Walker Cooper

He and his brother were extremely productive for about 3 or 4 seasons. What other brothers have been so productive at the same time and/or for the same team?

Because I still find this blog to be a learning experience for me, I still run across a lot of names that I don't know, and while writing the previous post, I ran across a few of them. The one I noticed (or that intrigued me) the most was Walker Cooper because a) he's a catcher and b) he hit 30+ homers in a season. Consequently, I wanted to find out more. And thus:

William Walker Cooper was born in Atherton, Missouri on January 8th, 1915. Before the 1935 season, the home state St. Louis Cardinals signed the strong young man (6'3", 210 lbs.), but because St. Louis had a notoriously good farm system (Branch Rickey was one of the first to actually utilize the farm system in a similar manner to today's teams), he had trouble reaching the major leagues. He spent six years in the minors until finally getting his chance in 1941, but a broken collarbone limited his playing time.

The following season (1942) began a long streak of success for the young backstop. He made his first All-Star team, and his stats were impressive enough to earn him an 11th place finish in the MVP voting. Mort Cooper, however, finished first. To make things worse, Mort was Walker's brother, and they played on the same team. Mort finished the season with a 22-7 record and 1.78 ERA in the first of three consecutive dominant seasons. The two teamed up to help the Cardinals win the '42 World Series over defending champion New York Yankees. Walker improved his stats the next season and finished 2nd in the MVP voting (Mort finished 5th), but the Cardinals lost the World Series rematch against the Yankees. 1944 was another fine season as the Cooper brothers finished 8th and 9th in the MVP voting (Walker was 8th), and when the Cardinals made their 3rd consecutive World Series, they beat the crosstown St. Louis Browns.

Cooper left for the Navy in 1945 and missed most of the season, and when he returned, he and the Cardinals had a disagreement over compensation. The Cardinals sold him to the Giants. 1946 was an okay season, but he really knocked it out of the park (a career-high 35 times) in 1947. He remained productive for the next few seasons, but he never stayed in one place for too long, playing in New York, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee. By 1952, Cooper was no longer so durable, but he stuck around for 6 more seasons until he retired in 1957. At the time he retired, his daughter married Don Blasingame, and he remarked, "When you have a daughter old enough to marry a player, it's time to retire."


Cool Fact I Couldn't Find a Place For -- Walker Cooper holds the record (along with Dave Kingman and Dave Winfield) with a grand slam for 5 different teams.