Panoramic Photo Above:
League Park, Early Home of the Cleveland Indians
Baseball History Comes Alive Now Ranked As a Top Five Website by Feedspot Among All Baseball History Websites and Blogs!
(Check out Feedspot's list of the Top 35 Baseball History websites and blogs)
Visit the Baseball History Comes Alive Home Page
Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive
Free Bonus for Subscribing:
Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide
Today we welcome back Mike Janacek with an interesting essay about possibly the best pitchers in Pirates history. Playing for mostly second-division teams, he put up remarkable numbers, and a case can be made that he belongs in the Hall of Fame. As Mike tells us: “Cooper is one of two pitchers with 3,000 innings pitched and an ERA under 3.00 who are not in the Hall.” Those are some pretty good stats. What would he have done if he was on a winning team for most of his career? In the featured photo, we see a young Wilbur Cooper in his first year of professional ball with the Columbus Senators of the American Association. -GL
Lets Remember Wilbur Cooper: The Pirates’ Best Pitcher!
“Cooper was a master at his business and he expected the men behind him to match his efforts.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 25, 1933.
Arley Wilbur Cooper was the best pitcher ever to wear the Pittsburgh Pirates uniform. Cooper holds the team record for most victories (202) and most complete games (263). He spent 13 of his 15-year career in Pittsburgh and was an exceptional control pitcher, walking 853 batters over 3,480 innings pitched.1 His delivery was smooth and effortless, featuring a fastball, curveball, and change-up. He was a fast worker; he once threw a complete game in just 59 minutes. Wilbur began his baseball career in 1911 with the Marion Diggers, a team owned by the future U.S. President Warren G. Harding.
He reached Pittsburgh in 1912, and his first start was a complete-game 8-0 shutout of the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1916, Cooper was 12-11 with an ERA of 1.87. How bad were the Pirates? In seven of his losses, the Pirates were shut out, and the team finished sixth, 29 games behind the National League champion Brooklyn Robins.
Wilbur Cooper was one of the National League’s steadiest winners, a left-hander who delivered year after year despite pitching for clubs that rarely contended. From 1917 to 1924, he won 17 or more games each season, a remarkable run of durability and excellence. His peak stretch was extraordinary: 24 wins in 1920, 22 in 1921, and 23 in 1922. Given the relatively poor teams behind him, those numbers stand out even more. Over those eight seasons, the Pirates finished second once, third three times, and in 1917 fell so far that they ended up 47 games behind.2
Then came the cruel twist. Cooper was traded to the Cubs in October 1924, just in time to watch from afar as Pittsburgh finally broke through, winning both the pennant and the World Series. Poor Wilbur — one season short of the celebration he had helped build.
He spent two seasons with Chicago, but his heart wasn’t in it. By 1926, now with Detroit, he made only eight appearances before retiring. His career remains one of baseball’s quiet triumphs: a pitcher who won big on teams that rarely did, and whose best years came without the reward of October glory.
At the time of his retirement, Cooper ranked second to Eddie Plank among left-handed pitchers in wins, innings pitched, and games started. His career ERA of 2.89 is the lowest in the National League for left-handed pitchers with 3,000 or more innings. Cooper was voted the greatest Pitcher in Pirates history in a 1969 poll conducted to celebrate the 100th anniversary of professional baseball. 1969.3
Despite 216 career wins and an ERA under 3.00, he received little support in Hall of Fame balloting. Cooper is one of two pitchers with 3,000 innings pitched and an ERA under 3.00 who are not in the Hall. He had four 20-plus-win seasons and two 19-win seasons for teams that provided little offensive support. He holds several team records and ranks in the top five in most major pitching categories for the Pirates franchise. His WAR of 48.7 ranks him 32nd all-time among left-handed pitchers.
Mike Janacek
- Baseball-Reference.com, “Wilbur Cooper,” https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/coopewi01.shtml.
- Baseball-Reference.com, “Wilbur Cooper,” https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/coopewi01.shtml.
- Baseball-Reference.com, “Wilbur Cooper,” https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/coopewi01.shtml.
Photo Credits: All found on Google search
Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive. FREE BONUS for subscribing: Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide. https://wp.me/P7a04E-2he
Visit the Baseball History Comes Alive Home Page
Well done Mike! I wrote about the Pirates top five starters https://almostcooperstown.substack.com/p/top-five-starting-pitchers-in-pittsburgh and had Cooper third but noted that any of my top three were interchangeable. It was a shame Cooper never had the chance to pitch in the WS!