Dick Cogan

The major league resume of right-handed pitcher-utilityman Dick Cogan is not particularly eye-catching, consisting of three brief and unimpressive stints with late-19th century National League clubs. But in his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey, Cogan (pronounced as if spelled Coogan)1 was a prominent figure, a force on the local athletic and political landscapes for decades. And this despite a 1908 stroke that left him partially disabled for the remaining 40 years of his life. The story of this dynamic ballplayer-politician of yesteryear follows.

Richard Henry Cogan was born in Paterson on December 5, 1871, the youngest of the 10 children2 born to Edward Cogan and his wife, the former Mary County, Irish Catholic immigrants who originally settled in New York City. In the late 1860s, the Cogans relocated to nearby Paterson, where Edward found employment as a gardener while his older offspring took jobs in the city’s silk mills. Although his father died while Dick (as he was known) was still a toddler,3 he completed the elementary school education then customarily afforded the children of immigrants. He then went to work, doing landscaping and other now-unknown jobs.

At the time of Cogan’s youth, Paterson was home to a thriving sandlot, amateur, and semipro baseball scene, with alumni that included future Hall of Famer Mike (King) Kelly, and pitcher Jim McCormick, who won 265 major league games.4 Dick followed a familiar path, beginning his ballplaying days with the St. John Grammar School team before graduating to the sandlots of eastside Paterson’s Sandy Hill.5 By 1892, he and older brother Eddie were playing for the nine fielded by the Passaic Catholic Club.6 But his first public acclaim came not so much from the diamond as from the gridiron. Although only 5-feet-7 and 150 pounds, Cogan was a speedy halfback and a rugged defender, “one of the greatest players ever developed in these parts.”7 In 1893, he captained a locally renowned eleven sponsored by the Entre Nous Lyceum; for the next several autumns Cogan’s football heroics were regularly chronicled in the Paterson press.8

Our subject began his professional baseball career the same year, pitching for the Newark Ironsides, a fast unaffiliated club.9 That engagement also led to his acquaintance with Ellen Carlisle, the Newark teenager who became Dick’s bride in 1895. The birth of daughter Margaret three years thereafter completed the Cogan family. By the time of her arrival, Cogan was well embarked on a life in professional baseball and Democratic Party politics. A curve-balling right-hander, he was the opening day pitcher for a pro club based in hometown Paterson in April 1894.10 That July, Cogan reached organized minor league baseball, engaged by the Norfolk Clam Eaters of the Virginia League.11 A natural athlete and a competent righty batter, he also played the outfield for Norfolk, batting for the cycle in a game against the Richmond Colts.12 “That man Cogan is a ‘peach,’” exclaimed the Norfolk Virginian after the newcomer posted a three-hit, 10-1 victory over the Staunton Mountaineers.13 But for reasons unexplained, Cogan “was called to his home in Paterson” in late August,14 and finished the season pitching for the local team again, turning down a tryout offer from the National League’s Washington Nationals in the process.15

Cogan returned to Organized Baseball in 1895, starting the season with the Johnstown Buckskins of the New York State League. He notched a 19-9 victory over the Amsterdam Red Stockings in the campaign’s opener but was dismissed after taking a 20-13 pasting from the Elmira Pioneers in mid-May. Cogan spent the remainder of the summer pitching for Paterson, with a personal highlight being a well-pitched 4-3 verdict lost to the NL’s St. Louis Browns in late August.16

At $225/month, Dick Cogan was the highest-salaried player on the roster when the Paterson Silk Weavers entered the newly organized minor Atlantic League in 1896.17 Despite the cost, Sporting Life correspondent W.L. Dill was enthusiastic about the signing, informing readers that “Manager [Ed] Barrow did a clever piece of business when he secured pitcher Cogan for his team. Dick, besides being one of the very best pitchers in the country to-day, has a large following, who are sure to turn out to see him putting them over.”18 A strong effort at the Polo Grounds against the Atlantic League rival New York Mets was observed by club owner Andrew Freedman, who coveted the pitcher for his NL New York Giants. But Barrow declined Freedman’s offer for Cogan’s contract.19

