Cecil Cooper
Encyclopedia
Cecil Celester Cooper nicknamed "Coop," is a former first baseman
in Major League Baseball
and the former manager
of the Houston Astros
. From through , Cooper played for the Boston Red Sox
(1971–76) and Milwaukee Brewers
(1977–87). He batted and threw left-handed, and attended Prairie View A&M University
in Prairie View, Texas.
Cecil Cooper was born on December 20, 1949, in Brenham, Texas, a city with a population of 13,000 and located 70 miles northwest of Houston. Raised in nearby Independence, Cooper was the youngest of 13 children, seven boys and six girls. Cooper's mother Ocie died when he was just 10. His ball-playing father, Roy, worked with a nearby Department of Public Works. A 6'2 left-hander, Cecil was taught baseball by his brothers John, Sylvester, and Jessie. John and Sylvester later played with the barnstorming Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues.* John as a pitcher while Sylvester was a catcher who according to Cecil once caught Satchel Paige According to a 1980 Sports Illustrated story, father Roy also played in the Negro Leagues.
Cooper followed his brothers, playing ball for three years at the all-black Pickard High School, transferring his senior year to the integrated Brenham High School. At Pickard High, he won two state championships under coach Henry Rogers.
with 241 home run
s and 1125 runs batted in
in 1896 games
. He was No. 17 with the Boston Red Sox.
Intending to go to college after his graduation, Cecil was spotted by Boston Red Sox scout Dave Philly and was drafted in the sixth round of the 1968 amateur draft by the Red Sox. He opted to take courses at Blinn Junior College and Prairie View A&M during the off-season. Taken in the Rule 5 draft of minor league players (whereby the team selecting the player pays $50,000 and must keep the player on their major league roster for the entire upcoming season or offer the player back to his previous team for half price) by the St. Louis Cardinals in November 1970. St. Louis returned Cooper to the Red Sox on April 5, 1971. He spent most of five full seasons in the minor leagues (in Jamestown, Greenville, Danville, Winston-Salem, Louisville, and Pawtucket), hitting .327 with 45 home runs and 304 RBIs.
Cooper made his major league debut with the Red Sox on September 8, 1971, pinch-hitting for Roger Moret and grounding to second against Yankee pitcher Jack Aker. He got his first hit three days later, a pinch single off the Tigers' Joe Coleman. He hit .310 in 42 at bats that month. Having hit .343 for Double-A Pawtucket that season, it was thought that he had a shot at the starting job the next season.
Just prior to the start of the 1972 season, the Red Sox acquired Danny Cater from the Yankees and sent Cooper to Triple-A Louisville. Another fine campaign in the minors produced a .315 average, thanks to a league-leading 162 hits, Cooper returned to Boston in September, but garnered just four hits in 17 trips during the tight pennant race.
Despite the failure of Cater, Cooper again failed to stick with the parent club in 1973, as the team elected to move Carl Yastrzemski back to first base the fill the hole. Cecil was sent to Pawtucket, now the Triple-A affiliate, where he hit .293 with 15 home runs. This time he was recalled before the rosters expanded, first playing on August 24 and playing nearly full-time the rest of the season. In 30 games and 108 at-bats, Cooper hit .238 with his first three major league home runs. His first round tripper was struck on September 7 at Fenway Park, off the Tigers' Bob Miller.
In 1974, Cooper was the team's opening day first baseman, hitting third in the lineup. New manager Darrell Johnson used a lot of lineups, trying to divide playing time at first base, left field, and designated hitter amongst Cooper, Yastrzemski, Cater, Tommy Harper, and Bernie Carbo. Cooper ended up playing 74 games at first and 41 more at designated hitter, getting most of the starts when facing right handed pitchers. He hit .275 in 414 at-bats.
Cooper did not have a good defensive reputation early in his career, which is why he spent a lot of time as a designated hitter. For 1975, the Red Sox had two new rookie outfielders (Jim Rice and Fred Lynn), plus the comebacking Tony Conigliaro, who initially won the DH job. The team had an awful lot of people to beat out and get a chance to play. At the end of May, Cooper was the odd man out, getting just six hits in 24 at-bats. He persevered, and by late June he was playing against all right-handed pitchers. He ended up hitting .311 with 14 home runs in 305 at-bats.
