View source for Andy Cooper

{{Short description|American baseball player}}
{{For|other people named Andrew Cooper|Andrew Cooper (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Andy Cooper
|image=Andy Cooper Habana.jpg
|position=[[Pitcher]]
|bats=Right
|throws=Left
|birth_date={{birth date|1898|4|24}}
|birth_place=[[Waco, Texas]], U.S.
|death_date={{death date and age|1941|6|3|1898|4|24}}
|death_place=Waco, Texas, U.S.
|debutleague=Negro leagues
|debutdate=
|debutyear=1920
|debutteam=Detroit Stars
|finalleague=Negro leagues
|finaldate=
|finalyear=1939
|finalteam=Kansas City Monarchs
|statleague=Negro leagues{{efn|On December 16, 2020, Major League Baseball declared the Negro leagues, from the span of 1920–1948, to be a "Major League".<ref>{{cite web|title=MLB officially designates the Negro Leagues as 'Major League'|url=https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-mlb-officially-designates-the-negro-leagues-as-major-league|website=MLB.com|date=December 16, 2020|accessdate=June 6, 2024}}</ref> Cooper's statistics reflect his time in the Negro leagues from 1920–1930 and 1937 until the end of his career.}}
|stat1label=[[Win–loss record (pitching)|Win–loss record]]
|stat1value=115–61
|stat2label=[[Earned run average]]
|stat2value=3.61
|stat3label=[[Strikeout]]s
|stat3value=699
|stat4label=[[Save (baseball)|Saves]]
|stat4value=24
|stat5label=Managerial record
|stat5value=173–89–4
|stat6label=Winning %
|stat6value=.660
|teams=<!--This forces MediaWiki to recognize the first bullet. Kind of a workaround to a bug.-->
;As Player
*[[Detroit Stars]] ({{by|1920}}–{{by|1927}}, {{by|1930}})
*[[Kansas City Monarchs]] ({{by|1928}}–{{by|1929}}, {{by|1931}}–{{by|1939}})
*[[Chicago American Giants]] ({{by|1937}})
;As Manager
*[[Kansas City Monarchs]] ({{by|1937}}–{{by|1940}})
|highlights=
*[[East-West All-Star Game]] (1933, 1936)
*[[Negro National League (1920–1931)|Negro National League]] pennant ([[List of Negro league baseball champions#1920–1931: First endeavor of organized league play|1929]])
*3x [[Negro American League]] pennant ([[List of Negro league baseball champions#1936–1948: Negro league glory years|1937]], [[List of Negro league baseball champions#1936–1948: Negro league glory years|1939]], [[List of Negro league baseball champions#1936–1948: Negro league glory years|1940]])
|hoflink=National Baseball Hall of Fame
|hoftype=National
|hofdate=[[2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|2006]]
|hofmethod=Committee on African-American Baseball
}}

'''Andrew Lewis Cooper''' (April 24, 1898 – June 3, 1941), nicknamed "'''Lefty'''", was an American left-handed [[pitcher]] in [[baseball]]'s [[Negro league baseball|Negro leagues]]. He was elected to the [[Baseball Hall of Fame]] in [[2006 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|2006]]. An alumnus of [[Paul Quinn College]], Cooper played nine seasons for the [[Detroit Stars]] and ten seasons for the [[Kansas City Monarchs]], and briefly played for the [[Chicago American Giants]]. The Texan was {{convert|6|ft|2|in|cm}} tall and weighed {{convert|220|lb|kg st}}.

In defiance of a threatened five-year Negro league ban for contract jumping, Cooper joined a 1927 [[barnstorm (sports)|barnstorming]] team that toured Hawaii and Japan. He spent most of his later career with the Monarchs. Cooper is the Negro league record holder for career [[save (baseball)|saves]]. In a 1937 playoff game, he pitched 17 innings. Cooper served as manager or player-manager for the Monarchs from 1937 to 1940, leading the team to the pennant three times during those four seasons.