Throwing 344 2/3 innings for a 74-60 (.552) third-place finisher, Cogan posted only a break-even 21-21 (.500) record but paced Silk Weavers hurlers with a 2.27 ERA and 127 strikeouts. He also played 17 games in the outfield and chipped in a useful.292 batting average (59-for-202). After helping Paterson to victory in the postseason Soby Cup match against the Hartford Bluebirds,20 Cogan re-signed with the club for the 1897 season.21 In the meantime, he dipped a toe into political waters, accepting appointment as the Democratic Party member on the board of elections for Paterson’s Ninth Ward in the coming fall’s voting.22 Handsome, friendly, and articulate, he soon proved a natural politician.

Over the winter, Cogan was acquired by the defending National League champion Baltimore Orioles.23 In his commentary on the event, correspondent Dill saluted Cogan as a “genial and courteous gentleman; he is a willing worker, strictly temperate in his habits, and always in the best of condition.”24 Once in spring camp, Cogan showed well, securing his spot on the Baltimore roster through versatility. In one exhibition game, the newcomer had four base hits while filling in at shortstop for Hughie Jennings.25

Dick Cogan made a nightmarish major league debut in Washington on May 10, 1897. Summoned by manager Ned Hanlon to relieve starter Jerry Nops in the seventh inning with the Orioles trailing 6-2, the nervous rookie promptly surrendered four runs – even though he gave up only one base hit. A walk, a hit-batsman, a wild pitch, and two Baltimore fielding errors were the primary cause of the damage.26 After striking out in his lone at-bat, Cogan returned to the box and was quickly tagged for three more runs on another walk and three consecutive Washington singles.27 A forlorn ninth-inning Baltimore rally finalized the score at Washington 13, Baltimore 5.

Sorely disappointed in himself, Cogan beseeched his manager for another chance.28 But Hanlon had seen enough and unconditionally released the rookie twirler.29 Cogan thereupon returned to the Atlantic League, signed by the Newark Colts, for whom he regained form. In 34 games, Dick went 20-11 (.645), with a 2.15 ERA in 280 innings for a second-place (89-52, .631) club. He also played 14 games in the field for the club and batted .303 (46-for-152) overall. As a result, Cogan was reserved by Newark for the oncoming year, although Colts manager George Ellis fully expected that the hurler would be drafted by a National League club during the offseason.30 But that did not happen.

Undrafted, Cogan was a salary holdout before returning to Newark for the 1898 season – a troubled one for both the pitcher and the franchise. Dick got off on the wrong foot, losing an opening day pitching duel to Cooperstown-bound Jack Chesbro of the Richmond Bluebirds, 1-0. Cogan then dropped his next two decisions before entering the win column with a 5-1 victory over the Allentown (Pennsylvania) Peanuts on May 12. By then, the Colts were struggling for wins and for fans, too. When the financially beleaguered franchise failed to make payroll on time in early July, Cogan and his teammates walked off the job and were immediately suspended by club brass.31 The players responded by forming an independent team and taking on semipro opposition.32 This drew condemnation from Sporting Life, which described the rebellion as “calculated to kill the [Newark] club, wreck the league, injure all other players and alienate the public.”33

In time, club management was able to at least partially redress player grievances; Cogan and the others rejoined the fold. But the Colts finished the season with a losing record (58-71, .450) and fell to sixth place in the final Atlantic League standings. No individualized pitching stats have been found for the 1898 Atlantic League season,34 but Cogan went 11-12 (.478) in the 26 appearances (out of 35 credited him by the 1899 Reach Official Base Ball Guide) in Newark games for which a box or line score was discovered by the writer. He also played 25 games in the outfield and batted (47-for-184) .256, overall.35

