James Cockman (April 26, 1873 – September 28, 1947) was a Canadian

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 scoring system us ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

who played for the New York Highlanders in 1905. He stood at 5' 6" and weighed 145 lbs."Jim Cockman Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-20.

Career

Cockman started his professional baseball career in 1896 and batted .300 that year for the Virginia League's Roanoke Magicians."Jim Cockman Minor League Statistics & History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-20. The following season, he played for the London Cockneys of the Canadian League. He batted a career-high .413 to win the batting title. Although Cockman did "pretty good work with the stick," he was released by Toronto in 1898 and then went to the Atlantic League's

Reading Coal Heavers Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling) ...

. In 1900, Cockman played in the Eastern League, International League, and Interstate League. He posted a .307 batting average in the Interstate League, and it was the last time in his career that he would bat over .300. From 1901 to 1903, Cockman played in the Western League with 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 ...

and

Milwaukee Creams The Milwaukee Creams were a minor league baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Between 1889 and 1913, the Creams played as members of the 1889 Western Association, Western League from 1902 to 1903 and 1913 Wisconsin-Illinois League. The We ...

. He then spent most of the following four seasons with the Eastern League's Newark Sailors. In 1905, he hit just .232 but was acquired by the New York Highlanders (later known as the Yankees) in September. Cockman played 13 MLB games over the final month of the season. He went 4 for 38 (.105) at the plate, with 0

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 2

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) 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 the bat ...

. At 32 years old, he was the oldest player to ever make his major league debut with the New York Yankees franchise.Walker, Ben
"Enjoy Ozzie's Final All-Star Game"
''Daily News'', July 5, 1996, p. 20. Cockman went back to Newark in 1906. After short stints in Toronto and St. Paul, he played for the Western League's Lincoln Railsplitters from 1909 to 1911. In 1912, he batted .262 in the

Nebraska State League The Nebraska State League (NSL) was an American professional minor league baseball league with five incarnations between 1892 and 1959. The Nebraska State League formed five times: in 1892, from 1910 to 1915, from 1922 to 1923, from 1928 to 1938 a ...

and then retired after the season.

Personal life

Cockman died on September 28, 1947 in his hometown of Guelph at age 74. He was buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park, in Guelph.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cockman, Jim 1873 births 1947 deaths Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Major League Baseball third basemen Major League Baseball players from Canada New York Highlanders players Roanoke Magicians players Guelph (minor league baseball) players Indianapolis Indians players Richmond Giants players London Cockneys players Reading Coal Heavers players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Wheeling Stogies players Hamilton Hams players Toronto Canucks players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Milwaukee Creams players Newark Sailors players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Lincoln Railsplitters players St. Paul Saints (AA) players Grand Island Collegians players Baseball people from Ontario Sportspeople from Guelph Minor league baseball managers