==Early life==
Cooper was born in [[Waco, Texas]], where he attended A. J. Moore High School. He continued his education in Waco at [[Paul Quinn College]] (the school moved to Dallas in 1990).<ref name=Cherry>{{cite web|last1=Cherry|first1=Brice|title=All-Time Super Centex Baseball Team a look back at area's hardball history|url=http://www.wacotrib.com/sports/columns/brice_cherry/brice-cherry-all-time-super-centex-baseball-team-a-look/article_9c197dfd-30b1-5955-9cf2-a59386d9e101.html|publisher=[[Waco Tribune-Herald]]|access-date=August 20, 2014|date=July 14, 2013}}</ref>

==Career==

===Early career===
Cooper pitched for the Detroit Stars from 1920 to 1927. The Stars played in [[Mack Park]], which was noted for its short fences. Despite the hitter-friendly dimensions of the park, Cooper excelled as a pitcher in Detroit.<ref name=Windsor/> The short fences often allowed Detroit's powerful hitters to provide good [[run support]] for Cooper.<ref name=Falkoff>{{cite web|last1=Falkoff|first1=Robert|title=Southpaw piled up the victories|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060217&content_id=1313719&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb|work=[[MLB.com]]|access-date=August 20, 2014|date=February 21, 2006}}</ref> In ''The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract'', James characterized Cooper as the best Negro league pitcher of 1923.<ref name=James>{{cite book|last1=James|first1=Bill|title=The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract|date=2010|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|isbn=978-1439106938|page=176}}</ref>

Cooper was traded to the Kansas City Monarchs for five players in 1928.<ref name=Windsor/> He became known for his durability as a pitcher. To open the 1928 season, the left-hander pitched a two-hit shutout against the [[Cleveland Tigers (baseball)|Cleveland Tigers]], which he followed with a 4-3 win over the Tigers the next day.<ref name=Satchel>{{cite book|editor1-last=Heaphy|editor1-first=Leslie|title=Satchel Paige and Company: Essays on the Kansas City Monarchs, Their Greatest Star and the Negro Leagues|date=2007|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786430758|page=236|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GPmwCYht6lcC&pg=PA236}}</ref>

===Later career===
Cooper returned to the Stars for another season in 1930. In nine years with the Stars, he earned a 92-47 record.<ref name=Bak>{{cite book|last1=Bak|first1=Richard|title=Cobb Would Have Caught it: The Golden Age of Baseball in Detroit|date=1991|publisher=[[Wayne State University Press]]|isbn=0814323561|page=96|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AEmKVlDh6MC&pg=PA96|access-date=August 20, 2014}}</ref> He rejoined the Monarchs in 1931. One of his best years was 1936, when he went 27–8 against all levels of competition. He made his only All-Star appearance that season, as Negro league All-Star games had not been played until three years earlier.<ref name=Satchel/>

Cooper became player-manager of the Monarchs in 1937. The Monarchs joined the newly formed [[Negro American League]] (NAL) that year. As manager for the Monarchs, he won three pennants, the most for any manager in the era of the league.<ref name=Lester>{{cite book|last1=Lester|first1=Larry|title=Black Baseball's National Showcase: The East-West All-Star Game, 1933-1953|date=2001|publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]]|isbn=0803280009|page=96|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hyOlfFqihAoC&pg=PA96}}</ref> Nearing the end of his career, Cooper pitched 17 innings in a playoff game that year versus the [[Chicago American Giants]].<ref name=HOF>{{cite web|title=Cooper, Andy|url=http://baseballhall.org/hof/cooper-andy|publisher=[[Baseball Hall of Fame]]|access-date=August 20, 2014}}</ref> Cooper gave up two runs in the first inning of the game, but he pitched 16 subsequent scoreless innings. In ''Black Baseball in Kansas City'', Cooper was described as having "more junk than Fred Sanford", but he walked only one batter.<ref name=KC>{{cite book|last1=Lester|first1=Larry|last2=Miller|first2=Sammy|title=Black Baseball in Kansas City|date=2000|publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]]|isbn=073850842X|page=42|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SYJeSYvOOdsC&pg=PA42}}</ref> The game was declared a tie after the 17th inning, but the Monarchs won the playoff series four games to one with the one tie.<ref name=Lester/>

