Books and articles about Cecil Cooper

The smooth-fielding first baseman was one of the most consistent hitters of the late 1970s and early 1980s, always among the top batting and fielding leaders. But because he played at the same time as Rod Carew and George Brett, he never won a batting title.

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Cooper was haunted by Carl Yastrzemski. As a young player in Boston, Cooper was forced to DH, and played first base only on the odd occasions when Yaz played the outfield or was rested. At the end of the 1976 season, the Red Sox realized they'd be better off with a power hitter than with Cooper, perceived as a singles hitter, so they swapped the lefty Cooper to get the powerful George Scott back from the Brewers. Cooper flourished, batting over .300 his first seven years in Milwaukee. He finished second to Rod Carew in the All-Star balloting for first base in 1978, but when Carew got hurt, instead of Cooper taking his place, Yaz was brought in from the outfield to play first base.

Cooper had his best year in 1980. He led the league in RBI with 122 and hit a career-high .352, with 25 HR. But George Brett had his flirtation with .400 that year, finishing at .390 and spoiling Cooper's best shot at a batting title. Two years later, Cooper hit a career-high 32 HR and led Milwaukee to its comeback in the 1982 ALCS against the Angels. Down two games to none, the Brewers won three straight games at home, with Cooper singling in the tying and winning runs in the seventh inning of the final game. In 1983, he had his best power year, hitting .307, his last .300 season, with 30 HR and a league-leading and career-high 126 RBI. (SEW)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » June 6, 1968: Tim Foli is the top choice in the regular phase of the free-agent draft. The A's take Pete Broberg with the 2nd pick, but he opts to attend Dartmouth instead. Cecil Cooper lasts until the 27th round. The big winners are the Dodgers, who, in the January draft and the regular and secondary June drafts pick 71 players, 14 players of whom end up in the ML. Among them: Davey Lopes, Geoff Zahn, Bill Buckner, Joe Ferguson, Tom Paciorek, Bobby Valentine, Steve Garvey, and Ron Cey. » June 14, 1974: Nolan Ryan strikes out 19 Red Sox in 13 innings, including Cecil Cooper six times in a row. In an unusual double-double, he also walks 10 batters for the 2nd time this year. The Angels finally win in 15 innings 4–3, with the win going to Barry Raziano over Luis Tiant. » December 6, 1976: The Red Sox trade 1B Cecil Cooper to the Brewers for 1B George Scott and OF Bernie Carbo. This ranks as one of the Brew Crew's best trades. » April 16, 1977: In Milwaukee, Cecil Cooper hits a 2-run shot in the bottom of the 9th off Sparky Lyle to tie the Yankees 3–3, then a Sal Bando triple and single by Steve Brye wins it. » April 9, 1978: The Brewers complete a stunning season-opening, 3-game sweep of the Orioles by scores of 11–3, 16–3, and 13–5. Sixto Lezcano, Gorman Thomas, and Cecil Cooper provided the Brewers with a grand slam in each game to set a ML mark. » July 27, 1979: The Brewers edge the Yankees 6–5 and Cecil Cooper becomes the 4th American League player this month to hit three home runs in a game. » April 12, 1980: Milwaukee bombs the Red Sox, 18–1, as they score nine runs in the second inning. Eight of the runs come on two grand slams, Cecil Cooper's knocking out starter Mike Torrez and Don Money ringing his up against Chuck Rainey. This is the 4th time in ML history that two grand slams have been hit in one inning. » May 28, 1982: The Brewers get three consecutive home runs —- by Cecil Cooper, Don Money, and Gorman Thomas -- in the 6th, but they fall short, losing 6–5 to California. » June 5, 1982: The Brew Crew connect for three consecutive homers -- by Robin Yount, Cecil Cooper, and Ben Oglivie -- in the 7th as Milwaukee pounds Oakland, 11–3. Ted Simmons and Gorman Thomas also homer to back Bob McClure's 3rd victory. It is the 2nd time in a week that Milwaukee sluggers have hit three consecutive homers. » October 3, 1982: Robin Yount smacks two home runs and a triple as Milwaukee whips Baltimore 10–2 to win the American League East championship. Don Sutton, 4-1 since being acquired by the Brewers in late August, is the winning pitcher. Milwaukee had lost three in a row to Baltimore before today's pivotal victory. Despite Yount's stellar game, he loses the AL batting title .332 to .331 to Kansas City's Willie Wilson, who sat out the Royals' final game. Yount ends the year with 114 RBI and joins teammates Cecil Cooper (121), Gorman Thomas (112), and Ben Oglivie (102) as only the 2nd foursome since 1940 to top the 100 RBI mark: The 1977 Bosox of Fisk, Rice, Hobson and Lynn were the others. Ted Simmons is just three short of 100 RBI or the Brewers would have joined the 1936 Yankees as the only squad with five 100-RBI hitters. » May 13, 1986: Helped by an unusual 3-6-1-2-4 triple play in the first inning, Seattle goes on to defeat Milwaukee 8–5. After Randy Ready and Ernest Riles walk to open the game, Cecil Cooper hits a bouncer to 1B Alvin Davis, who throws to 2B to force Riles. Cooper beats the return throw to 1B, but Ready is thrown out trying to score, and Cooper is thrown out at 2B trying to advance during the play at the plate. » August 19, 2001: The Mariners rout the Yankees, 10–2, as OF Mike Cameron gets four hits—including two home runs—and drives home eight runs. OF Ichiro Suzuki stretches his hitting streak to 16 games, giving him three streaks of 15 or more games this year. He's the 1st major leaguer with three 15–game streaks in the same season since Milwaukee's Cecil Cooper in 1980.