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Harry Arthur "Cookie" Lavagetto (December 1, 1912 – August 10, 1990) was an American professional
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
player, coach, and
manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
. He played in
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 ...
(MLB) as a
third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...
from 1934 to 1947. Lavagetto started his major league career with the
Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...
in 1934. After the 1936 season, he was traded to the
Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...
and was a
National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...
(NL)
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 ...
from 1938 to 1941. He then missed four full seasons due to
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
service in the
United States 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 ...
.Baseball in Wartime.com
/ref> He returned to the Dodgers and finished his MLB career with them in 1946 and 1947. Lavagetto is best-known for his performance in game four of the
1947 World Series The 1947 World Series matched the 1947 New York Yankees season, New York Yankees against the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers season, Brooklyn Dodgers. The Yankees won the Series in seven games for their 11th World Series championship in team history. Yan ...
, when he drove home the winning run with a
double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...
while
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
pitcher Bill Bevens was one out away from throwing what would have been the first
no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...
in World Series history. After his playing career ended, Lavagetto became a coach. He was the last manager of the
American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...
's first Washington Senators franchise, from 1957 through 1960, and the first manager of the
Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...
when the Senators relocated there for the 1961 season.


Early playing career

Lavagetto, the son of a trash hauler,James, Bill (2001). ''The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract''. p. 584. was born in
Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...
, in 1912. Lavagetto started his professional baseball career with the Oakland Oaks of the
Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...
in 1933. A , right-handed batter and thrower, he was nicknamed "Cookie" after the Oaks general manager Cookie Devincenzi. In September 1933, Lavagetto was traded to the National League's Pittsburgh Pirates. He was a part-time player for the Pirates from 1934 to 1936, never playing more than 87 games in a season."Cookie Lavagetto Stats"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved November 6, 2021.


Brooklyn Dodgers

In December 1936, the Pirates traded Lavagetto to the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was a full-time player for the Dodgers from 1937 to 1941 and made the NL All-Star team four straight years from 1938 to 1941. Among Lavagetto's best seasons was 1939, when he set career-highs with 153 games played, a .300
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 ...
, 10
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, 93
runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...
, and 87
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 ...
(RBI); his 87 RBI ranked sixth in the league. On September 23 of that year, he went 6-for-6 in the second game of a doubleheader in a 22–4 win over the
Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...
. Lavagetto helped the Dodgers win the 1941 NL championship and played in his first
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...
, which the Dodgers lost to the New York Yankees. He then joined the United States Navy during World War II and missed the next four seasons from 1942 to 1945. After the war ended, Lavagetto rejoined the Dodgers and spent the 1946 and 1947 seasons with them as a part-time player. The Dodgers won the 1947 NL pennant and again faced the Yankees in the World Series. In game four, played on October 3 at
Ebbets Field Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball stadium in the Flatbush, Brooklyn, Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York City, New York. It is mainly known for having been the home of the History of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn Dodgers baseball tea ...
, Yankees pitcher Bill Bevens had a no-hitter with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and was ahead 2–1. No one had ever pitched a no-hitter in a World Series before. However, two runners were on base from Bevens' ninth and tenth walks of the game. Lavagetto was then summoned by Dodgers manager
Burt Shotton Burton Edwin Shotton (October 18, 1884 – July 29, 1962) was an American player, manager, coach and scout in Major League Baseball. As manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers (1947; 1948–50), he won two National League pennants and served as Jackie R ...
to pinch-hit for Eddie Stanky. With no balls and one strike, Lavagetto cracked an opposite-field double off the right field wall to break up the no-hitter and score the two Dodger runners (
pinch runner In baseball or softball, a pinch runner is a player substituted into a game for the purpose of base running. Description A pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been s ...
s
Al Gionfriddo Albert Francis Gionfriddo (March 8, 1922 – March 14, 2003) was an American professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder. Career Gionfriddo made his major league debut on September 23, at the age of 22 wit ...
and Eddie Miksis) to win the game for Brooklyn, 3–2. Lavagetto was the first player to end a World Series game with a hit when his team was one out away from losing the game; the only other players to ever accomplish that feat were Kirk Gibson in 1988 and Brett Phillips in 2020. Lavagetto's game-winning double tied the series at two games apiece. It ended up being Lavagetto's only hit of the series and his last as a major league player. The Yankees defeated the Dodgers in seven games. In May 1948, the Dodgers released Lavagetto. He finished his MLB career with a .269 batting average, 945
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 ...
, 183 doubles, 37
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 ...
, 40 home runs, 487 runs scored, and 486 RBI in 1,043 games played. In the 2001 book '' The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract'', writer
Bill James George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books about baseball history and statistics. His a ...
ranked Lavagetto as the 92nd greatest third baseman in baseball history.


