Coakley

To the extent Andy Coakley is remembered today it's by a few baseball nuts (like me) as the guy who was Lou Gehrig's baseball coach at Columbia University.  He was a major league pitcher but only posted a 58-59 record during his truncated career.  

The 19-year old Coakley joined the Philadelphia Athletics in 1902 and was used sparingly by Connie Mack during his first three seasons, compiling a 6-7 record in 14 starts and 3 relief appearances.

1905 started out the same.  By May 30, Coakley had made 4 starts in the first 32 A's games with an 0-2 record.  On that day, Mack started him against the New York Highlanders, whom he handily beat, prompting Connie to use him more frequently, but it was not until late June that Andy entered the rotation on a regular basis.  It proved to be a critical move as Coakley ended up compiling an 18-8 record with a 1.84 ERA (4th best in the league), helping the A's to win the American League pennant.  In the World Series, Andy made one start, facing Christy Mathewson (a recurring theme as you will see below).  Christy hurled one of his three shutouts in the series, while Andy gave up nine runs, of which six were unearned due to a trio of errors by second baseman Danny Murphy.

Hampered by injuries in 1906, Mack allowed Coakley to leave the club to recover.  While on his honeymoon in Vermont the bride and groom attended a semipro game where Andy was impressed by the shortstop.  Coakley wired Mack about his discovery, and Eddie Collins was soon signed by the A's, beginning a 25 year career, and who is still considered one of the top five second basemen in baseball history.

Placed on waivers in the offseason, Coakley was picked up by the Cincinnati Reds.  This was in the decade when the National League was dominated by the Giants, Cubs, and Pirates, with the other five clubs being also-rans every season.

Coakley had a fine 1907 season, finishing 17-16 with a 2.34 ERA for the Reds who had a 66-87 record, ending up in 5th place.

It was the 1908 season that caught my eye, however.  The pennant races in both leagues that year were among the greatest in baseball history and I've written twice about them, here and here.

Andy pitched for the Reds most of the season, winning only eight games in 26 decision but with a 1.86 ERA, before being traded to the Chicago Cubs at the beginning of September, where he won twice with a 0.89 ERA, helping the Cubs to win the pennant.  Coakley's overall ERA of 1.78 was enough for fifth in the National League.

While with the Reds that year Andy was one of the hardest of hard-luck pitchers.  Starting 28 games he lost three by 1-0, two 2-0, two 2-1, two 3-0, and two by 3-2.  That's eleven losses in which the Reds scored six runs, while Coakley gave up only 23.  Though the play by play is not available for those games, looking at the game summaries it is evident that several of the runs against Andy were unearned.  The Reds that year were a terrible offensive team, scoring only three runs a game, and lousy defensively.  The team batted .227 for the season, with only one regular above .250, and its On-Base and Slugging percentages were below .300.

The eight games Coakley won were by scores of 4-0, 3-1, 3-0, 6-1, 3-2, 1-0, 4-1 and 2-0.

In going through each game, I realized that Coakley made seven appearances against the New York Giants.  Five were starts along with two relief appearances.  All of the starts were against Christy Mathewson and the Giants hurler also relieved during the two games Coakley relieved!

On May 16, Coakley beat Matty 3-1 with Matty lasting only two innings and taking the loss.

On June 17, Matty won the rematch, 2-1.

On July 9, Matty won again, 2-1.

On August 4, in the first game of a doubleheader that went 12 innings,  Andy and Matty both entered the game in the 9th.  Coakley pitched well, giving up only one run in three innings, but Matty gave up nothing and picked up the W.

The two weren't done for the day, as they both started the second game.  Andy was not in good form, leaving after six innings, while Mathewson racked up another complete game, winning 4-1.

On August 20, Coakley pitched a four hitter against the Giants and Matty but lost once again, 2-0.

Their last appearance against each other was on September 24, after Coakley had been traded to the Cubs.  It was the day after the famous Merkle Game.  Andy came in to pitch the 6th inning, relieving Three Finger Brown, and delivered a scoreless frame.  Matty relieved Hooks Wiltse in the 8th, throwing two scoreless innings and picking up his 34th win. 

Against Matty, Coakley went 1-5 with a no-decision.  If you assume all the runs he gave up in those appearance were earned (highly unlikely), that's a 2.15 ERA in 46 innings.  Meanwhile, Matty went 6-1 against Coakley.  In his last six appearances, Christy pitched 40.2 innings, giving up only 25 hits, 3 walks, and three runs.

That season was the last high point of Coakley's major league career.  He appeared in one game for the Cubs in 1909 and two with the Highlanders in 1911.

In 1915, Coakley became the baseball coach at Columbia, filling that role until 1951.  He died in 1963 at the age of 80.