5–47 for the Hartford Senators, and led the league in walks (87). Cohen made hid major league debut in the second game of the 1931 season, taking over for

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...

Ike Boone. The next day, Cohen was farmed out to Hartford. Cohen was leading the Eastern League in hitting in 1932 with a .409 average in 59 games when the league folded in mid-season. He became a pitcher and had two good years with Toledo (American Association) in 1936–37 with a 29–19 record. He played

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In bat and ball games ...

in the majors from 1931 to 1933 with the Brooklyn Robins/Dodgers and

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

. Cohen's father gave him the name Alta (

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

for "old") as the traditional Jewish trick to fool the angel of death during the

1918 flu epidemic The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

. In the majors, Alta's teammates called him "Schoolboy." Cohen founded the Altco Products Co. in 1940, with offices throughout the state, and served as president for 44 years before retiring in 1984. He was a member of the board of directors of the

Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (NBIMC), previously Newark Beth Israel Hospital, is a 665-bed quaternary care, teaching hospital located in Newark, New Jersey serving the healthcare needs for Newark and the Northern Jersey area. The hospital ...

and the Daughters of Israel Geriatric Center in West Orange, and a member of the Green Brook Country Club in North Caldwell. Also a philanthropist, he was honored in the 1980s by

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

, in New York City. He lived in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

and

South Orange South Orange is a historic suburban village located in Essex County, New Jersey. It was formally known as the Township of South Orange Village from October 1978 until April 25, 2024. As of the 2020 United States census, the village populatio ...

before moving to

Maplewood, New Jersey Maplewood is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is an inner-ring suburban bedroom community of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's popula ...

, where he died in his home."Oldest Brooklyn Dodgers' alumnus dies"
''

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'', March 12, 2003. Accessed March 27, 2008.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Alta 1908 births 2003 deaths Brooklyn Robins players Brooklyn Dodgers players Chattanooga Lookouts players Cincinnati Reds players Crisfield Crabbers players Durham Bulls players Hartford Senators players Jersey City Giants players Jersey City Skeeters players Jewish American baseball players Macon Peaches players Major League Baseball outfielders Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Sportspeople from Maplewood, New Jersey Rocky Mount Buccaneers players Baseball players from Brooklyn Toledo Mud Hens players Williamsport Grays players 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews 20th-century American sportsmen