#73 - Mickey Cochrane
Nicknamed “Black Mike“, Cochrane was a baseball player, manager and coach who playedas a catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers. Cochrane was considered one of the best catchers in baseball history and was chosen as the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1928 and he appeared in the World Series from 1929 to 1931. Cochrane’s career batting average of .320 stood as a record for MLB catchers until 2009. Cochrane’s baseball career as a player ended abruptly after a near-fatal head injury from a bean ball in 1937. After his professional baseball career, he served in the United States Navy in World War II and ran an automobile business.
