Benjamin Jenison McCoy (November 9, 1915 – November 9, 2011) was a

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

who played for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

(1938–1939) and

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

(1940–1941). Listed at . 170 lb., he batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He was born in

Jenison, Michigan Jenison is a census-designated place (CDP) in Ottawa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The community is located within Georgetown Charter Township. The population of the CDP was 17,213 as of the 2000 census. The current estimated populatio ...

Biography

Baseball career

McCoy was 22 years old when he entered the majors in September 1938 with the Detroit Tigers, appearing in seven games while hitting a .200

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 ...

(3-for-15). In 1939, though he played just two months for Detroit after

Charlie Gehringer Charles Leonard Gehringer (May 11, 1903 – January 21, 1993), nicknamed "the Mechanical Man", was an American professional baseball second baseman. He played for the Detroit Tigers for 19 seasons from 1924 Detroit Tigers season, 1924 to 1943 Det ...

was injured, McCoy hit .302 with 33

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

and 38 runs scored in 55

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Associat ...

. At the end of the season, he was dealt by the Tigers to the

in exchange for Wally Moses. McCoy was among 91 Detroit

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

players declared

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

s by

baseball commissioner The commissioner of baseball is the chief executive officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the associated Minor League Baseball (MiLB) – a constellation of leagues and clubs known as "organized baseball". Under the direction of the commissi ...

Kenesaw Mountain Landis Kenesaw Mountain Landis (; November 20, 1866 – November 25, 1944) was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and the first Commissioner of Baseball, commissioner of baseball from 1920 until his death. ...

. The Tigers had been blocking players in their minor league system for years, players with major league skills, which was a fairly common practice in those days as there were only 16 big league clubs and precious few jobs. For a middle infielder, McCoy was a very good offensive player, but Detroit had Gehringer and he was blocked in the minors. McCoy played in 1940 and 1941 with the Athletics. His most productive season came in 1941, when he hit .271 with 61 RBI and posted career-highs in games (141),

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

(140), walks (95), runs (86),

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s (8), and

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

(7). He spent the next four years in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during World War II. When he returned from service, his skills had eroded and he never played another game. In a four-season career, McCoy was a .269 hitter (327-for-1214) with 16 home runs and 156 RBI in 337 games, including 182 runs, 327 hits, 52 doubles, 18 triples, and eight

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s. A selective and patient hitter, he posted a solid .384

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

and a respectable 1.56

strikeout-to-walk ratio In baseball statistics, strikeout-to-walk ratio (K/BB) is a measure of a pitcher's ability to control pitches, calculated as strikeouts divided by bases on balls. A hit by pitch is not counted statistically as a walk, and therefore not counted in ...

(190-to-122). McCoy played in the

National Baseball Congress National Baseball Congress World Series or NBC World Series is an annual collegiate and semi-pro baseball tournament held in Wichita, Kansas, United States. The next series will happen on July 24 to August 2, 2025. It will be held at Eck Stad ...

with the St Joseph's Autos team in 1946. Before his death, he was recognized as one of the oldest living major league ballplayers.

Death

McCoy died on his 96th birthday on November 9, 2011.

References

External links

Baseball Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCoy, Benny 1915 births 2011 deaths Detroit Tigers players Philadelphia Athletics players 20th-century American sportsmen Major League Baseball second basemen United States Navy personnel of World War II Baseball players from Ottawa County, Michigan People from Grandville, Michigan People from Jenison, Michigan