Benny McCoy, who lived most of his life in Grandville and was born in Jenison in 1915, was among hundreds of Major League Baseball players whose career was interrupted and shortened by military service during World War II.
He grew up in Grandville as a star baseball and basketball player, signed a minor league contract with the Detroit Tigers at age 18, played four years for various minor league teams and then played four years in the Major Leagues, including two with the Tigers, before World War II.
He played second base as a professional, batting lefthanded and throwing from the right side. He first played in the majors for seven games in 1938 with the Tigers and filled in for the injured legend Charlie Gehringer in 1939. He hit .302 in 55 games that season.
McCoy was part of historic baseball group. He was among 91 players in 1939 to be declared free agents by baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. The commissioner ruled that McCoy was among the players MLB teams had been “blocking” or stockpiling in the minors via contracts.
Philadelphia ended up winning a bidding war for the highly regarded infielder with a $45,000 bonus and two-year contract of $10,000 per year. At that point it was the biggest bonus ever paid by a major league team, and that season with the bonus he made more than eventual Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Jimmy Foxx or Hank Greenberg.
McCoy played in 1940 and 1941 with the Athletics as a starting second baseman and then joined the U.S. Navy and the war effort. He served four years in the Navy, including a year in Australia, and attempted a baseball comeback in 1946, first with the Athletics and again with the Tigers, but was released both times.
In a four-season MLB career, McCoy was a .269 hitter (327-for-1214) with 16 home runs and 156 RBI in 337 games.
After baseball, the avid golfer lived in Grandville and retired from Sysco Frostpack after 25 years.
He died on his 96th birthday on Nov. 9, 2011. Prior to his death he was recognized as one of the oldest living former major leaguers and the oldest living Detroit Tiger.