Andrew James Coakley was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on November 20, 1882. He is known to have attended the University of Pennsylvania Dental School in 1906. He was playing for the Philadelphia Athletics at that time and has left no record of any athletic activities while at Penn.
Coakley made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Athletics on September 17, 1902. For one game in 1902, he was listed on the roster as “Jack McAllister.” Coakley pitched for the Athletics until 1907, when he joined the Cincinnati Reds; in the midst of the 1908 season he switched to the Chicago Cubs, playing there for a year and a half. He did not play in the majors in 1910, and then, in 1911, played his final season in the major leagues with the New York Highlanders.
Coakley died on September 27, 1963, in New York City.