One of the team's hottest hitters in August and September, Cecil had a scary moment on September 7. The Red Sox were playing the second game of a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers, when he was hit in the face by future teammate Bill Travers. Cecil had to be carried off on a stretcher and was bleeding from his nose and mouth. The incident hampered his performance the rest of the season. With Jim Rice's injury requiring Carl Yastrzemski to play left field, Cooper had first base to himself for most of the post-season. He was 4-for-11 in the playoffs but just 1-for-19 in the World Series.
Appearing in 123 games the following season, again splitting time between first base and designated hitter, Cooper hit a solid .282 with 15 homers and 78 RBI. After the 1976 season, manager Don Zimmer told Cooper told that he would become Boston's regular starting first baseman. This was not to be the case, as on December 6, 1976, Cooper was sent to the Milwaukee Brewers for two former Red Sox first baseman George Scott and outfielder Bernie Carbo.
The trade was not particularly popular in either Boston or Milwaukee. In fact, Brewers owner Bud Selig was told by other AL East clubs that if you "keep making trades like that you will be in last place forever." In 1976, the Brewers finished dead last in their division with a record of 66-95. The extremely popular Scott had first played in a Red Sox uniform from 1966 to 1971 and had posted several good seasons for the Brewers. Alas, neither Scott nor Carbo ever again had the kind of success they had achieved in earlier seasons. Cecil Cooper would become a legend in Milwaukee.
Cooper was a clutch contact hitter who could hit for both average and power. He kept putting up such solidly consistent numbers year after year that it was easy to overlook his achievements. In his first year in Milwaukee he hit .300, in his second year he hit .312, and in 1979 Cooper hit .308. Also in 1979, Cecil had a league-leading 44 doubles. Former Milwaukee player-coach Sal Bando once said of him, "Cecil Cooper can beat you with a home run or a flare to left or a bunt. And he can field his position. You have guys who can hit home runs and guys who can hit singles. But not many can do both. Cecil can."
Playing for a smaller market team in the Midwest allowed Cooper to thrive, and in 1980 he did just that. He hit better than .300 in every month of the season finishing with a remarkable .352 average, 25 home runs, 219 hits, and an American League-leading 122 RBI. His season was largely overlooked because Royals third baseman by George Brett flirted with a .400 batting average, setting for.390. The unassuming Cooper said, "With Brett hitting close to .400 all year, I didn't expect to get much publicity, and I didn't have any trouble living with that."
Coop was also part of a record game in 1980. On April 12, in an 18-1 Brewer rout of the Red Sox, he and infielder/DH Don Money connected for two grand slams in the same inning. This marked only the fourth time in major league history this feat has ever been accomplished. (There have been two since, most recently in 1999, when Fernando Tatis of the St. Cardinals hit two grand slams himself in one inning). In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Brewers franchise was moving up in the standings finishing with 93 wins in 1978 and 95 wins in 1979. In 1981, in a strike-shortened split season, the New York Yankees won the first half in the AL East while the Milwaukee Brewers finished first in the second half. This set the stage for a best-of-five game divisional playoff between the two clubs. Although the Yankees won the series in five games, it was the following year that the Brewers had the best season in franchise history. Cooper hit .320 with 12 home runs in the abbreviated campaign.
In 1982, first baseman Cooper was at the heart of the one of the era's great lineups, batting third behind Paul Molitor and Robin Yount, and in front of Ted Simmons, Gorman Thomas, and Charlie Moore. Cooper hit .313, with 32 home runs and 121 runs batted in. On October 3, 1982, in a game deciding the American League East championship, the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Baltimore Orioles 10-2, closing out the season with a mark of 95-67. Their opponent in the ALCS was the western division champion California Angels.
The Brewers reached their first (and so far only) World Series as they eliminated the Angels in five games, becoming the first team in major league history to come back from a two-games-to-none deficit and win a best-of-five postseason series. In the decisive Game Five, Jim Gantner and Charlie Moore scored on Cooper's seventh-inning bases-loaded single. In a gesture reminiscent of former teammate Carlton Fisk, who waved his arms to keep the ball fair in Game Six of the '75 Series, Cooper was motioning for the ball to get down. "I remember thinking, 'get down ball, get down.' The crowd was so loud I couldn't really hear myself saying anything, but I just wanted to keep waving so that ball would fall in there." Overall he hit just 3-for-20 in the series.