Cooper became known for his ability to alter the speed of his pitches.<ref name=Falkoff/> He threw a [[fastball]], a [[curveball]] and a [[screwball]].<ref name=Hall>{{cite book|title=The Hall: A Celebration of Baseball's Greats in Stories and Images, the Complete Roster of Inductees|date=2014|publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company]]|isbn=978-0316213035|page=292|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oeriAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT292|access-date=August 20, 2014}}</ref> He also had a well-known [[pickoff]] move.<ref name=Belated>{{cite news|last1=Goldstein|first1=Richard|title=Belated Recognition: The 17 Inductees|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/sports/27capsules.ready.html?pagewanted=print|access-date=August 20, 2014|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 27, 2006}}</ref> He posted a 116–57 career record and went 72–30 over a six-year span. He often pitched three games in a five-game series, starting two and relieving another. He holds the Negro league career record for [[save (sport)|saves]] (29). Negro league historian Dick Clark called Cooper the greatest pitcher to play for Detroit, either for the Stars or the Tigers.<ref name=Hall/> By 1940, Cooper had managed the team to three pennants.<ref name=Belated/>

[[File:Cooper_Andy_1920.jpg|thumb|right|Cooper with the [[Detroit Stars]] in 1920]]
Negro league star [[Buck O'Neil]] said that Cooper and Kansas City owner [[J. L. Wilkinson]] were responsible for O'Neil joining the NAL and ultimately becoming a member of the Monarchs. In 1937, Cooper and Wilkinson were impressed by O'Neil but the team had a first baseman who was returning from an injury. They encouraged O'Neil to sign with the [[Memphis Red Sox]]. The Monarchs traded their first baseman the next year and purchased O'Neil's contract from Memphis.<ref name=Vincent>{{cite book|last1=Vincent|first1=Fay|title=The Only Game in Town: Baseball Stars of the 1930s and 1940s Talk About the Game They Loved|date=2007|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|isbn=978-0743273183|page=87|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7jZ1ouQExHAC&pg=PA87|access-date=August 20, 2014}}</ref>

===Winter leagues and barnstorming teams===
Cooper also played several seasons of winter baseball. He played in Cuba during the winters of 1923-24, 1924–25 and 1928–29;<ref name=McNeil>{{cite book|last1=McNeil|first1=William|title=The California Winter League: America's First Integrated Professional Baseball League|date=2002|publisher=McFarland|isbn=0786413018|page=266|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFbNFepzahwC&pg=PA140|access-date=August 20, 2014}}</ref> he compiled a 15-17 record there.

By 1927, player pay had been cut and morale was low in the NNL and the [[Eastern Colored League]] (ECL). To limit the options of the players, the leagues announced a five-year ban on any contract-jumping players. Cooper and three other Negro league players - [[Biz Mackey]], [[Rap Dixon]] and [[Frank Duncan (baseball, born 1901)|Frank Duncan]] - decided to test the ban. They joined a traveling all-star team, the Philadelphia Royal Giants, in a four-month [[barnstorm (sports)|barnstorming]] tour of Japan.<ref name=Lanctot/> The team traveled by ocean liner and it took 20 days to arrive in Japan. On their return, they played some games in Honolulu. The team won all 23 games they played on the tour.<ref name=Transpacific>{{cite book|last1=Guthrie-Shimizu|first1=Sayuri|title=Transpacific Field of Dreams: How Baseball Linked the United States and Japan in Peace and War|date=2012|publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]]|isbn=978-0807882665|page=[https://archive.org/details/transpacificfiel0000guth/page/166 166]|url=https://archive.org/details/transpacificfiel0000guth|url-access=registration|access-date=August 20, 2014}}</ref>  
Upon his return, Cooper received a 30-day suspension and a $200 fine.<ref name=Lanctot>{{cite book|last1=Lanctot|first1=Neil|title=Fair Dealing and Clean Playing: The Hilldale Club and the Development of Black Professional Baseball, 1910-1932|date=1994|publisher=[[Syracuse University Press]]|isbn=0815608659|page=155|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qhfIm-n2TtEC&pg=PA155}}</ref>