Whatever the lingering hard feelings, Newark club management reserved Cogan for the 1899 season.36 Of likely more importance to Cogan, his political career was ascending back home. In October, he was selected as a ward delegate for the upcoming Paterson Democratic Party primary election conclave,37 a prelude to his own looming run for office. The following April, Cogan’s political aspirations were fulfilled when a Democratic landslide at the polls swept him onto the Paterson board of freeholders, the city’s governing council.38 Cogan then got back into uniform, turning in a fine 16-8 (.667) record for a bad Newark club that otherwise posted a 26-46 (.361) log. As before, he also filled in (28 games) around the field while batting .306 (55-for-180).

In early August, the collapse of the Atlantic League made Cogan a highly prized free agent. He signed with the National League Chicago Orphans (formerly Colts), for whom his holding of a political office inspired a nickname. From then on, he was Alderman (the Chicago equivalent of a Paterson freeholder) Cogan.39 Inserted into the rotation by manager Tom Burns, Cogan was undone by the Chicago defense (six errors) and wildness (eight walks), dropping his maiden start to an erstwhile employer, the Baltimore Orioles, 6-1. A six-run ninth-inning outburst by the Cleveland Spiders threatened defeat in Cogan’s next outing, but a three-run Chicago reply gave Dick his first major league victory on August 20, 8-7. He then split two decisions, pitching poorly in a 9-3 loss to Brooklyn but rebounding with an effective performance in an 11-3 triumph over the New York Giants.

On September 3, a 7-1 loss to St. Louis closed  Cogan’s 1899 pitching ledger at 2-3 in five games, with a 4.30 ERA in 44 innings. He also recorded a .200 batting average (5-for-25). Cogan did not accompany the club on its late-season eastern road trip,40 returning home early to tend to his political responsibilities and oversight of the downtown saloon that he had opened with former Paterson teammate Paddy (James Patrick) Tuohy.

Despite his mediocre numbers, Chicago re-signed Cogan for the 1900 season41 and he spent the ensuing spring in camp with the club. But he saw no regular season action and refused being optioned to the Minneapolis Millers of the then-minor American League, demanding his release instead. A compliant Chicago released Cogan outright in mid-May,42 but he did not remain unemployed for long. Only weeks later, “Alderman” Cogan was signed by the New York Giants.43

Although intended for the pitching staff, Cogan’s athleticism allowed him to be put to other uses, a genuine asset during an era of limited roster sizes. And it was as a replacement for ailing shortstop George Davis that Cogan made his Giants’ debut against St. Louis on June 9. Although he went hitless in four at-bats against right-hander Gus Weyhing, Cogan played capable defense, starting two double plays and handling six other chances cleanly – until the 10eth inning. Then his muff of a grounder was one of three infield errors that cost the Giants a 6-3 loss.44

Eleven days later, Cogan got to demonstrate his pitching talents, coming on in relief of starter Bill Carrick with the Giants trailing Boston, 9-0. He quickly surrendered three more runs but then settled down and blanked the Beaneaters over the final five frames of a 12-2 New York defeat; press reviews of his performance were favorable.45 He fared less well in another relief outing five days later, being tagged for four base hits and three runs in his two innings of work during a 15-2 drubbing of New York by Brooklyn.46 He never received another chance, as days thereafter Cogan was let go by the Giants,47 bringing his brief major league career to an end.

In just eight games pitched for three different NL clubs, Cogan posted a 2-3 (.400) record, with a 5.00 ERA in 54 innings. Over that span, he yielded 68 base hits and had control problems, walking 32 and hitting five other enemy batsmen while striking out only 10. Including the four contests in which he played outfield or shortstop, Cogan posted a substandard .815 fielding average, committing five errors (four as a pitcher) in 27 defensive chances, and batted a meek .177 (6-for-34), with three extra-base hits and four RBIs.

