Milwaukee Brewers Cecil Cooper Signed 5X All Star inscribed #15 Jersey JSA COA For Sale


Milwaukee Brewers Cecil Cooper Signed 5X All Star inscribed #15 Jersey JSA COA
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Milwaukee Brewers Cecil Cooper Signed 5X All Star inscribed #15 Jersey JSA COA:
$79.99

Cecil Cooper hand-signed

5X All Star inscribed

Custom Milwaukee Brewers

White Jersey

withOfficialJames Spence JSA matching numbered COA &

hologram!

Thissignaturehas been in smoke free& petfreestorage and never displayed, other than for the imaging for this listing.

Compare myphotos or contact me with any questions. Note - jersey has a small black ink spot on the lower front side. Will not be seen when autographed back of jersey is displayed, but I have discounted my price as a result. Please see third image or contact me for more info.

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Cecil Cooper

First baseman / Manager

Born: December 20, 1949 (age 64)

Brenham, Texas

Batted: Left Threw: Left

MLB debut

September 8, 1971 for the Boston Red Sox

Last MLB appearance

July 12, 1987 for the Milwaukee Brewers

Career statistics

Batting average .298

Home runs 241

Runs batted in 1,125

Games managed 341

Win–loss record 171–170

Winning % .501

Teams

As player

Boston Red Sox (1971–1976)

Milwaukee Brewers (1977–1987)

As manager

Houston Astros (2007–2009)

Career highlights and awards

5× All-Star (1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985)

2× Gold Glove Award winner (1979, 1980)

3× Silver Slugger Award winner (1980, 1981, 1982)

2× AL RBI champion (1980, 1983)

1983 Roberto Clemente Award

Cecil Celester Cooper (born December 20, 1949), nicknamed\"Coop,\" is a former first baseman in Major League Baseball and theformer manager of the Houston Astros.[1] From 1971 through 1987, Cooper playedfor the Boston Red Sox (1971–76) and Milwaukee Brewers (1977–87). He batted andthrew left-handed, and attended Prairie View A&M University in PrairieView, Texas.

Cecil Cooper was born on December 20, 1949, in Brenham, Texas, a citywith a population of 13,000 and located 70 miles (110 km) northwest of Houston.Raised in nearby Independence, Cooper was the youngest of 13 children, sevenboys and six girls. Cooper\'s mother Ocie died when he was just 10. Hisball-playing father, Roy, worked with a nearby Department of Public Works. A 6ft 2 in (1.88 m) left-hander, Cecil was taught baseball by his brothers John,Sylvester, and Jessie. John and Sylvester later played with the barnstormingIndianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues.* John as a pitcher while Sylvesterwas a catcher who according to Cecil once caught Satchel Paige According to a1980 Sports Illustrated story, father Roy also played in the Negro Leagues.

Cooper followed his brothers, playing ball for three years at theall-black Pickard High School, transferring his senior year to the integratedBrenham High School. At Pickard High, he won two state championships undercoach Henry Rogers.

Playing career[edit]

In a 17-season career, Cooper posted a .298 batting average with 241home runs and 1125 runs batted in in 1896 games. He was No. 17 with the BostonRed Sox, and No. 15 with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Intending to go to college after his graduation, Cecil was spotted byBoston Red Sox scout Dave Philly and was drafted in the sixth round of the 1968amateur draft by the Red Sox. He opted to take courses at Blinn Junior Collegeand Prairie View A&M during the off-season. Taken in the Rule 5 draft ofminor league players (whereby the team selecting the player pays $50,000 andmust keep the player on their major league roster for the entire upcomingseason or offer the player back to his previous team for half price) by the St.Louis Cardinals in November 1970. St. Louis returned Cooper to the Red Sox onApril 5, 1971. He spent most of five full seasons in the minor leagues (inJamestown, Greenville, Danville, Winston-Salem, Louisville, and Pawtucket),hitting .327 with 45 home runs and 304 RBIs.

Cooper made his major league debut with the Red Sox on September 8,1971, pinch-hitting for Roger Moret and grounding to second against Yankeepitcher Jack Aker. He got his first hit three days later, a pinch single offthe Tigers\' Joe Coleman. He hit .310 in 42 at-bats that month. Having hit .343for Double-A Pawtucket that season, it was thought that he had a shot at thestarting job the next season.

Just prior to the start of the 1972 season, the Red Sox acquired DannyCater from the Yankees and sent Cooper to Triple-A Louisville. Another finecampaign in the minors produced a .315 average, thanks to a league-leading 162hits, Cooper returned to Boston in September, but garnered just four hits in 17trips during the tight pennant race.

Despite the failure of Cater, Cooper again failed to stick with theparent club in 1973, as the team elected to move Carl Yastrzemski back to firstbase the fill the hole. Cecil was sent to Pawtucket, now the Triple-Aaffiliate, where he hit .293 with 15 home runs. This time he was recalledbefore the rosters expanded, first playing on August 24 and playing nearlyfull-time the rest of the season. In 30 games and 108 at-bats, Cooper hit .238 withhis first three major league home runs. His first round tripper was struck onSeptember 7 at Fenway Park, off the Tigers\' Bob Miller.