The 1982 World Series was called the "Suds Series" because it pitted the two of America's largest beer cities against each other: Milwaukee and St. Louis. The National League champion St. Louis Cardinals featured first baseman Keith Hernandez and future Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith. Cecil homered in a losing effort in Game Three, and his 8-for-28 record was not enough, as his team lost a seven-game series.
After the 1982 season, Cooper's teammate Robin Yount won the American League MVP award, and just as in 1980 when he lost to George Brett, Cecil finished fifth in the voting. Yount hit .331 with 29 home runs and 114 RBI. "Maybe, I'm the Lou Gehrig of my time", says Cooper "... always in the shadows of someone else. He's a pretty good role model, though."
A five-time All-Star
, Cooper hit .300 or more from to . His most productive season came in , when he hit a career-high .352 (finishing second in the American League
behind batting champion George Brett
's .390 average for the Kansas City Royals
), and he also led the league in RBI (122) and total bases
(335).
In 1983 Cooper hit .307 with 30 home runs and a league-leading and career-high 126 RBI. He also posted three seasons with 200-plus hits
, in 1980, and 1983, finished fifth in the AL MVP
vote, and was named the Brewers' team MVP in three seasons (1980, 1982–83). An excellent defensive first baseman, he was a two-time Gold Glove
winner (1979–80). He also won the Silver Slugger Award in three straight years (1980–82); the only other Brewer to have done so is Ryan Braun
(2008–10).
Cooper concluded his major league career with 11 seasons as a Brewer, including an appearance in the 1982 World Series
. Cooper holds the Milwaukee franchise records for hits (219 in 1980). Cooper held the team record for RBIs in a season with 126 until Prince Fielder
broke that record on September 19, 2009 against the Houston Astros, who Cooper was managing at the time. Through 2011 he was one of three Brewers who have had four 100-RBI seasons, along with Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun.
While in Milwaukee, Cecil wrote a column for the Brewers' magazine, What's Brewing? He wrote everything from his baseball experiences as a hitter and a first baseman to how kids could get autographs from their favorite players. In 1983, Cooper won baseball's coveted "Roberto Clemente" award for his community service. Since 1970, the award has been given to players for their humanitarian service and initiatives. Cecil worked with Athletes for Youth, a Milwaukee-based inner city program teaching children about baseball, and was honorary chairman of both the Kidney Foundation of Wisconsin and the 1982 Food for Families Project. Bud Selig said of Cooper, "I think Cecil does a lot more than any of us know. Cecil is shy. What he does, he prefers to do in anonymity." Cecil Cooper holds Brewers single season records in hits (219 in 1980) and RBIs (126 in 1983). As a Brewer, he is ranked third all-time in batting (.302), hits (1,815), doubles (345), and home runs (201). He is second in RBIs with 994. In 2002 he was inducted into the Brewers Walk of Fame.
Following his retirement in 1987, Cooper became a player agent for CSMG International until 1996. He then worked as farm director for the Brewers as well as a scout. In 2002, Cooper returned to the dugout as bench coach for Milwaukee. He also managed the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians
in –04
. Cooper had a record of 130–156, finishing fourth in 2003 and third in 2004.
In 2005, he took advantage of the opportunity to return to his native Texas as a bench coach for the Houston Astros
. On August 27, , he was named the interim manager of the Astros following the firing of Phil Garner
, making him the first African American field manager in Astros' history. Cooper's previous managerial experience was at Class AAA Indianapolis, the Milwaukee Brewers' top farm club. The team went 15-16 to finish the season in 4th place with a record of 73-89, 12 games back of division winners Chicago Cubs. On September 28, , Cooper's interim tag was dropped and he became the Astros' 16th manager. In 2008 the team had a winning record of 86-75, good enough for 3rd place, but still 11 games behind the repeating divisional winning Cubs. In Cooper's third full season as manager the team slipped back to a losing record of 74-88, dropping down to 5th place, a disappointing 17 games behind the division winning St. Louis Cardinals.