Cooper went barnstorming in the Pacific with the Royal Giants in 1932-33. The team earned a 47-2-1 record as they visited the Philippines, China, Korea and Japan. Cooper recorded a .342 batting average on the trip. The next year, he accompanied the Royal Giants to Japan, China, the Philippines and Hawaii for a four-month, 35-game trip.<ref name=Pay>{{cite book|last1=McNeil|first1=William|title=Black Baseball Out of Season: Pay for Play Outside of the Negro Leagues|date=2007|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786429011|page=108|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIAFHM-lVeYC&pg=PA108|access-date=August 20, 2014}}</ref>

==Personal==
Cooper had one son, Andy Cooper Jr.<ref name=Windsor>{{cite news|last1=Windsor|first1=Shawn|title=The long journey to the Hall of Fame for Lefty Cooper began with newspaper box scores and a man from Ypsilanti|work=[[The Detroit Free Press]]|date=July 23, 2006}}</ref>

==Illness and death==
According to reports in the ''[[Chicago Defender]]'', Cooper reportedly suffered a [[stroke]] early in the 1941 pre-season. He left for his home in Waco to rest and recover, leaving [[Newt Allen]] as interim manager, but suffered a fatal [[heart attack]] on June 3, having never returned to the Monarchs. He was buried in [[Greenwood Cemetery (Waco)|Greenwood Cemetery]] in Waco.<ref name=Cherry/>

==Legacy==
Cooper was inducted into the [[Baseball Hall of Fame]] in 2006. His Hall of Fame class included 17 black players and executives from the Negro league or pre-Negro league eras. A special committee had been formed that year to select the group, and it narrowed down a pool of 39 candidates to arrive at the final selections.<ref name=Barrier>{{cite news|last1=Brown|first1=Tim|title=Another barrier broken: Woman to go into Hall|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-feb-28-sp-hall28-story.html|access-date=August 20, 2014|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=February 28, 2006}}</ref>

The [[109th United States Congress]] issued a resolution that year honoring the 2006 Negro league and pre-Negro league inductees.<ref name=GPO>{{cite web|title=S. Res. 386 Agreed to Senate (ATS)|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-109sres386ats/html/BILLS-109sres386ats.htm|publisher=[[United States Government Printing Office]]|access-date=August 20, 2014}}</ref> As of 2014, Cooper is one of eleven inductees whose plaques do not depict them wearing a cap with a team logo.<ref name=Mitchell>{{cite news|last1=Mitchell|first1=Houston|title=Greg Maddux, Tony La Russa will have no logo on Hall of Fame plaque|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2014/jan/24/sports/la-sp-sn-greg-maddux-tony-la-russa-no-logo-20140124|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140619013603/http://articles.latimes.com/2014/jan/24/sports/la-sp-sn-greg-maddux-tony-la-russa-no-logo-20140124|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 19, 2014|access-date=August 20, 2014|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=January 24, 2014}}</ref>

In 2014, Cooper made the final ballot for election to the [[Texas Sports Hall of Fame]].<ref name=TSHOF>{{cite web|last1=Cherry|first1=Brice|title=Olympic champion Wariner heads Texas Sports Hall of Fame ballot|date=5 June 2014 |url=http://www.wacotrib.com/sports/texas_sports_hall_of_fame/olympic-champion-wariner-heads-texas-sports-hall-of-fame-ballot/article_63976da6-a8c8-5d53-9a43-f235fb9f1f01.html?mode=jqm|publisher=[[Waco Tribune-Herald]]|access-date=August 20, 2014}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Baseballstats|mlb=819990|br=c/coopean99}}, or [https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=cooper001and Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats], or [https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=coope01and Seamheads]
* {{baseball-reference manager|coopean99}}
* {{bbhof|cooper-andy}}
* {{Find a Grave|15685451}}

{{Kansas City Monarchs}}
{{2006 Baseball HOF}}
{{Baseball Hall of Fame members}}
{{Detroit Negro league baseball}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Andy}}
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1941 deaths]]
[[Category:National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Negro league baseball managers]]
[[Category:Chicago American Giants players]]
[[Category:Detroit Stars players]]
[[Category:Kansas City Monarchs players]]
[[Category:Baseball players from Waco, Texas]]
[[Category:Paul Quinn Tigers baseball players]]
[[Category:Baseball pitchers]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American sportsmen]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]
[[Category:Baseball coaches from Texas]]