In 1974, Cooper was the team\'s opening day first baseman, hitting thirdin the lineup. New manager Darrell Johnson used a lot of lineups, trying todivide playing time at first base, left field, and designated hitter amongstCooper, Yastrzemski, Cater, Tommy Harper, and Bernie Carbo. Cooper ended upplaying 74 games at first and 41 more at designated hitter, getting most of thestarts when facing right-handed pitchers. He hit .275 in 414 at-bats.

Cooper did not have a good defensive reputation early in his career,which is why he spent a lot of time as a designated hitter. For 1975, the RedSox had two new rookie outfielders (Jim Rice and Fred Lynn), plus the returningTony Conigliaro, who initially won the DH job. The team had an awful lot ofpeople to beat out and get a chance to play. At the end of May, Cooper was theodd man out, getting just six hits in 24 at-bats. He persevered, and by lateJune he was playing against all right-handed pitchers. He ended up hitting .311with 14 home runs in 305 at-bats.

One of the team\'s hottest hitters in August and September, Cecil had ascary moment on September 7. The Red Sox were playing the second game of adoubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers, when he was hit in the face byfuture teammate Bill Travers. Cecil had to be carried off on a stretcher andwas bleeding from his nose and mouth. The incident hampered his performance therest of the season. With Jim Rice\'s injury requiring Carl Yastrzemski to playleft field, Cooper had first base to himself for most of the post-season. Hewas 4-for-11 in the playoffs but just 1-for-19 in the World Series.

Appearing in 123 games the following season, again splitting timebetween first base and designated hitter, Cooper hit a solid .282 with 15homers and 78 RBIs. After the 1976 season, manager Don Zimmer told Cooper toldthat he would become Boston\'s regular starting first baseman. This was not tobe the case, as on December 6, 1976, Cooper was sent to the Milwaukee Brewersfor two former Red Sox first baseman George Scott and outfielder Bernie Carbo.

The trade was not particularly popular in either Boston or Milwaukee.In fact, Brewers owner Bud Selig was told by other AL East clubs that if you\"keep making trades like that you will be in last place forever.\" In1976, the Brewers finished dead last in their division with a record of 66–95.The extremely popular Scott had first played in a Red Sox uniform from 1966 to1971 and had posted several good seasons for the Brewers. Alas, neither Scottnor Carbo ever again had the kind of success they had achieved in earlierseasons. Cecil Cooper would become a legend in Milwaukee.

Cooper was a clutch contact hitter who could hit for both average andpower. He kept putting up such solidly consistent numbers year after year thatit was easy to overlook his achievements. In his first year in Milwaukee he hit.300, in his second year he hit .312, and in 1979 Cooper hit .308. Also in1979, Cecil had a league-leading 44 doubles. Former Milwaukee player-coach SalBando once said of him, \"Cecil Cooper can beat you with a home run or aflare to left or a bunt. And he can field his position. You have guys who canhit home runs and guys who can hit singles. But not many can do both. Cecilcan.\"

Playing for a smaller market team in the Midwest allowed Cooper tothrive, and in 1980 he did just that. He hit better than .300 in every month ofthe season finishing with a remarkable .352 average, 25 home runs, 219 hits,and an American League-leading 122 RBIs. His season was largely overlookedbecause Royals third baseman by George Brett flirted with a .400 battingaverage, setting for.390. The unassuming Cooper said, \"With Brett hittingclose to .400 all year, I didn\'t expect to get much publicity, and I didn\'thave any trouble living with that.\"

Coop was also part of a record game in 1980. On April 12, in an 18–1Brewer rout of the Red Sox, he and infielder/DH Don Money connected for twogrand slams in the same inning. This marked only the fourth time in majorleague history this feat has ever been accomplished. (There have been twosince, most recently in 1999, when Fernando Tatis of the St. Cardinals hit twogrand slams himself in one inning). In the late 1970s and early 1980s, theBrewers franchise was moving up in the standings finishing with 93 wins in 1978and 95 wins in 1979. In 1981, in a strike-shortened split season, the New YorkYankees won the first half in the AL East while the Milwaukee Brewers finishedfirst in the second half. This set the stage for a best-of-five game divisionalplayoff between the two clubs. Although the Yankees won the series in fivegames, it was the following year that the Brewers had the best season infranchise history. Cooper hit .320 with 12 home runs in the abbreviatedcampaign.

In 1982, first baseman Cooper was at the heart of the one of the era\'sgreat lineups, batting third behind Paul Molitor and Robin Yount, and in frontof Ted Simmons, Gorman Thomas, and Charlie Moore. Cooper hit .313, with 32 homeruns and 121 runs batted in. On October 3, 1982, in a game deciding theAmerican League East championship, the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the BaltimoreOrioles 10–2, closing out the season with a mark of 95–67. Their opponent inthe ALCS was the western division champion California Angels.

