Andy Cohen

Morning Glory

 

There never has been a baseball player quite like Andy Cohen, the Jewish second baseman who replaced Rogers Hornsby at the keystone sack for the New York Giants in the fabulous twenties.

No player of his time got more reams of publicity than Andy. At no time in baseball annals (until the sudden emergence of Negroes in the big leagues) did the race and religious angle receive more prominence. In his era Andy Cohen was more than just a rookie trying to make good; he was all Jewry trying to make a mark in baseball.

Boxing and other major sports had their outstanding Jewish personalities; but could the Jew play baseball? Only Johnny Kling had proved that he could, and Johnny was the sole exception, though his name was not Cohen and his heyday was the pre-Babe Ruth era, when baseball was a rough sport, not exactly admired in the widest circles.

It is a matter of record that Andy Cohen did not develop into the finest Jewish baseball player of all time. But for a while he had the entire sports world agog with excitement. National magazines splashed his life story throughout their pages. Leading sports columnists called him a good replacement for Hornsby, and Rogers was one of the best right-handed hitters the game has known.