Career Statistics
In an 18-year career, Cooper played in 1473 games, accumulating 1341 hits in 4702 at bats for a .285 career batting average along with 173 home runs, 812 runs batted in, and a .464 slugging percentage. He led National League catchers three times in range factor, twice in caught stealing percentage, and once in assists, finishing with a .977 career fielding percentage. One of the sport's strongest players in his prime, at the end of his career he ranked among the top five National League catchers in career batting average (.285), slugging average (.464), home runs (173) and runs batted in (812). He also batted .300 over three World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1942 to 1944 as the team won two championships, and ranked tenth in National League history in both games (1223) and putouts (5166) behind the plate when he retired. During his career, he set a record by hitting grand slams with five different teams (a mark subsequently tied by Dave Kingman and Dave Winfield). His .464 slugging average then placed him behind only Roy Campanella (.500) and Gabby Hartnett (.489) among players with 1000 National League games as a catcher, and his 173 HRs and 812 RBI put him behind only Campanella (242, 856), Hartnett (236, 1179), and Ernie Lombardi (190, 990). His older brother, Mort Cooper, was a National League pitcher and his teammate for the first few years of his career, and his son-in-law, Don Blasingame, also was a major leaguer.
Read more about this topic: Walker Cooper
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