William Walker Cooper (January 8, 1915 – April 11, 1991) was an American professional baseball catcher and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1940 to 1957, most notably as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals with whom he won two World Series championships. An eight-time All-Star, Cooper was known as one of the top catchers in baseball during the 1940s and early 1950s. His elder brother Mort Cooper, also played in Major League Baseball as a pitcher.

Professional career

thumb|left|Cooper with the Cardinals

A native of Atherton, Missouri, Cooper was a solid defensive catcher as well as a strong hitter, making the National League All-Star team every year from 1942 to 1950. In 1942 he batted .281, finishing among the National League's top ten players in slugging, doubles and triples as St. Louis won the pennant by two games; brother Mort won the Most Valuable Player Award. Batting fifth, he hit .286 in the World Series against the defending champion New York Yankees, driving in the winning run in Game 4 and scoring the winning run on Whitey Kurowski's home run in the ninth inning of the final Game 5; he then picked Joe Gordon off second base with no outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, as the team earned its first title in eight years.

In 1943, Cooper raised his average to a career-high .318, and was third in the National League in batting and slugging and fifth in RBI, as the Cardinals repeated as league champions; he was runner-up in the Most Valuable Player Award vote to teammate Stan Musial. In the 1943 World Series he batted .294 as the clean-up hitter, but St. Louis lost the rematch with the Yankees. In 1944, Cooper's average dipped only slightly to .317 as the Cardinals won their third straight pennant, facing the crosstown St. Louis Browns in the World Series; again batting cleanup, he hit .318 in the Series and scored the team's first run in the final Game 6, and the Cardinals won another title. World War II service in the Navy led him to appear in only four games in 1945, and before his return, the New York Giants purchased his contract following a salary dispute in January 1946; the sale by the Cardinals for $175,000 ($ today) was the highest cash-only deal ever to that time; the transactions of Joe Cronin in and Dizzy Dean in were larger deals, but also involved other players.

Cooper enjoyed his most productive season at the plate in 1947, when he hit .305 and compiled career highs in home runs (35), RBI (122), runs (79), hits (157) triples (8) and games (140); He remained with the Braves through their 1953 move to Milwaukee, batting over .300 in his first two seasons with the club.

Career statistics

In an eighteen-year major league career, Cooper played in 1,473 games, accumulating 1,341 hits in 4,702 at bats for a .285 career batting average along with 173 home runs, 812 runs batted in, and a .464 slugging percentage. at the end of his career he ranked among the top five National League catchers in career batting average (.285), slugging average (.464), home runs (173) and runs batted in (812). He also batted .300 over three World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1942 to 1944 as the team won two championships, and ranked tenth in National League history in both games (1,223) and putouts (5,166) behind the plate when he retired. During his career, he set a record by hitting grand slams with five different teams (a mark subsequently tied by Dave Kingman and Dave Winfield). His .464 slugging average then placed him behind only Roy Campanella (.500) and Gabby Hartnett (.489) among players with 1,000 National League games as a catcher, and his 173 HRs and 812 RBI put him behind only Campanella (242, 856), Hartnett (236, 1,179), and Ernie Lombardi (190, 990). His elder brother, Mort Cooper, was a National League pitcher and his teammate for the first few years of his career, while his son-in-law, Don Blasingame, also was a major leaguer.

Managing career

After his playing career, he managed the Indianapolis Indians (1958–59) and Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers (1961) of the Triple-A American Association and was a coach for the 1960 Kansas City Athletics, before leaving the game.

Walker Cooper died in Scottsdale, Arizona at age 76.

See also

  • List of St. Louis Cardinals coaches
  • List of Major League Baseball single-game hits leaders

References

  • Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia (2000). Kingston, New York: Total/Sports Illustrated. .
  • Walker Cooper Looks Back on an All-Star Career, Baseball Digest, June 1990