When star pitcher Mort Cooper walked into the office of Cardinals president Sam Breadon on May 23, 1945, he believed he was there to negotiate a new contract. Instead, Breadon informed the 1942 National League MVP that he had been traded to the Boston Braves.
Cooper had reached double-digit victories in each of the previous six seasons, leading the Cardinals’ pitching staff as St. Louis won consecutive National League pennants in 1942, 1943, and 1944, winning the World Series in both 1942 and 1944.
In 1942, the right-hander won the National League MVP Award while leading baseball with 22 wins, including 10 shutouts. Cooper’s 1.78 ERA over 278 2/3 innings led the National League
The following season, Cooper nearly matched his MVP performance, going 21-8 with a 2.30 ERA to place fifth in the MVP voting. He was equally consistent in 1944, posting a 22-7 record with a 2.46 ERA. His seven shutouts led all of baseball.
As the 1945 season got underway, however, Cooper and the Cardinals were at odds. That spring, Cooper agreed to a $12,000 contract, the maximum the team could offer under the wartime Wage Stabilization Board regulations at the time. Subsequently, however, Breadon signed star shortstop Marty Marion to a $13,000 contract, subject to approval from the Wage Stabilization Board.
In a bid to satisfy Cooper and his brother, catcher Walker Cooper, Breadon offered them both conditional contracts for $13,500. The brothers, however, demanded $15,000 and threatened to sit out the beginning of the season before consulting with an attorney and choosing to play.
As it turned out, Walker appeared in just four games before he was called upon to serve in the Navy. After Walker reported for duty, Mort Cooper missed a road trip to Cincinnati. “It developed later, however, that he merely had wanted a day off after telling his brother good-bye,” the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.[1]
After Mort Cooper started the season 2-0 through four starts, he left the team again, citing dissatisfaction with his salary. He was slapped with a $500 fine in addition to the salary he lost in his absence.[2] Cooper took the fine in relatively good spirits.
“It would not have been fair to the rest of the players not to have been fined,” he said, telling reporters that if the Cardinals rescinded the fine and suspension money, he would instead donate that amount to army and navy camps.[3]
Through his lawyer, Lee J. Havener, Cooper filed an appeal with the commissioner’s office and arranged for a May 23 meeting with Breadon to discuss the situation. The day prior to the meeting, Havener expressed optimism to the Globe-Democrat that the dispute would be resolved the next day. He and Cooper hoped Breadon would agree a three-year contract that would eliminate the need for annual contract negotiations prior to the 1946 and 1947 seasons.[4]
At 1:25 p.m. the next day, Cooper and Havener arrived at the Cardinals’ offices and – with reporters huddled outside – met with Breadon and manager Billy Southworth. The men spoke for 20 minutes before Breadon invited Braves president Louis R. Perini and general manager John J. Quinn to join them from an adjacent office.[5]
An hour later, Cooper signed a new contract to play for the Braves and Breadon announced to the assembled reporters that he had traded Cooper to Boston for pitcher Red Barrett and an undisclosed amount of cash (the St. Louis Star and Times reported that it was $50,000[6] and the Boston Globe reported that it may have been as much as $100,000,[7] though the Globe’s Jerry Nason later estimated that it was probably closer to $75,000 than $100,000.[8]
Regarding the amount of cash involved, Breadon would only say that it was “a substantial sum.”[9] He also refused to say whether the Cardinals had spoken to any other teams about trading Cooper.[10]
“President Perini called me on the long-distance telephone last Thursday as soon as the news had been published that Morton had been suspended for leaving our club during its stay in Boston,” Breadon said. “Perini made a bid for Cooper at that time, but I advised him to come to St. Louis and talk things over. The Boston club officials arrived here yesterday.”[11]
Perini and fellow Braves owners Joe Maney and Guido Rugo had purchased the team earlier that season and promised their fans to purchase the best players available.
“Fans of Boston will be pleased to get this news – I’m positive of that,” Perini said. “I believe Mort Cooper is the greatest pitcher in baseball today.”[12]
“Gosh-a-mighty, that’s getting one of the greatest players in the game,” Braves manager Bob Coleman. “Now we’ve really got a pitcher who can stop them.”[13]
For his part, Cooper was pleased as well, as the Boston Globe reported that the Braves gave him the $15,000 contract he had been seeking.[14]
“It was simply up to the Boston club to satisfy Cooper,” Perini said. “We were confident we’d be able to get together with him, despite his grievances with the St. Louis club.”[15]
“This is all a big surprise to me, but I will say that while I’m sorry to leave the St. Louis club, I’m glad to join the Boston team,” Cooper said.[16]
The trade immediately drew attention around the league. The St. Louis Star and Times called it “the most important baseball deal of 1945.”[17] In Pittsburgh, where the Braves were playing a three-game series against the Pirates, former Cardinals manager Frankie Frisch approved of Boston’s side of the trade.
