Morton Cecil Cooper (March 2, 1913 – November 17, 1958) was an American

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 ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

who played eleven seasons 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). He played from 1938 to 1949 for the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Braves, New York Giants, and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

. He batted and threw right-handed and was listed at and . He was the National League Most Valuable Player in 1942. His younger brother, Walker Cooper, also played in the major leagues.

Biography

Born in

Atherton, Missouri Atherton is an unincorporated community in Jackson County, in the U.S. state of Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the Un ...

, Cooper signed for the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent in 1933 and played for seven of their minor league affiliates until 1938, when the Cardinals promoted him to the major leagues. Cooper debuted with the Cardinals in 1938 and had a 12–6 record as a 1939 rookie. He was 24–21 over the next two seasons before hitting his stride, helping the team to

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- ...

titles in both

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

and

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

. In 1942, Cooper led the National League with 22 wins, 10 shutouts and a 1.78 ERA, earning NL Most Valuable Player honors. At the start of the 1945 season, both Mort and his brother Walker staged contract holdouts, demanding that the Cardinals raise their salaries to $15,000 each. Subsequently, Mort was traded that May to the Boston Braves after only three starts; bothered by longtime elbow problems, he ended the year only 9–4. After a 13–11 season in 1946, he began 1947 at 2–5 and was traded to the New York Giants in June. He was 1–5 for the Giants over the rest of the season, and was released in July 1948 after not pitching all year due to arm trouble. Cooper ended his career with a single 1949 relief appearance for the

in which he failed to record an out. He retired with a record of 128–75, a 2.97 ERA, 913

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s, and 33 shutouts in 1840 innings. He was selected to the 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 ...

team four times (1942–43; 1945–46). As a hitter, Cooper recorded a .194 batting average (127-for-654) with 50 runs, six

home runs 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 ...

and 68 RBI. Cooper gained induction into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum on April 25, 2019.

Personal

Cooper was married to Bernadine, who filed for divorce in 1945. Together, they had one son, Lonnie. Cooper lived in Houston for several years in the 1950s. He developed

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, chronic liver failure or chronic hepatic failure and end-stage liver disease, is a chronic condition of the liver in which the normal functioning tissue, or parenchyma, is replaced ...

and a staphylococcal infection. He was hospitalized at St. Vincent's Infirmary in

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

, for about three weeks before he died.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Mort 1913 births 1958 deaths Asheville Tourists players Baseball players from Missouri Boston Braves players Chicago Cubs players Columbus Red Birds players Deaths from cirrhosis Des Moines Demons players Elmira Red Wings players Houston Buffaloes players Major League Baseball pitchers Muskogee Oilers players National League All-Stars National League ERA champions National League Most Valuable Player Award winners National League (baseball) wins champions New York Giants (baseball) players Sportspeople from Jackson County, Missouri Springfield Cardinals players St. Louis Cardinals players Wichita Oilers players 20th-century American sportsmen

Biography

Personal

See also

References

External links