Cooper was released as Astros manager on September 21, 2009.
Cooper was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame
in 2007.
He lives now in Katy, TX with his wife Octavia and daughter Tori. He has two other grown daughters, Kelly and Brittany.
First baseman
First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...
in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
and the former manager
Manager (baseball)
In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
of the Houston Astros
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field...
. From through , Cooper played for the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
(1971–76) and Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
(1977–87). He batted and threw left-handed, and attended Prairie View A&M University
Prairie View A&M University
Prairie View A&M University is a historically black university located in Prairie View, Texas and is a member of the Texas A&M University System. PVAMU offers baccalaureate degrees in 50 academic majors, 37 master’s degrees and four doctoral degree programs through nine colleges and schools...
in Prairie View, Texas.
Cecil Cooper was born on December 20, 1949, in Brenham, Texas, a city with a population of 13,000 and located 70 miles northwest of Houston. Raised in nearby Independence, Cooper was the youngest of 13 children, seven boys and six girls. Cooper's mother Ocie died when he was just 10. His ball-playing father, Roy, worked with a nearby Department of Public Works. A 6'2 left-hander, Cecil was taught baseball by his brothers John, Sylvester, and Jessie. John and Sylvester later played with the barnstorming Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues.* John as a pitcher while Sylvester was a catcher who according to Cecil once caught Satchel Paige According to a 1980 Sports Illustrated story, father Roy also played in the Negro Leagues.
Cooper followed his brothers, playing ball for three years at the all-black Pickard High School, transferring his senior year to the integrated Brenham High School. At Pickard High, he won two state championships under coach Henry Rogers.
Career
In a 17-season career, Cooper posted a .298 batting averageBatting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
with 241 home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s and 1125 runs batted in
Run batted in
Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI...
in 1896 games
Games played
Games played is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated ; the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested.-Baseball:In baseball, the statistic applies also to players who, prior to a game,...
. He was No. 17 with the Boston Red Sox.
Intending to go to college after his graduation, Cecil was spotted by Boston Red Sox scout Dave Philly and was drafted in the sixth round of the 1968 amateur draft by the Red Sox. He opted to take courses at Blinn Junior College and Prairie View A&M during the off-season. Taken in the Rule 5 draft of minor league players (whereby the team selecting the player pays $50,000 and must keep the player on their major league roster for the entire upcoming season or offer the player back to his previous team for half price) by the St. Louis Cardinals in November 1970. St. Louis returned Cooper to the Red Sox on April 5, 1971. He spent most of five full seasons in the minor leagues (in Jamestown, Greenville, Danville, Winston-Salem, Louisville, and Pawtucket), hitting .327 with 45 home runs and 304 RBIs.
Cooper made his major league debut with the Red Sox on September 8, 1971, pinch-hitting for Roger Moret and grounding to second against Yankee pitcher Jack Aker. He got his first hit three days later, a pinch single off the Tigers' Joe Coleman. He hit .310 in 42 at bats that month. Having hit .343 for Double-A Pawtucket that season, it was thought that he had a shot at the starting job the next season.
Just prior to the start of the 1972 season, the Red Sox acquired Danny Cater from the Yankees and sent Cooper to Triple-A Louisville. Another fine campaign in the minors produced a .315 average, thanks to a league-leading 162 hits, Cooper returned to Boston in September, but garnered just four hits in 17 trips during the tight pennant race.
Despite the failure of Cater, Cooper again failed to stick with the parent club in 1973, as the team elected to move Carl Yastrzemski back to first base the fill the hole. Cecil was sent to Pawtucket, now the Triple-A affiliate, where he hit .293 with 15 home runs. This time he was recalled before the rosters expanded, first playing on August 24 and playing nearly full-time the rest of the season. In 30 games and 108 at-bats, Cooper hit .238 with his first three major league home runs. His first round tripper was struck on September 7 at Fenway Park, off the Tigers' Bob Miller.
