Wilbur Cooper
| Wilbur Cooper | |||
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| Pitcher | |||
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Born: February 24, 1892 Bearsville, West Virginia |
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Died: August 7, 1973 (aged 81) Encino, California |
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| MLB debut | |||
| August 29, 1912, for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| July 21, 1926, for the Detroit Tigers | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 216–178 | ||
| Earned run average | 2.89 | ||
| Strikeouts | 1,252 | ||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Arley Wilbur Cooper (February 24, 1892 – August 7, 1973) was an American left-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played most of his career for the Pittsburgh Pirates. A four-time winner of 20 games in the early 1920s, he was the first National League left-hander to win 200 games. He established NL records for left-handers – second only to Eddie Plank among all southpaws – for career wins (216), innings pitched (3466⅓) and games started (405); all were broken within several years by Eppa Rixey. His career earned run average of 2.89 is also the lowest of any left-hander with at least 3000 innings in the NL. He still holds the Pirates franchise records for career victories (202) and complete games (263); he also set club records, since broken, for innings (3201), strikeouts (1191), and games pitched (469).
Cooper was born in Bearsville, West Virginia, and his family moved to Waterford, Ohio when he was a boy. He began his professional career in 1911 with a Marion, Ohio minor league team partially owned by future U.S. President Warren G. Harding; some reports suggested that Harding was the person who recommended Cooper to the Pirates, although he pitched for another minor league team before reaching the majors. In his first start with Pittsburgh in 1912, he pitched a shutout against the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1916 he set a team record, still unbroken, with a 1.87 earned run average. He won at least 17 games each year from 1917 through 1924, peaking with seasons of 24, 22 and 23 wins from 1920 to 1922, and led the league in starts and complete games twice each, and in wins, innings and shutouts once each. He worked quickly in his starts, often not getting the signal from his catcher until he had already begun his windup. Also known as an excellent fielder, in 1920 he became the only pitcher in major league history to begin two triple plays in a single season (on July 7 and August 21), and in 1924 he picked off a record seven runners at third base; that year the Pirates finished within three games of first place, the closest he would come to a championship.
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