The Brewers reached their first (and so far only) World Series as theyeliminated the Angels in five games, becoming the first team in major leaguehistory to come back from a two-games-to-none deficit and win a best-of-fivepostseason series. In the decisive Game Five, Jim Gantner and Charlie Moorescored on Cooper\'s seventh-inning bases-loaded single. In a gesture reminiscentof former teammate Carlton Fisk, who waved his arms to keep the ball fair inGame Six of the \'75 Series, Cooper was motioning for the ball to get down.\"I remember thinking, \'get down ball, get down.\' The crowd was so loud Icouldn\'t really hear myself saying anything, but I just wanted to keep wavingso that ball would fall in there.\" Overall he hit just 3-for-20 in theseries.

The 1982 World Series was called the \"Suds Series\" because itpitted the two of America\'s largest beer cities against each other: Milwaukeeand St. Louis. The National League champion St. Louis Cardinals featured firstbaseman Keith Hernandez and future Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith. Cecilhomered in a losing effort in Game Three, and his 8-for-28 record was notenough, as his team lost a seven-game series.

After the 1982 season, Cooper\'s teammate Robin Yount won the AmericanLeague MVP award, and just as in 1980 when he lost to George Brett, Cecilfinished fifth in the voting. Yount hit .331 with 29 home runs and 114 RBIs.\"Maybe, I\'m the Lou Gehrig of my time\", says Cooper \"... alwaysin the shadows of someone else. He\'s a pretty good role model, though.\"

A five-time All-Star, Cooper hit .300 or more from 1977 to 1983. Hismost productive season came in 1980, when he hit a career-high .352 (finishingsecond in the American League behind batting champion George Brett\'s .390average for the Kansas City Royals), and he also led the league in RBIs (122)and total bases (335).

In 1983 Cooper hit .307 with 30 home runs and a league-leading andcareer-high 126 RBIs. He also posted three seasons with 200-plus hits, in 1980,1982 and 1983, finished fifth in the AL MVP vote, and was named the Brewers\'team MVP in three seasons (1980, 1982–83). An excellent defensive firstbaseman, he was a two-time Gold Glove winner (1979–80). He also won the SilverSlugger Award in three straight years (1980–82); the only other Brewer to havedone so is Ryan Braun (2008–10).

Cooper concluded his major league career with 11 seasons as a Brewer,including an appearance in the 1982 World Series. Cooper holds the Milwaukeefranchise records for hits (219 in 1980). Cooper held the team record for RBIsin a season with 126 until Prince Fielder broke that record on September 19,2009 against the Houston Astros, who Cooper was managing at the time. Through2011 he was one of three Brewers who have had four 100-RBI seasons, along withPrince Fielder and Ryan Braun.[2]

While in Milwaukee, Cecil wrote a column for the Brewers\' magazine,What\'s Brewing? He wrote everything from his baseball experiences as a hitterand a first baseman to how kids could get autographs from their favoriteplayers. In 1983, Cooper won baseball\'s coveted \"Roberto Clemente\"award for his community service. Since 1970, the award has been given toplayers for their humanitarian service and initiatives. Cecil worked withAthletes for Youth, a Milwaukee-based inner city program teaching childrenabout baseball, and was honorary chairman of both the Kidney Foundation ofWisconsin 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 hedoes, he prefers to do in anonymity.\" Cecil Cooper holds Brewers singleseason record in hits (219 in 1980). As a Brewer, he is ranked third all-timein batting (.302), hits (1,815), doubles (345), and home runs (201). He issecond in RBIs with 994. In 2002 he was inducted into the Brewers Walk of Fame.

Following his retirement in 1987, Cooper became a player agent for CSMGInternational until 1996. He then worked as farm director for the Brewers aswell as a scout. In 2002, Cooper returned to the dugout as bench coach forMilwaukee. He also managed the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians in 2003–04. Cooperhad a record of 130–156, finishing fourth in 2003 and third in 2004.

In 2005, he took advantage of the opportunity to return to his nativeTexas as a bench coach for the Houston Astros. On August 27, 2007, he was namedthe interim manager of the Astros following the firing of Phil Garner, makinghim the first African American field manager in Astros\' history. The team went15–16 to finish the season in 4th place with a record of 73–89, 12 games backof division winners Chicago Cubs. On September 28, 2007, Cooper\'s interim tagwas dropped and he became the Astros\' 16th manager. In 2008 the team had awinning record of 86–75, good enough for 3rd place, but still 11 games behindthe repeating divisional winning Cubs. In Cooper\'s third full season as managerthe team slipped back to a losing record of 74–88, dropping down to 5th place,a disappointing 17 games behind the division winning St. Louis Cardinals.

Cooper was released as Astros manager on September 21, 2009.[1]

Cooper was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.

He lives now in Katy, TX with his wife Octavia and daughter Tori. Hehas two other grown daughters, Kelly and Brittany.


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