Page 20 - 1975 BoSox

’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL 13
while the Brewers nished rst in the second half. is set the stage for a best-of- ve divisional playo between the two clubs, which the Yankees won in ve games. Cooper hit .320 with 12 home runs in the abbreviated campaign.
In 1982 rst 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 omas, 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 Brewers defeated the Baltimore Orioles 10-2, closing out the season with a mark of 95-67. ey eliminated the California Angels in ve games in the American League Championship Series, becoming the rst team to come back from a two-games-to-none de cit and win a best-of- ve 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 motioned for the ball to get down. “I remember thinking, ‘Get down ball, get down.’ e 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.”6 Overall he hit just 3-for-20 in the League Championship Series.
e 1982 World Series was called the Suds Series because it pitted the two of America’s largest beer- brewing cities against each other. e National League champion St. Louis Cardinals featured rst baseman Keith Hernandez and future Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith. Cooper homered in a losing e ort in Game ree, and his 8-for-28 record was not enough, as his team lost in seven games.
Cooper’s teammate Robin Yount won the American League MVP award, and just as in 1980 when he lost to George Brett, Cooper nished fth in the voting. Yount hit .331 with 29 home runs and 114 RBIs. “Maybe I’m the Lou Gehrig of my time ... always in the shadows of someone else,” Cooper said. “He’s a pretty good role model, though.”7
While in Milwaukee, Cooper wrote a column for the Brewers’ magazine, What’s Brewing? He wrote about everything from his baseball experiences to how youngsters could get autographs from their favorite players. In 1983 Cooper won baseball’s coveted Roberto Clemente Award for his community service. Cooper worked with Athletes for Youth, a Milwaukee 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.”8
Cooper played for the Brewers until 1987, and as he passed through the mid-30s his batting average and power numbers fell o , although he did make the AL All-Star squads in 1983 and 1985. Named as a reserve for both games, he did make appearances as a pinch- hitter in both Midsummer Classics. He retired from major-league baseball in 1987 but did play a month in the Senior Professional Baseball Association in 1989. Appearing in 16 games with the Winter Haven Super Sox, Cooper hit .407 with three home runs and 15 RBIs. During this time he also served as a player agent for CSMG International.
In 1996 he became farm director for the Brewers. In 2002 Cooper returned to the dugout as the Brewers bench coach. In 2005 and 2004 Cooper managed the Brewers’ Triple-A a liate Indianapolis Indians. In 2005, he took advantage of an opportunity to return to his native Texas and served as the bench coach for Houston Astros manager Phil Garner.
On August 27, 2007, Cooper was named interim manager after Garner was red, becoming the team’s rst African-American skipper. On September 28 the interim tag was removed and Cooper was signed to a two-year contract as the Astros’ manager. In 2008 the Astros (86-75) nished in third place in the National League Central Division.
On September 21, 2009, though they had picked up Cooper’s option for 2010, the Astros red him with 13 games left in the season and the club at 70-79. Fairly