Although his major league playing days were now behind him, Cogan still had seven more seasons to play in the minors. The first stop on this itinerary was the St. Paul Saints of the Class A Western League, where he posted a 16-7 (.696) record in 29 outings (as calculated from published WL box/line scores by the writer) or went 17-10 (.629) in 27 games according to the Saint Paul Globe.48 He also filled in at second base and the outfield for the second-place (69-54, .561) St. Paul club. Once the season concluded, Cogan returned home to campaign successfully for reelection to his position on the Paterson freeholder board.49 He then donned football cleats once again and reeled off the 60-yard touchdown dash that provided the only score in a game between two local semipro squads.50

Prior to his return to St. Paul, by then a member of the outlaw American Association, for the 1902 season, Cogan had to deal with a business calamity: the fire that destroyed his Paterson saloon. Rescued from the blaze was the Soby Cup, retrieved from its place of honor behind the bar by Cogan himself.51 He and business partner Paddy Tuohy then busied themselves setting up new quarters for their establishment. The season was already underway by the time that Cogan reached St. Paul; he saw only sparing action during the ensuing months, splitting time between second base and the outfield (15 games) and the pitcher’s box (5-7, .417, in 14 outings), and posting a .305 batting average. Cogan’s season ended early when a late-July outfield collision with a teammate left his pitching hand “in bad shape.”52 In early September, the club management gave him permission to go home,53 bringing his association with the St. Paul Saints to a close.

Whether the result of the hand injury or not, Cogan never pitched again. In 1903, he was retained to manage the Providence Grays of the Class A Eastern League,54 a position which came with the responsibility of filling out the club roster. To that end, he vowed to “use all my power to land some men” who would make the club a pennant contender.55 Unhappily, he was unable to do so and the talent-deprived Grays spent most of the summer in or near the Eastern League basement. The club’s record sat at a dismal 32-78 (.291) when Cogan was sacked in early September.56 He then went home to Paterson, where the lengthy remainder of his connection to the game unfolded.

For the next three summers, Cogan served as part-time outfielder-manager of the Paterson Intruders, the new hometown entry in the Class C Hudson River League. After two near-miss second-place finishes, he piloted the club to the league championship in 1906. Meanwhile, Cogan kept tabs on the operation of the Diamond Café, the upscale Paterson saloon that he and partner Tuohy now owned, and tended to his political responsibilities.

Upsetting the plans of local party bosses, Cogan captured the Democratic nomination for the newly created office of Registrar of Deeds and Mortgages at the October 1906 party convention.57 Citing his saloonkeeper background, others on the party slate at first refused to run with him.58 But Cogan backhanded their demands that he withdraw from the ticket and captured the endorsement of the influential Passaic Daily Herald which declared: “Honesty, ability and faithfulness to public duty are the chief qualities that commend Mr. Cogan to the voters of Passaic County.”59 And soon, the others on the Democratic slate fell in line. Cogan then won a fairly close November victory over his Republican opponent.60 A $6,500 salary – far more than Cogan had ever made playing professional baseball – and a staff of 12 assistants came with the post. Shortly after he was sworn in, Cogan appointed his brother Eddie, a trained accountant, to the position of Deputy Registrar.61

With his new office seemingly in the capable hands of subordinates, Cogan had time to continue as manager of the Paterson Intruders. But the club was a money loser and disbanded in early June 1907. The Hudson River League itself dissolved two weeks thereafter. For the remainder of that summer and the next, Dick played outfield for the amateur nine fielded by the Paterson Elks.

