The (Forgotten) Winningest Pitcher In Pirates History
The first ever National League pitcher to achieve 20 wins in each of four years was a lefty-throwing Pirates pitcher; and in today’s parlance – he positively shoved. Arley Wilbur Cooper, more commonly known as just “Wilbur Cooper,” was the first NL southpaw to win 200 games.
Cooper established NL records for left-handed pitchers for career wins (216), innings pitched (3466 + 1/3), and games started (405). All these records were broken rather quickly after Cooper left the majors, but he still holds Pirates records for career victories (202) and complete games (263).
Cooper pitched in the majors from 1912-1926, and the majority of that time was with the Buccos. He pitched in Pittsburgh from 1912-1924. His final years in the league were in 1925-1926, with the Chicago Cubs and then the Detroit Tigers. He’s largely forgotten by baseball fans, and even Pirates fans, most likely because his career ended almost 100 years ago.
In Cooper’s first start for the Pirates in 1912, he pitched a shut-out against the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1916 he set a team record, unbroken to today, with an ERA of 1.87. Cooper won at least 17 games in each year from 1917 through 1924, with 24, 22, and 23 wins from 1920-1922.
Cooper’s initial start for the Pirates was made all the more memorable by Honus Wagner’s stellar defensive play. At the end of one inning, the rookie remarked, “Mr. Wagner, if you field like that behind me, I’ll stay up here a long time.” But as legend has it, Cooper wasn’t always so gracious. An intense competitor, he often became visibly upset when teammates made errors behind him, which may have been the reason (along with his youth) that observers called him the Pirates’ “Baby Pitcher.”
Twice over his major league career Cooper led the league in starts and in complete games. He was famous at the time for working quickly, sometimes not even receiving the pitch signal from his catcher until he’d already begun his wind-up. Cooper was also known as an excellent fielder, and in 1920 he became the only pitcher in major league history to begin two triple plays in a single season.
In 1924 he picked off a record seven runners at third base; and that year the Buccos finished within three games of first place, the closest Cooper would come to a championship. In October 1924 he was traded to the Cubs in a very unpopular trade at the time, and he was never quite the same pitcher again. Cooper wanted to stay with the Pirates, but it wasn’t his decision – and it seems it impacted his effectiveness as a pitcher.
Over his career, Cooper was 216–178 with a 2.89 ERA in 517 games, and he struck out 1252 batters in 3480 innings. According to David Cicotello at the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Cooper was slim in stature and threw his repertoire of fastball, curve, and change-up with a fluid delivery, causing many to mistake his stylish manner for an indifferent attitude. “Nothing could be farther from the truth,” wrote one reporter. “The Pirate southpaw works as hard as any other hurler, but his grace and ease of motion mislead some of the rooters.”
Despite a lifetime record of 216-178 and a 2.89 ERA, Cooper drew little support for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving no more than 11 votes from the baseball writers during his period of eligibility. He remains one of only two pitchers with more than 3,000 innings and an ERA under 3.00 who are not enshrined at Cooperstown. In one of his last letters he wrote: “I would die a happy man if they voted me into the Hall of Fame. But, if they don’t, I will understand.”