“Cooper will help your club,” said Frisch, who now served as the Pirates skipper. “He’d help any club. We tried to get him.”[18]
“It’ll cost the Cards the pennant,” said Pittsburgh outfielder Jim Russell, before teammate Al López suggested that the Cardinals may not have won it anyway given the absences of Stan Musial, Danny Litwhiler, and Walker Cooper due to military service.[19]
In Barrett, the Cardinals obtained a 30-year-old journeyman who had gone 12-18 with a 3.18 ERA for the Braves in 1943, then went 9-16 with a 4.06 ERA in 1944. At the time of the trade, he was 2-3 with a 4.74 ERA.
“Barrett is not a star, but he’s an earnest, conscientious pitcher who will strive always for the best interests of his club,” Breadon said. “He will fit into the Cardinal club.”[20]
Incredibly, the trade seemed to give Barrett a jolt, as he enjoyed a career year with the Cardinals, going 21-9 with a 2.74 ERA the rest of the way to lead St. Louis in wins that season. Despite Barrett’s strong showing, the Cardinals’ 95 wins finished second to the Cubs for the NL pennant.
In 1946, Barrett served as a swingman. He started just nine of his 23 appearances, going 3-2 with a 4.03 ERA before the Braves purchased him back that December.
In Boston, Cooper went 7-4 with a 3.35 ERA the rest of the season as the Braves finished sixth in the National League. The following year, despite severe elbow pain, he made the fourth and final all-star game of his career as he went 13-11.
Ultimately, repeated elbow surgeries forced his career to end prematurely. In June 1947, the Braves traded him to the Giants for Bill Voiselle and cash. Cooper pitched just eight games for the Giants before announcing his retirement. He made a single appearance for the Cubs in 1949; it proved to be his final major-league game.
Cooper finished his career with a 128-75 record, including a 105-50 mark in eight seasons with the Cardinals. In 2019, he was inducted posthumously into the Cardinals Hall of Fame.
Enjoy this post? Find similar stories listed by decade or by player.
[1] Martin J. Haley, “Cards Open Home Stand Against Bums Tonight,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 23, 1945.
[2] Ray Nelson, “Morton Cooper Traded By Cardinals To Boston Braves,” St. Louis Star and Times, May 23, 1945.
[3] Martin J. Haley, “Cards Open Home Stand Against Bums Tonight,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 23, 1945.
[4] Martin J. Haley, “Cards Open Home Stand Against Bums Tonight,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 23, 1945.
[5] Ray Nelson, “Morton Cooper Traded By Cardinals To Boston Braves,” St. Louis Star and Times, May 23, 1945.
[6] Ray Nelson, “Morton Cooper Traded By Cardinals To Boston Braves,” St. Louis Star and Times, May 23, 1945.
[7] Harold Kaese, “Braves Buy Mort Cooper, $100,000 Probable Price,” Boston Globe, May 24, 1945.
[8] Jerry Nason, “Some Fans Must Be Shown If Cooper Is Still Good as Ever,” Boston Globe, May 25, 1945.
[9] J. Roy Stockton, “M. Cooper Traded To Boston For Barrett And Cash,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 23, 1945.
[10] Ray Nelson, “Morton Cooper Traded By Cardinals To Boston Braves,” St. Louis Star and Times, May 23, 1945.
[11] Ray Nelson, “Morton Cooper Traded By Cardinals To Boston Braves,” St. Louis Star and Times, May 23, 1945.
[12] Ray Nelson, “Morton Cooper Traded By Cardinals To Boston Braves,” St. Louis Star and Times, May 23, 1945.
[13] Harold Kaese, “Braves Buy Mort Cooper, $100,000 Probable Price,” Boston Globe, May 24, 1945.
[14] Harold Kaese, “Braves Buy Mort Cooper, $100,000 Probable Price,” Boston Globe, May 24, 1945.
[15] Ray Nelson, “Morton Cooper Traded By Cardinals To Boston Braves,” St. Louis Star and Times, May 23, 1945.
[16] Ray Nelson, “Morton Cooper Traded By Cardinals To Boston Braves,” St. Louis Star and Times, May 23, 1945.
[17] Ray Nelson, “Morton Cooper Traded By Cardinals To Boston Braves,” St. Louis Star and Times, May 23, 1945.
[18] Harold Kaese, “Braves Buy Mort Cooper, $100,000 Probable Price,” Boston Globe, May 24, 1945.
[19] Harold Kaese, “Braves Buy Mort Cooper, $100,000 Probable Price,” Boston Globe, May 24, 1945.
[20] Martin J. Haley, “Cards Open Home Stand Against Bums Tonight,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 23, 1945.
Pingback: How Mort Cooper won the 1942 NL MVP Award - STLRedbirds.com