Life irrevocably changed for Cogan on the morning of September 28, 1908. Only 36 years old, he suffered a stroke that paralyzed his right side and left him near death.62Against the odds, Cogan rallied and eventually was able to return to his duties as Registrar. But he would never regain full use of his right side, bringing his ballplaying days to a permanent end. While his disability prevented Cogan from taking the field, it did not inhibit his organization and management of ball clubs, which he did in Paterson into the early 1920s. Of particular interest was Dick Cogan’s Smart Set, a top-notch Black professional team composed mostly of players from the Cuban and Lincoln Giants. From 1912 to 1915, the Smart Set played all comers, including a white Paterson team simultaneously operated by Cogan. He also managed the 1914 Paterson Silk Citys, an entry in the short-lived Class D minor league that adopted the Atlantic League name.63

Things did not go so well for Cogan on the political front. He was denied reelection to his registrar post in 1911,64 and failed to obtain the party nod for his old freeholder job in 1913.65 Thereafter, Cogan had to content himself with ceremonial committee work.66 His business ventures also went sour. After selling the Diamond Café,67 he invested in another saloon, intending to turn it into a hotel. Gambling on the premises, however, led to his indictment on charges of maintaining a disorderly house, a charge to which Cogan subsequently pled non vult (no contest) in February 1915.68 At sentencing, defense counsel John Montgomery Ward informed the court that Cogan had “suffered an attack some time ago which had affected him mentally and that he was not aware of all that was going on”69 and got his client off with a $300 fine.70 Thereafter, Cogan dabbled in insurance and real estate.

Sometime after 1915, Cogan’s wife Ellen died,71 leaving Dick’s spinster sister Mary as his principal companion and caregiver (as his daughter Margaret was now married and out of the house). In 1923, he and Mary relocated to Lake Hopatcong, a rural North Jersey resort located about 35 miles west of Paterson. There, Dick managed summer rental properties. In November 1931, the Cogan residence was destroyed by fire but he and his sister escaped the blaze unharmed.72 Four-plus years later, the two were not so fortunate, being badly burned in a fire at the lake cottage to which they had relocated.73 Mary Cogan, age 78, died the following morning at a nearby hospital.74 But Dick, by then 64, made a slow recovery and moved into the Paterson home of daughter Margaret Gaul and family upon discharge from the hospital.75

Cogan’s final years were melancholic. Increasingly frail, he was given a room at the Paterson Elks Lodge, where members could keep an eye on him.76 Thereafter, he was placed in Paterson City Hospital. In July 1946, a final newspaper photograph of a bathrobe-clad Dick Cogan was taken in his hospital room as he was presented with honorary lifetime membership in the Paterson Old Timers Athletic Association.77

As the end drew near, Cogan was taken to his daughter’s home; he died there from pneumonia on May 2, 1948. He was 76. Although his name was long removed from sports page headlines, Cogan’s passing garnered extensive coverage in the local press.78 Following a well-attended High Requiem Mass said at St. Joseph Church in Paterson, his remains were interred at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa, New Jersey. Immediate survivors were limited to daughter Margaret Gaul and a granddaughter of the same name.

Acknowledgments

This story was reviewed by Darren Gibson and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Terry Bohn.

Sources

Sources for the biographical info imparted above include the Dick Cogan file at the Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York; the Cogan profile in The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Ballplayers, David Nemec, ed. (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2012); US and New Jersey Census reports and other governmental records accessed online via Ancestry.com, and certain of the newspaper articles cited in the endnotes, particularly the Cogan obituaries published in the (Paterson) Morning Call and Paterson Evening News, May 3-6, 1948. Unless otherwise specified, statistics have been taken from Baseball-Reference.

Notes

1 Per “The Virginia League,” Sporting Life, August 4, 1894: 5.

2 Born between 1855 and 1868, the other Cogan children were Patrick, Ann, Mary, Ellen, Eugene, Katherine, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Edward.

3 Edward Cogan, Sr. died on February 6, 1873. Our subject was then 14 months old.

4 Among other places, a comprehensive account of Paterson baseball history appears in “Paterson Developed Great Teams of Baseball Players,” (Paterson) Morning Call, May 27, 1939: D3-4.

5 As recalled in a letter to the sports editor published in George H. Burke, “Looking Backward in Paterson,” Morning Call, December 19, 1932: 6. See also, Joe Gootter, “Sportogram: Baseball’s Old Guard Paved the Way, Cogan One of Them,” an undated circa 1936 column by the sports editor of the Paterson Evening News contained in the Cogan file at the Giamatti Research Center, and various of the May 1948 obituaries for Cogan.