In 1974, Cooper was the team's opening day first baseman, hitting third in the lineup. New manager Darrell Johnson used a lot of lineups, trying to divide playing time at first base, left field, and designated hitter amongst Cooper, Yastrzemski, Cater, Tommy Harper, and Bernie Carbo. Cooper ended up playing 74 games at first and 41 more at designated hitter, getting most of the starts when facing right handed pitchers. He hit .275 in 414 at-bats.
Cooper did not have a good defensive reputation early in his career, which is why he spent a lot of time as a designated hitter. For 1975, the Red Sox had two new rookie outfielders (Jim Rice and Fred Lynn), plus the comebacking Tony Conigliaro, who initially won the DH job. The team had an awful lot of people to beat out and get a chance to play. At the end of May, Cooper was the odd man out, getting just six hits in 24 at-bats. He persevered, and by late June he was playing against all right-handed pitchers. He ended up hitting .311 with 14 home runs in 305 at-bats.
One of the team's hottest hitters in August and September, Cecil had a scary moment on September 7. The Red Sox were playing the second game of a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers, when he was hit in the face by future teammate Bill Travers. Cecil had to be carried off on a stretcher and was bleeding from his nose and mouth. The incident hampered his performance the rest of the season. With Jim Rice's injury requiring Carl Yastrzemski to play left field, Cooper had first base to himself for most of the post-season. He was 4-for-11 in the playoffs but just 1-for-19 in the World Series.
Appearing in 123 games the following season, again splitting time between first base and designated hitter, Cooper hit a solid .282 with 15 homers and 78 RBI. After the 1976 season, manager Don Zimmer told Cooper told that he would become Boston's regular starting first baseman. This was not to be the case, as on December 6, 1976, Cooper was sent to the Milwaukee Brewers for two former Red Sox first baseman George Scott and outfielder Bernie Carbo.
The trade was not particularly popular in either Boston or Milwaukee. In fact, Brewers owner Bud Selig was told by other AL East clubs that if you "keep making trades like that you will be in last place forever." In 1976, the Brewers finished dead last in their division with a record of 66-95. The extremely popular Scott had first played in a Red Sox uniform from 1966 to 1971 and had posted several good seasons for the Brewers. Alas, neither Scott nor Carbo ever again had the kind of success they had achieved in earlier seasons. Cecil Cooper would become a legend in Milwaukee.
Cooper was a clutch contact hitter who could hit for both average and power. He kept putting up such solidly consistent numbers year after year that it was easy to overlook his achievements. In his first year in Milwaukee he hit .300, in his second year he hit .312, and in 1979 Cooper hit .308. Also in 1979, Cecil had a league-leading 44 doubles. Former Milwaukee player-coach Sal Bando once said of him, "Cecil Cooper can beat you with a home run or a flare to left or a bunt. And he can field his position. You have guys who can hit home runs and guys who can hit singles. But not many can do both. Cecil can."
Playing for a smaller market team in the Midwest allowed Cooper to thrive, and in 1980 he did just that. He hit better than .300 in every month of the season finishing with a remarkable .352 average, 25 home runs, 219 hits, and an American League-leading 122 RBI. His season was largely overlooked because Royals third baseman by George Brett flirted with a .400 batting average, setting for.390. The unassuming Cooper said, "With Brett hitting close to .400 all year, I didn't expect to get much publicity, and I didn't have any trouble living with that."
Coop was also part of a record game in 1980. On April 12, in an 18-1 Brewer rout of the Red Sox, he and infielder/DH Don Money connected for two grand slams in the same inning. This marked only the fourth time in major league history this feat has ever been accomplished. (There have been two since, most recently in 1999, when Fernando Tatis of the St. Cardinals hit two grand slams himself in one inning). In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Brewers franchise was moving up in the standings finishing with 93 wins in 1978 and 95 wins in 1979. In 1981, in a strike-shortened split season, the New York Yankees won the first half in the AL East while the Milwaukee Brewers finished first in the second half. This set the stage for a best-of-five game divisional playoff between the two clubs. Although the Yankees won the series in five games, it was the following year that the Brewers had the best season in franchise history. Cooper hit .320 with 12 home runs in the abbreviated campaign.
