Primary Position: Pinch hitter
Birthplace: Albemarle
First, Middle Names: Ogre Patterson
Date of Birth: Nov. 26, 1917 Date and Place of Death: March 15, 1993, Charlotte
Burial: Sharon Memorial Park, Charlotte
High School: Albemarle High School
Bats: R Throws: R Height and Weight: 6-3, 180
Debut Year: 1946 Final Year: 1947 Years Played: 2
Team and Years: Philadelphia Athletics, 1946-47
Career Summary
G AB H R RBI HR BA. OBP. SLG. WAR
14 16 4 0 3 0 .250 .250 .375 0.0
A faded black-and-white photograph in a book about the baseball teams that textile mills in North Carolina sponsored through much of the 20th century shows a group of men – mostly men, anyway – posing with bats and balls and in dirty uniforms with “Knitters” embroided on their chests. They are the Wiscasset Knitters of 1935. Wiscasset Mills Co. was one of three textile factories in Albemarle at the time.
Pat Cooper is standing in the back row. He was just 18, a senior at the local high school. He had grown up in Stanly County and was part of Elijah and Ella Cooper’s large family. The Knitters were Cooper’s first stop on an almost 20-year career in organized baseball. Most of that time would be spent in the minor leagues or on industrial teams in North Carolina’s Piedmont.