6 See “Plenty of Sport To-Morrow,” Passaic (New Jersey) Daily News, August 19, 1892: 3.

7 As recalled years later in A.M. Chilson, “It’s Good to Be Remembered,” Morning Call, December 26, 1939: 16.

8 See e.g., “The Champions Win,” Paterson Evening News, October 29, 1894: 1: Left halfback Cogan scored three touchdowns in a rout of Catholic Rugby Club.

9 As noted in the Paterson Evening News, August 14, 1893: 5, and the Cogan obituaries.

10 See “Giving Points to Sandow,” Passaic Daily News, April 13, 1894: 4.

11 As reported in “Norfolk’s New Pitcher,” Norfolk Virginian, July 19, 1894: 2.

12 As proudly reported back home in “Sporting Notes,” Paterson Evening News, July 23, 1894: 6.

13 “Again We Break Even,” Norfolk Virginian, July 28, 1894: 2.

14 Per “Notes of the Diamond,” Norfolk Weekly Landmark, August 22, 1894: 1.

15 According to “Norfolk in Brief,” Norfolk Landmark, September 4, 1894: 1, which reported that the Nationals declined Cogan’s demand for $500 plus expenses for the remainder of the season.

16 See “Good Ball Playing,” Paterson Evening News, August 26, 1895: 1.

17 As subsequently revealed in “Played Under Barrow,” Baltimore Sun, April 9, 1916: 13; “Wagner’s $90 Salary Recalled by Barrow,” Providence Evening Bulletin, April 3, 1916: 24; and elsewhere. Young Paterson teammate Honus Wagner was paid $90/month.

18 W.L. Dill, “Paterson Pleased,” Sporting Life, April 11, 1896: 9.

19 Per Dill, “Paterson Pets,” Sporting Life, June 27, 1896: 6.

20 Paterson defeated Hartford in a seven-game (with one tie) series played for a handsome trophy offered by Hartford businessman Charles Soby. Cogan pitched Paterson to a 17-4 victory in Game Five after settling for a 1-1 stalemate in Game Two.

21 Dill, “Paterson Pickings,” Sporting Life, December 19, 1896: 7.

22 Per “The Election Officers,” Paterson Evening News, September 1, 1896: 1.

23 As reported in “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, February 13, 1897: 5. See also, “Briefs,” Paterson Evening News, February 13, 1897: 6. In return for Cogan, Paterson receiver infielder Bill Keister.

24 Dill, “Paterson Points,” Sporting Life, February 27, 1897: 10.

25 As related by Dill in his April 3, 1897, Sporting Life column, “Paterson Pleased.”

26 Per the inning-by-inning game account published in “Crushed the Orioles,” Washington Post, May 11, 1897: 8. See also, “Outplayed – That’s All,” Baltimore Sun, May 11, 1897: 6.

27 For reasons unknown, both the Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet entries for Dick Cogan charge him with only allowing three runs in two innings pitched in his major league debut. As the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun game accounts makes manifest, Cogan surrendered seven runs total.

28 Per “Orioles’ Westward Ride,” Baltimore Sun, May 14, 1897: 6. See also, “Notes and Comments,” Norfolk Virginian, May 14, 1897: 3.

29 As reported in “Base Ball Notes,” Boston Evening Journal, May 15, 1897; 3; “News of the Diamond,” New Haven (Connecticut) Evening Register, May 14, 1897: 11; “Cogan Unconditionally Released,” (Portland) Morning Oregonian, May 13, 1897: 6; and elsewhere.

30 According to “In the Domain of Sport,” Paterson Evening News, September 23, 1897: 1.

31 As reported in “League Bulletin,” Sporting Life, July 16, 1898: 7; “Newark Players Strike for Back Pay,” New York Tribune, July 7, 1898: 10; and elsewhere.

