Mort Cooper, the strike-out king of the Texas League in 1938, almost joined the "baseball immortals" in the Hall of Fame, when he missed a "no-hit, no-run" game by allowing only one hit, while pitching for the Houston Club. Mort struck out 201 batters in 202 innings that year, winning seven of his thirteen games by shutouts and established a league record by striking out forty batters in three games. He pitched 31 games for Houston, won 13, lost 10, but compiled an earned-run average of 2.34. Cooper joined the Cardinals the end of last season, winning two games for them and losing one, limiting the Phils to three hits in one effort. He is one of the most promising freshman hurlers in the league this year.