James Arthur "Cotton" Tierney (February 10, 1894 – April 18, 1953) 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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. 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) for 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 ...

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 ...

Boston Braves The Boston Braves were a Major League Baseball club that originated in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved to History of the Atlanta Braves#Milwaukee, Milwaukee (and became the Milwaukee Braves). ...

, and

Brooklyn Robins 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 Brookl ...

between 1920 and 1925. Tierney was born in

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City (commonly known as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As ...

."Cotton Tierney Statistics and History"
"baseball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2017-05-14.

Career

Tierney began his professional career in minor league baseball in 1912. The

acquired Tierney after he played for the

Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tulsa ...

of the Class A Western League. Tierney and teammates Charley Grimm,

Rabbit Maranville Walter James Vincent "Rabbit" Maranville (November 11, 1891 – January 6, 1954) was an American professional baseball shortstop, second baseman and Manager (baseball), manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Braves (base ...

, and

George Whitted George Bostic "Possum" Whitted (February 4, 1890 – October 16, 1962) was an American professional baseball outfielder and third baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1912 to 1922 for the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Braves, Phi ...

, became known as the "Banjo Boys". On October 2, 1920, he played every inning in all three games of modern baseball's only tripleheader; he is the only player to play three complete major league games in one day. ( Morrie Rath is the only other player to have played in each of that day's 3 games, but Rath left the third game after two innings, before making a plate appearance.) Tierney had a .345

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 ...

during the 1922 season, finishing fifth in the

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 ...

, and a .515

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

, good for fourth. He also finished fifth in

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 ...

with fourteen, tied with

Rogers Hornsby Rogers Hornsby (April 27, 1896 – January 5, 1963), nicknamed "the Rajah", was an American baseball infielder, manager (baseball), manager, and coach (baseball), coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. ...

. His performance earned him a $5,000 contract for the next season. However, the Pirates traded Tierney with

Whitey Glazner Charles Franklin "Whitey" Glazner (September 17, 1893 – June 6, 1989) was an American professional baseball player. He was a right-handed pitcher over parts of five seasons (1920–24) with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Philadelphia Phillies. ...

and $50,000 to the

for

Lee Meadows Henry Lee "Specs" Meadows (July 12, 1894 – January 29, 1963) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher over parts of 15 seasons (1915–1929) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadel ...

and

Johnny Rawlings John William Rawlings '' ed' (August 17, 1892 – October 16, 1972) was an American second baseman and shortstop in Major League Baseball who played for six different teams between the and seasons. Listed at , 158 lb., he batted and threw ...

in May 1923. In 1923, Tierney tied George Grantham for second in the NL in doubles with 36, trailing only

Edd Roush Edd J. Roush (May 8, 1893 – March 21, 1988) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a center fielder from 1913 to 1931, most prominently as a member of the Cincinnati Reds where he was a t ...

, and finished seventh in

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 with 13. On December 15, 1923, the Phillies traded Tierney to the

for Hod Ford and Ray Powell. On February 4, 1925, the Braves traded Tierney to the

for Bernie Neis. Before the 1926 season, in what was considered "one of the most remarkable deals ever made between a major and a minor league club", the Robins traded Tierney to the

Minneapolis Millers The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...

of the American Association with Ford, Dick Loftus, Bonnie Hollingsworth, and their choice of

Del Bissonette Adelphia Louis Bissonette (September 6, 1899 – June 9, 1972) was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers (then known as the Brooklyn Robins) ...

Babe Herman Floyd Caves "Babe" Herman (June 26, 1903 – November 27, 1987) was an American professional baseball player and scout. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right fielder between and , most prominently as a member of the Brooklyn Dod ...

, and

Chuck Corgan Charles Howard Corgan (December 4, 1902 – June 13, 1928) was an American professional baseball and football player. In baseball, he played the infield for the Brooklyn Robins during the 1925 and 1927 seasons. He also played football for the Ka ...

in order to acquire Johnny Butler. Tierney managed the Pueblo Steelworkers of the Western League in 1929. He managed the

Joplin Miners The Joplin Miners was the primary name of the minor league baseball team in Joplin, Missouri that played for 49 seasons between 1901 and 1954. Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees Mickey Mantle and Whitey Herzog played for Joplin. Professional baseba ...

of the Class A

Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Wester ...

in 1930.

Legacy

Tierney returned to Kansas City, where he operated a

bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse or dwelling ...

with

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...

member

Zack Wheat Zachariah Davis Wheat (May 23, 1888 – March 11, 1972), nicknamed "Buck", was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a left fielder from 1909 to 1927, most notably as a member of the Brooklyn Do ...

. He died in his home at the age of 59. In 2005, Jeff Euston, Tierney's great-great-nephew, created a website tracking all salaries of MLB players, naming it "Cot's Baseball Contracts", after his baseball ancestor. Considered "the unofficial clearinghouse for MLB contracts", the website had 4 million page views by the end of 2008. In 2010, ''

Baseball Prospectus Baseball Prospectus (BP) is an organization that publishes a website, BaseballProspectus.com, devoted to the sabermetric analysis of baseball. BP has a staff of regular columnists and provides advanced statistics as well as player and team perf ...

'' purchased Cot's Contracts, and began hosting the site.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tierney, Cotton Major League Baseball infielders Boston Braves players Brooklyn Robins players Philadelphia Phillies players Pittsburgh Pirates players Minor league baseball managers Ardmore Indians players Dallas Giants players Hollywood Stars players Joplin Miners players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players McAlester Miners players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Mobile Bears players Pueblo Steelworkers players San Antonio Bronchos players Shawnee Robins players Texarkana Tigers players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players Tyler Elbertas players Baseball players from Kansas City, Kansas 1894 births 1953 deaths 20th-century American sportsmen