Mort Cooper

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Morton Cecil Cooper (March 2, 1913 - November 17, 1958) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played primarily for the St. Louis Cardinals. The team's top pitcher during its National League pennant years of 1942-44, he won over 20 games in each of the three years and received the 1942 Most Valuable Player award after posting a 22-7 record with 10 shutouts and a 1.78 earned run average, the lowest by any NL righthander between 1920 and 1967. His brother Walker was an NL catcher, and his teammate for several seasons.

Cooper was born in Atherton, Missouri, and after debuting with the Cardinals in 1938 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 titles in both 1942 and 1944. In 1945, both Cooper brothers staged contract holdouts, and 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. He ended his career with a single 1949 relief appearance for the Chicago Cubs in which he failed to record an out. He retired with a record of 128-75, a 2.97 ERA, 913 strikeouts in 1840 2/3 innings and 33 shutouts. He was selected to the NL All-Star team four times (1942, 1943, 1945, 1946).