Major league coach

Lavagetto returned to Oakland and finished his playing career with the Oaks (1948–1950), where he was a mentor to a young Billy Martin. When Oakland manager
Chuck Dressen Charles Walter Dressen (''pronounced:'' DREE-sen) (September 20, 1894Dressen's birthdate has been revised from 1898, as was commonly reported in '' The Sporting News' Baseball Register'' and ''Macmillan's Baseball Encyclopedia'', to 1894 by both ...
was named the field leader of the Dodgers in 1951, Lavagetto accompanied him and returned to Brooklyn as one of his coaches. He was an aide to Dressen with Brooklyn (1951–1953) and the Pacific Coast League Oaks (1954), and followed him a third time as a member of the coaching staff when Dressen became manager of the Washington Senators in 1955.Dressen set to overhaul Senators
/ref>


Manager of the Senators/Twins

On May 7, 1957, with the Senators in last place, Dressen was fired and Lavagetto named as his successor. The team improved slightly, but finished last in 1957, 1958, and 1959. Finally, in 1960, Lavagetto's Senators rose to fifth place in the eight-team
American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...
. The club featured promising young players such as Harmon Killebrew,
Jim Kaat James Lee Kaat (; born November 7, 1938), nicknamed "Kitty", is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. A left-handed pitcher, he played Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Senators / Minnes ...
, Earl Battey, and Bob Allison, as well as veteran pitcher Camilo Pascual, just entering his prime. However, the Senators' encouraging 1960 season came too late to keep the franchise in Washington; owner
Calvin Griffith Calvin Robertson Griffith (December 1, 1911 – October 20, 1999), born Calvin Griffith Robertson, was a Canadian-born American Major League Baseball team owner. As president, majority owner and ''de facto'' general manager (baseball), general m ...
moved the club to
Minneapolis–Saint Paul Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi, Minnesota River, Minnesota, and St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota), ...
, where it became the Minnesota Twins in 1961. Lavagetto was the first manager in Twins history, but he did not finish the 1961 season. With the Twins mired in ninth place in the new ten-team AL, he took a seven-game leave of absence on June 5 and then returned to the helm on the 13th, but was fired on June 23 with the club still in ninth place. He was replaced by coach Sam Mele, under whom the Twins became pennant contenders in 1962 (finishing in second place to the Yankees) and pennant winners in 1965. Lavagetto, as manager for the so-called "Griffs", won 271 games and lost 384 (.414).


Later life

Lavagetto then returned to the coaching ranks with the
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...
(1962–1963), and — back home in the
Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...
— the
San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
(1964–1967) before leaving baseball. Lavagetto died in his sleep at his home in
Orinda, California Orinda is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census is estimated at 19,514 residents. History Orinda is located within four Mexican land grants: Rancho La ...
, in 1990 at the age of 77.


See also

*
List of Major League Baseball single-game hits leaders In baseball, a Hit (baseball), hit is credited to a Batting (baseball), batter when he reaches first base – or Extra-base hit, any subsequent base – Safe (baseball), safely after hitting a fair ball, without the benefit of an Error (baseball) ...


References


External links


Oakland Oaks
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060718000859/http://www.users.qwest.net/~yarnspnr/baseball/bevans/bevans.htm Bill Bevens No-Hit Bid in '47 World Seriesbr>Audio – Cookie Lavagetto breaks up Bill Bevens' No-Hit Bid in 1947 World Series
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavagetto, Cookie 1912 births 1990 deaths American people of Italian descent Baseball coaches from California Baseball players from Oakland, California Brooklyn Dodgers coaches Brooklyn Dodgers players Major League Baseball first base coaches Major League Baseball third base coaches Major League Baseball third basemen Minnesota Twins managers National League All-Stars New York Mets coaches Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Sportspeople from Orinda, California Baseball players from Contra Costa County, California Pittsburgh Pirates players San Francisco Giants coaches United States Navy personnel of World War II Washington Senators (1901–1960) coaches Washington Senators (1901–1960) managers Oakland Technical High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen