RetroSimba

The Cardinals had the right idea, but the wrong position in mind, when they acquired strong-hitting Cecil Cooper from the Red Sox.

Fifty years ago, on Nov. 30, 1970, the Cardinals chose Cooper in the Rule 5 draft. Cooper, 20, was the Midwest League batting champion in 1970, but the Red Sox didn’t put him on their 40-man major-league winter roster, leaving him eligible to be drafted by another organization.

The Cardinals took advantage of the opportunity to obtain a left-handed hitter who was tailored for the AstroTurf and spacious dimensions of Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

Cooper ran well and consistently hit line drives to all fields, but his best position was first base. The Cardinals wanted him for the outfield.

Cards call

A standout high school player in Texas, Cooper was 18 when he was selected by the Red Sox in the sixth round of the June 1968 amateur draft. Assigned to a Class A farm club in Jamestown, N.Y., Cooper impressed, batting .452 with 38 hits in 26 games.

Though he continued to hit well, Cooper stayed in Class A the next two seasons. He hit .297 as the first baseman for Greenville, S.C., in 1969 and .336 for Danville, Ill., in 1970. Cooper primarily played first base for Danville but he also appeared in the outfield in 47 games.

The Cardinals were looking for backup outfielders for the 1971 season. When Cooper was left unprotected, the Cardinals paid the required $25,000 fee to draft him and put him on their 40-man major-league winter roster as an outfielder.

Either the Cardinals thought Cooper had a good chance to make the leap from Class A to the major leagues, or they figured the Red Sox wouldn’t want him back. Under the rules of baseball, if a player claimed in the Rule 5 draft is not kept on the major-league roster throughout the following regular season, he must be offered back to the team that lost him for $12,500.

Plenty of competition

The Cardinals went into 1971 spring training with a starting outfield of Lou Brock in left, Matty Alou in center and Jose Cardenal in right. Seven other players listed as outfielders on the big-league roster were competing for backup spots. In addition to Cooper, others in the mix were Jim Beauchamp, Bob Burda, Jose Cruz, Leron Lee, Luis Melendez and Jorge Roque.

Of the backup outfielder candidates, Burda, Cooper, Cruz and Lee batted from the left side. Another left-handed batter, Joe Hague, was the starting first baseman. Beauchamp, Burda and Cooper could back up Hague as well as play the outfield, but only Cooper lacked big-league experience.

“The Cardinals tried to make an outfielder out of me,” Cooper told The Sporting News.

When the Cardinals began playing intra-squad games, Cooper swung “a pretty stout bat,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In a game with eight position players in the field and batters taking their cuts against a pitching machine, Cooper hit a three-run triple. In an intra-squad game versus pitchers, he had a triple against Santiago Guzman and a double off George Lauzerique. He also substituted for Alou in center field.

“I’m very happy to get this shot with St. Louis and I hope to make the most of it,” Cooper told the Post-Dispatch. “I’ve got to work on my fielding and my throwing.”

Cooper didn’t fare so well in Grapefruit League exhibition games. He had one hit in 11 at-bats. He also walked and scored a run against the Reds. Meanwhile, his competition hit much better: Beauchamp, .408, and Burda, .438.

The Cardinals opened the 1971 season with Beauchamp, Burda, Lee and Melendez in reserve roles. Cruz and Roque were sent to the minors. Cooper was offered back to the Red Sox.

If the Red Sox had said no thanks, the Cardinals could have kept Cooper and assigned him to the minors, but the Red Sox paid the $12,500 to get him back.

Hot hitting

To his dismay, Cooper was assigned by the Red Sox to Winston-Salem, a Class A team, though he already had proven he could play at that level.

“That got me mad, depressed and frustrated,” Cooper said. “I told them, ‘I’m going home,’ and stayed away for five days. I wasn’t going to quit, but I wanted to get away and think. They told me I was lazy, that I didn’t want to play.”

Cooper took out his frustrations on opposing pitchers. He hit .379 in 42 games for Winston-Salem and got promoted to Class AA Pawtucket. In his first six games for Pawtucket, Cooper had 14 hits in 23 at-bats. He went on to hit .343 for Pawtucket, and in September, five months after the Cardinals rejected him, the Red Sox brought him to the major leagues.

“They aren’t likely to let him get away again,” The Sporting News declared. “Cooper is a hitter of promise.”

Cooper’s first hit in the big leagues was noteworthy, It came on Sept. 11, 1971, against Joe Coleman of the Tigers. Coleman held the Red Sox hitless until Cooper singled to lead off the eighth. Swinging at the first forkball he’d ever seen, Cooper tapped the ball toward third. Aurelio Rodrigeuz tried to make a backhand scoop, but the ball rolled under his glove and was ruled a hit. “I thought it would be an error the way I hit it,” Cooper told the Boston Globe. Boxscore

Cooper hit .310 for the Red Sox in 1971 and figured to be their first baseman in 1972, but they traded for Danny Cater and gave him the job. In 1973, Carl Yastrzemski moved from the outfield to first base and he remained the Red Sox’s first baseman through 1976, relegating Cooper to the role of backup and designated hitter.

“Boston never gave me a chance to show what I could do,” Cooper told The Sporting News. “I feel the Red Sox did me an injustice.”

Everyday excellence

In December 1976, the Red Sox traded Cooper to the Brewers for George Scott and Bernie Carbo. Given the chance to play every day, Cooper thrived as the first baseman. He was named to the American League all-star team five times and twice won a Gold Glove Award for fielding. In 1980, he led the league in total bases (335) and RBI (122). He was the RBI leader again in 1983 (126), and twice topped the league in doubles: 44 in 1979 and 35 in 1981.

The Brewers got to the World Series for the only time in 1982 and faced the Cardinals. Though the Cardinals won the championship in seven games, Cooper hit .286 with six RBI.

In Game 5, with the Brewers clinging to a 3-2 lead, the Cardinals had runners on first and second, two outs, in the seventh when Darrell Porter hit a ball sharply to the right side of the infield. Cooper dived, snared the ball and threw to pitcher Mike Caldwell covering first to retire Porter. The Brewers went on to a win, their third of the Series. Boxscore

“That play changed the whole game,” Cardinals second baseman Tommy Herr told the Post-Dispatch. “Cooper has played great first base the whole Series.”

Cooper batted .298 with 2,192 hits and 1,125 RBI in 17 seasons in the majors.

He became Astros manager late in the 2007 season, and managed them in 2008 (86-75) and 2009 (70-79).