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John(z28jd) Lawrence "Larry" J Corcoran
Born August 10,1859 Brooklyn,NY Died October 14,1891 Newark,NJ
batted:Left Threw:Right Played for Chicago White Stockings 1880-1885,New York Giants 1885-86,Washington Senators 1886,Indianapolis Hoosiers 1887
Larry Corcoran was known as one of the premier pitchers of his time,leading the Chicago White Stockings to 3 straight pennants in his first 3 seasons,and racking up an impressive 170-84 record from 1880-1884 while throwing 3 no-hitters during that stretch,a record that he held alone till equaled by Cy Young and later Bob Feller,and not broken till 80 years later by Sandy Koufax.Pitching for Cap Anson,and along with HOF'er Mike "King" Kelly the team compiled a 178-74 record during their 3 pennant winning seasons with Larry being the winning pitcher in 101 of these games.
During his day he was known as a great fielding pitcher,and was able to shut down running games with his ability to hold runners on.He was also known as a swift and smart base runner,and played outfield and infield occasionally during his career.He was the first player to hit a grand slam in the history of the Chicago Cubs franchise.He is also credited as being the first pitcher to work out a set of signals with his catcher,Silver Flint.He did this by shifting the tobacco in his mouth to signal which pitch he was throwing.
Larry's rookie season ranks as one of the most impressive rookie seasons ever still to this day,with an unbelievable record of 43-14 with an ERA of 1.95,completing 57 of 60 games while pitching 536 innings,and all this at the age of just 20 when he broke into the majors on May 1st.He lead the league in strikeouts,finished second in wins to Jim McCormick.The White Stocking won the pennant by 15 games over Providence,finishing the season with a 67-17 record.Larry also appeared in 12 games that he didnt pitch, playing parts of 8 games in the outfield,and part of 8 games at shortstop batting .231 on the season with 25 rbi's.He also pitched his first no-hitter,a 6-0 victory over Boston on August 19
In 1881 Larry followed up his great rookie season with a 31-14 record,leading the league in wins,and finishing 4th in ERA with a 2.31 mark and leading the NL champion White Stockings to an overall 56-28 record.He completed 43 of his 44 starts.He again had the second best won/loss %,and also had the 2nd best strikeout per 9 inning record in 1881,after leading the league in this category the year before.
In 1882,although his win total dropped he still had a 27-12 record which was good enough for best winning %,and also led league in ERA for the only time in his career with a 1.95 beating HOF'er Old Hoss Radbourne who had the 2nd best with 2.09.He also became the first pitcher to pitch 2 no-hitters when he accomplished this feat vs Worchester on sept 20th,by a 1-0 score.The White Stocking won their last of 3 straight pennants by 3 games over Providence.Also in 1882 Larry made his only appearance at 3rd base in his major league career.
1883 was another fine season for Larry,winning 34 games which was the 4th most,also had an ERA of 2.49,good enough for 6th best in the league,and he drove in a career high 25 runs while appearing in 13 games in the outfield and filling in at short and making his only career appearance at 2nd base.Despite the strong season by Larry,the White Stockings were unable to win a 4th straight championship,losing by 3 games to Boston
In the beginning of 1884,Corcoran signed a contract with Chicago of the U.A but before the season started he broke his contract to resign with his old club.The 1884 season was an even more impressive season for Larry once you realize he played in perhaps the smallest baseball field ever.Larry won 35 games this year,and finished with a 2.40 era,good enough for 9th in the league.The White Stockings that year hit 142 homers after hitting 13 total the year before,led by Ned Williamson whos record of 27 lasted until Babe Ruth bested it in 1919.Larry pitched his 3rd career no-hitter on June 27th vs Providence winning 6-0.He also convinced manager Cap Anson to let his brother Mike get a tryout with the White Stockings.On July 15th he made his unmemorable major league debut,giving up 16 hits and 7 walks in what would be his only ML game.Larry also on June 10,1884 pitched 4 innings in relief ambidexterous,pitching lefty to lefty batters and with his right hand to righties.His 4 inning appearance is the longest ever by a pitcher using both hands,which in itself has only been done 5 times by 4 pitchers(Tony Mullane twice,Elton "Icebox"Chamberlain,and Greg Harris)Larry closed out his 5 year dominance with 170 wins over that period.
Overwork in his first 5 years took its toll on him,over 2200 inning including two 500+ IP seasons,was just too much,and his arm gave out in 1885,pitching 7 games for the Stockings he still managed 5 wins before joining the Giants for a brief 3 game stint,finishing the season 7-3 and in the process winning his last career game. He appeared in 1 game for the Giants in 1886 as an OF before joining the Senators where he pitched just 2 games for them,but played 20 games as an OF/SS.Larry finished out his big league career with the Indianapolis Hoosiers in 1887 appearing in just 3 games before being released
His career totals include a 177-89 record, 2.36 ERA(22nd highest all-time) and a .663 w/l% with ranks him 8th in ML history,His career batting stats include a .223 avg and 111 rbi's
After his ML career he played for teams in London,Nashville,New Orleans,and in the California League before becoming an umpire, which he did until Brights disease made him unable to work any longer and he eventually died of this disease on october 10,1891 leaving behind a wife and 4 kids and a great ML career.
Larry Corcoran appears in the N172 Old Judge set (Indianapolis and London)and the N690 Kalamazoo Bats set(Giants)
08-18-2002, 12:42 PM
Larry Corcoran
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