In 1982, first baseman Cooper was at the heart of the one of the era's great lineups, batting third behind Paul Molitor and Robin Yount, and in front of Ted Simmons, Gorman Thomas, and Charlie Moore. Cooper hit .313, with 32 home runs and 121 runs batted in. On October 3, 1982, in a game deciding the American League East championship, the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Baltimore Orioles 10-2, closing out the season with a mark of 95-67. Their opponent in the ALCS was the western division champion California Angels.
The Brewers reached their first (and so far only) World Series as they eliminated the Angels in five games, becoming the first team in major league history to come back from a two-games-to-none deficit and win a best-of-five postseason series. In the decisive Game Five, Jim Gantner and Charlie Moore scored on Cooper's seventh-inning bases-loaded single. In a gesture reminiscent of former teammate Carlton Fisk, who waved his arms to keep the ball fair in Game Six of the '75 Series, Cooper was motioning for the ball to get down. "I remember thinking, 'get down ball, get down.' The crowd was so loud I couldn't really hear myself saying anything, but I just wanted to keep waving so that ball would fall in there." Overall he hit just 3-for-20 in the series.
The 1982 World Series was called the "Suds Series" because it pitted the two of America's largest beer cities against each other: Milwaukee and St. Louis. The National League champion St. Louis Cardinals featured first baseman Keith Hernandez and future Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith. Cecil homered in a losing effort in Game Three, and his 8-for-28 record was not enough, as his team lost a seven-game series.
After the 1982 season, Cooper's teammate Robin Yount won the American League MVP award, and just as in 1980 when he lost to George Brett, Cecil finished fifth in the voting. Yount hit .331 with 29 home runs and 114 RBI. "Maybe, I'm the Lou Gehrig of my time", says Cooper "... always in the shadows of someone else. He's a pretty good role model, though."
A five-time All-Star
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers...
, Cooper hit .300 or more from to . His most productive season came in , when he hit a career-high .352 (finishing second in the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
behind batting champion George Brett
George Brett (baseball)
George Howard Brett , nicknamed "Mullet", is a former Major League Baseball third baseman, designated hitter, and first baseman. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Kansas City Royals. Brett's 3,154 career hits are the most by any third baseman in major league history, and 15th...
's .390 average for the Kansas City Royals
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1973 to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium...
), and he also led the league in RBI (122) and total bases
Total bases
In baseball statistics, total bases refers to the number of bases a player has gained with hits, i.e., the sum of his hits weighted by 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run.Only bases attained from hits count toward this total....
(335).
In 1983 Cooper hit .307 with 30 home runs and a league-leading and career-high 126 RBI. He also posted three seasons with 200-plus hits
Hit (baseball)
In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....
, in 1980, and 1983, finished fifth in the AL MVP
MLB Most Valuable Player Award
The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award is an annual Major League Baseball award, given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America...
vote, and was named the Brewers' team MVP in three seasons (1980, 1982–83). An excellent defensive first baseman, he was a two-time Gold Glove
Gold Glove Award
The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in both the National League and the American League , as voted by the...
winner (1979–80). He also won the Silver Slugger Award in three straight years (1980–82); the only other Brewer to have done so is Ryan Braun
Ryan Braun
Ryan Joseph Braun is an American right-handed Major League Baseball left fielder for the Milwaukee Brewers. A perennial standout, he was ranked No...
(2008–10).
Cooper concluded his major league career with 11 seasons as a Brewer, including an appearance in the 1982 World Series
1982 World Series
-Game 1:Tuesday, October 12, 1982 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MissouriThe Brewers' left-hander Mike Caldwell pitched a complete game shutout, allowing only three hits. The Brewers' offense was led by Paul Molitor, who had a World Series-record five hits and two RBIs...
. Cooper holds the Milwaukee franchise records for hits (219 in 1980). Cooper held the team record for RBIs in a season with 126 until Prince Fielder
Prince Fielder
Prince Semien Fielder is a Major League Baseball free agent who plays first base. He is currently listed at 5' 11" and . He was selected by the Brewers in the first round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft out of Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, Florida.He is the son of former Detroit...
broke that record on September 19, 2009 against the Houston Astros, who Cooper was managing at the time. Through 2011 he was one of three Brewers who have had four 100-RBI seasons, along with Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun.
