William Barney McCosky (April 11, 1917 - September 6, 1996) was an
outfielder in
Major League Baseball. From 1939 through 1953, he played for the
Detroit Tigers (1939–42, 1946),
Philadelphia Athletics (1946–1948, 1950–1951),
Cincinnati Reds (1951) and
Cleveland Indians (1951–1953). McCosky batted left-handed and threw right-handed. McCosky played in 1170 games, 535 in center field and 477 in left field. He had a career batting average of .312.
Early years
McCosky was born in
Coal Run, Pennsylvania, the last of nine children. His mother died when he was one year old, and McCosky moved to Detroit at age 4 with his older brother Tony McCosky. McCosky grew up in Detroit in the midst of the
Great Depression. He later recalled: "Nobody had any money. We took mustard sandwiches and ketchup sandwiches to school." (Richard Bak, "
Cobb Would Have Caught It: The Golden Age of Baseball in Detroit" (Wayne State 1991), p. 285.) McCosky attended
Southwestern High School in
Detroit, Michigan, where he was All-City and captain in both baseball and basketball. McCosky had a .727
batting average his senior year—a Detroit public school record.
In 1936, McCosky was signed out of high school by scout
Wish Egan. In 1936, he hit .400 for
Charleston, West Virginia and led the
Mid-Atlantic League his first year in professional baseball. He played next for
Beaumont, Texas, and in 1939 the Tigers invited him to spring training in
Lakeland, Florida. A...
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