A native of Smyrna, Tennessee, John B. Gooch was a baseball player through and through. He started his professional career at Nashville in 1914 as catcher with the Old Anchor Spring Mattress team and eventually went to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1921, where he stayed for eight seasons. Gooch played in the 1925 and 1927 Worlds Series as the Pirate’s catcher. In 1925 John was a dangerous hitter and a fine handler of pitchers, as the Pirates beat the Washington Senators to become world champions. Unfortunately in 1927 the Pirates came up against the mighty Yankees, with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, arguably the greatest baseball team ever. Unable to shake the hitting slump that had plagued them in the final month of the National League race, the Pirates lost the series in four straight games. Gooch left Pittsburg in 1929 and went to play for the Cincinnati Reds for two seasons. Two more seasons with the Boston Red Sox rounded out a solid major league career in which he hit a respectable .276. Gooch spent a few more years coaching in the minors and as well for the Pirates under Manager Pie Trayner before hanging up the catcher’s mitt for good. John B. Gooch passed away in 1975 at the age of seventy-seven, the proud owner of a world series ring and many fond memories of the glory days in major league baseball.