While in Milwaukee, Cecil wrote a column for the Brewers' magazine, What's Brewing? He wrote everything from his baseball experiences as a hitter and a first baseman to how kids could get autographs from their favorite players. In 1983, Cooper won baseball's coveted "Roberto Clemente" award for his community service. Since 1970, the award has been given to players for their humanitarian service and initiatives. Cecil worked with Athletes for Youth, a Milwaukee-based inner city program teaching children about baseball, and was honorary chairman of both the Kidney Foundation of Wisconsin and the 1982 Food for Families Project. Bud Selig said of Cooper, "I think Cecil does a lot more than any of us know. Cecil is shy. What he does, he prefers to do in anonymity." Cecil Cooper holds Brewers single season records in hits (219 in 1980) and RBIs (126 in 1983). As a Brewer, he is ranked third all-time in batting (.302), hits (1,815), doubles (345), and home runs (201). He is second in RBIs with 994. In 2002 he was inducted into the Brewers Walk of Fame.
Following his retirement in 1987, Cooper became a player agent for CSMG International until 1996. He then worked as farm director for the Brewers as well as a scout. In 2002, Cooper returned to the dugout as bench coach for Milwaukee. He also managed the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians
Indianapolis Indians
The Indianapolis Indians are a minor league baseball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The team, which plays in the International League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates major-league club. The Indians play at Victory Field, located in downtown Indianapolis...
in –04
2004 in baseball
-Headline events of the year:*The Boston Red Sox win their first World Series since , ending the Curse of the Bambino.*With 262 hits, Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners breaks George Sisler's record of 257. Suzuki also sets the record for most singles in a season, with 225.*2004 also marked the final...
. Cooper had a record of 130–156, finishing fourth in 2003 and third in 2004.
In 2005, he took advantage of the opportunity to return to his native Texas as a bench coach for the Houston Astros
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field...
. On August 27, , he was named the interim manager of the Astros following the firing of Phil Garner
Phil Garner
Philip Mason Garner is a former infielder in Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Francisco Giants from 1973 to 1988...
, making him the first African American field manager in Astros' history. Cooper's previous managerial experience was at Class AAA Indianapolis, the Milwaukee Brewers' top farm club. The team went 15-16 to finish the season in 4th place with a record of 73-89, 12 games back of division winners Chicago Cubs. On September 28, , Cooper's interim tag was dropped and he became the Astros' 16th manager. In 2008 the team had a winning record of 86-75, good enough for 3rd place, but still 11 games behind the repeating divisional winning Cubs. In Cooper's third full season as manager the team slipped back to a losing record of 74-88, dropping down to 5th place, a disappointing 17 games behind the division winning St. Louis Cardinals.
Cooper was released as Astros manager on September 21, 2009.
Cooper was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame
Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame
The Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame is a promenade in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, dedicated to honoring distinguished members of Wisconsin's sports history. New members are honored at a biennial banquet.-History:...
in 2007.
He lives now in Katy, TX with his wife Octavia and daughter Tori. He has two other grown daughters, Kelly and Brittany.
Managerial records
Updated Through September 9, 2008| Team | |Regular Season | HOU Houston Astros The Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field... |
2007 2007 Houston Astros season The Houston Astros' 2007 season began with the team trying to take the NL Central title back from the World Series winners, the St. Louis Cardinals, after the Cardinals won it in 2006... |
15 | 16 | .484 | 4th in NL Central | – | – | – | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 2008 Houston Astros season The Houston Astros' 2008 season is the 47th season for the Houston Astros. The Astros are attempting to return to the postseason, after missing the past two postseasons. They must do it without second baseman Craig Biggio, who became a member of the coveted 3,000 hit club last year.-Off Season:On... |
86 | 75 | .534 | 3rd in NL Central | – | – | – | – | |||
| 2009 2009 Houston Astros season The Houston Astros' 2009 season is the 48th season for the franchise in the National League in Houston, Texas and their 10th season at Minute Maid Park... |
70 | 79 | .470 | 4th in NL Central | – | – | – | Fired | |||
| Total | 171 | 170 | .501 | ||||||||
See also
- List of major league players with 2,000 hits
- List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters
- List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
- List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
- List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
- List of Major League Baseball managers in 2007
- List of Major League Baseball managers in 2008