Johnny Cooney

As manager John Walter Cooney (March 18, 1901 – July 8, 1986) was an American professional baseball player.

Listed at 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) (178 cm) and 165 pounds (75 kg), Cooney batted right-handed but threw left-handed.

In a 20-season career, Cooney played for the Boston Bees/Braves (Braves, 1921–30, 1940–42; Bees, 1938–40) and also with the Brooklyn Dodgers (1935–37, 1943–44) and New York Yankees (1944), while hitting a .286 batting average (965-for-3372) with 219 RBI and only two home runs.

According to Hank Greenberg's biographer, before Greenberg's very first spring training exhibition game in 1930 when his Detroit Tigers were set to play the Braves, Cooney felt sympathy towards the 19-year-old then known as Henry, took him aside before the game and promised, "Kid, I'm going to give you one you can hit."

Cooney spent the last two decades of his baseball career as a full-time coach for the Braves in both Boston and Milwaukee (1946–55) and the Chicago White Sox (1957–64), retiring after the 1964 season.