32 See e.g., “Games on the Diamond,” (Jersey City) Evening Journal, July 16, 1898: 7; “Newark Strikers Score Heavy,” (Hackensack, New Jersey) Evening Record, July 11, 1898: 2. See also, “Patersons Lose,” Paterson Evening News, July 8, 1898: 6, and “Oritani vs. Ex-Newark,” Evening Record, July 7, 1898: 2.

33 See “Play for Sympathy,” Sporting Life, July 23, 1898: 1.

34 Only Atlantic League batting and fielding statistics appeared in Sporting Life and the Reach and Spalding guides, while The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3d. edition, lists only the league leader in victories and winning percentage.

35 Per the 1899 Reach Official Base Ball Guide, 92.

36 “Minor Reserves,” Sporting Life, October 1, 1898: 5.

37 As reported in “Democratic Primaries,” Paterson Evening News, October 18, 1898: 7.

38 For election results, see “Parker Was Snowed Under: The Democratic Tidal Wave Swept the City,” Paterson Evening News, April 12, 1899: 1. By a wide margin, Cogan was elected freeholder for the Fifth Ward.

39 Oddly enough, Paterson had a cadre of aldermen in addition to nine freeholders, but Cogan held the latter office.

40 As related in “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, September 23, 1899: 5.

41 Per “Official News,” Sporting Life, October 14, 1899: 8.

42 As reported in “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, May 26, 1900: 3; “Miscellaneous Sport,” Rockford (Illinois) Republic, May 22, 1900: 7.

43 The Cogan descriptive published in “Base Ball Notes,” Detroit Evening News, June 8, 1900: 8. See also, Waterbury (Connecticut) Evening Democrat, June 8, 1900: 8: “Cogan is an alderman of Paterson.”

44 As reported in “Giants Quit in the Tenth,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 10, 1900; 12; “Cardinals Won in Tenth Inning,” St. Louis Republic, June 10, 1900: 12; and elsewhere.

45 See e.g., “Yesterday’s Baseball Games,” New York Times, June 21, 1900: 8: “Cogan … made a good impression.”; “New-York Beaten Badly by Boston,” New York Tribune, June 21, 1900: 7: “Cogan relieved Carrick and did good work after the fourth inning.”

46 Per game accounts published in the Brooklyn Citizen, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and Brooklyn Times, June 26, 1900.

47 As reported in “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, July 7, 1900: 3; “On the Line,” Boston Herald, June 30, 1900: 4; and elsewhere.

48 See “Records of Saints,” St. Paul Globe, September 19, 1901: 6. Neither Baseball-Reference nor the Reach/Spalding guides provide pitching stats for Cogan’s 1901 stay with the St. Paul Saints.

49 See “The Vote for Freeholder,” Paterson Evening News, November 6, 1901: 1. As two years earlier, Cogan defeated his Republican opponent handily.

50 See “Dick Cogan Did the Trick,” Paterson Evening News, November 29, 1901: 1.

51 As reported by W.L. Dill in “Cogan’s Relic,” Sporting Life, March 1, 1902: 8. Years later, Cogan gifted the cup to former Paterson Silk Weavers manager Ed Barrow, by then the Hall of Fame-bound general manager of the New York Yankees.

52 According to “Saints Leave for the East,” St. Paul Globe, August 7, 1902: 6. See also, “About St. Paul Players,” St. Paul Globe, August 19, 1902: 6.

53 Per “Rain Spoils Game,” St. Paul Globe, September 6, 1902: 6.

54 Cogan’s appointment was noted in “Mr. Cogan to Be a Manager,” Paterson Evening News, April 10, 1903: 1, and in non-captioned blurbs published in Worcester Daily Spy, Evening Journal, and elsewhere, April 11-13, 1903.

55 Per “What the Providence Baseball Team Needs,” Providence Evening Bulletin, May 16, 1903: 3.

56 Years later, a detailed overview of the 1903 Providence Grays season with critique of manager Cogan was published locally. See William D. Perrin, “Caught Off Base,” Providence Evening Bulletin, July 22, 1929: 19.

57 As reported in “Democratic Slate Has Been Smashed,” Paterson Evening News, October 15, 1906: 1.

58 See “Hinchliffe Will Not Run! Formally Declines Party’s Nomination,” Passaic Daily News, October 15, 1906: 1. See also, Paterson Evening News, October 16, 1906: 4.

59 “Democratic Nominee of Registrar of Deeds,” Passaic (New Jersey) Daily Herald, November 3, 1906: 6.

60 “Hughes, Van Noort and Cogan Elected,” Passaic Daily News, November 7, 1906: 1.

61 See “Deputy Registrar of Deeds Mr. Edward Cogan,” November 30, 1906: 1. Although the Cogan brothers were close, Dick would later have cause to regret the appointment. He suffered considerable embarrassment when Eddie’s involvement in fraud and kickbacks at the Customs House in New York City was publicly revealed.

62 As reported in “Cogan, Once a Newark Pitcher, Is Near Death,” Newark Evening Star, September 30, 1908: 13; “Richard H. Cogan, Registrar of Deeds, Stricken with Paralysis,” Paterson Evening News, September 30, 1908: 1; and elsewhere.

63 This version of the Atlantic League was the successor of the 1913 New York-New Jersey League and was operational for only one season. Cogan’s Paterson Silk Citys went 32-54 (.372) and finished seventh in final league standings.

64 See “Full Returns Show Extent of Victory,” Morning Call, November 9, 1911: 1. Republican challenger John R. Morris defeated Cogan by over 3,400 votes.

65 Per “Freeholder Nomination,” Paterson Evening News, September 24, 1913: 8.

66 In September 1915, for example, Cogan was appointed a Ninth Ward committeeman, per “Committeemen in Both Parties,” Morning Call, September 30, 1915: 9. He later served as the Democrat on the election board for Paterson’s Fourth Ward.

67 In a sad irony, longtime friend and saloon partner Paddy Tuohy died from the effects of a stroke in June 1914.

68 See “Fine Cogan $300; Bartender Released,” Passaic Daily News, February 25, 1915: 12, and Morning Call, February 25, 1915: 5.

69 See again, “Fine Cogan $300,” above.

70 Same as above.

71 The date and circumstances of Ellen Carlisle Cogan’s passing were not discovered, but the 1915 New Jersey Census lists our subject as married. Five years later, he appears as a widower living with daughter Margaret and sister Mary on the US Census. But census data and other circumstantial evidence suggest that Dick and Ellen Cogan had been separated for years prior to her death.

72 As reported in “Fire Destroys Cogan Home at Lake Hopatcong,” Morning Call, November 7, 1931: 5.

73 See “Dick Cogan and Aged Sister Carried from Blazing Cottage in Rescue by Brave Neighbors,” Paterson Evening News, January 31, 1936: 1.

74 “‘Dick’ Cogan’s Condition Better; Miss Mary Cogan’s Funeral Will Held Tomorrow,” Morning Call, February 3, 1936: 24.

75 Per “Richard Cogan at Home of Daughter,” Morning Call, February 21, 1936: 2.

76 Daughter Margaret Gaul and granddaughter Margaret were both Paterson school teachers and therefore unable to spend their days watching Dick.

77  Published in the Morning Call, July 12, 1946: 20.

78 See e.g., “‘Dick’ Cogan, One Time Ball Star, Dies of Illness; Rites Wednesday,” Morning Call, May 3, 1948: 1; “‘Dick’ Cogan, Old-Time Ball Player, Dies at Age of 76,” Passaic (New Jersey) Herald-News, May 3, 1948: 4; “‘Dick’ Cogan Dies at 76; Ex-Official and Diamond Star,” Paterson Evening News, May 3, 1948: 28.