Don Cooper’s biggest impact in baseball came long after his days on the mound, but his playing career still connected him to three MLB teams before he became one of the White Sox’s most familiar voices and presences.
Cooper died at 70, closing the book on a baseball life that stretched from a 17th-round Yankees draft pick in 1978 to 33 seasons in Chicago’s organization, including 18 years as the White Sox’s pitching coach from 1988-2020.
His time with the White Sox included the 2005 World Series run, when Chicago became the first team since the 1928 New York Yankees to throw four straight complete games in a single postseason. Chris Getz, now the White Sox general manager, remembered the way Cooper carried himself around the club.
“He made so many pitchers better through the years,” former White Sox second baseman and current general manager Chris Getz told the team’s website. “He had that Northeast very direct personality that resonated really well within the White Sox culture and clubhouse and I think fans adored him as well.”
Before coaching became his calling, Cooper bounced around the majors as a right-hander. The Yankees drafted him out of the New York Institute of Technology, and the Minnesota Twins later took him in the 1980 Rule 5 draft. He broke in with Minnesota in 1981, making 27 appearances and two starts while going 1-5 with a 4.30 ERA.
The Twins dealt him to Toronto in December 1982 for Dave Baker, and Cooper spent most of the 1983 season with the Blue Jays’ Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs. Working out of the bullpen, he went 10-5 with a 3.21 ERA. He also appeared in four games for Toronto, allowing four runs in 5.1 innings for a 6.75 ERA.
Toronto later sent him back to the Yankees in March 1984 for minor league outfielder Derwin McNealy. Cooper finished his big league career with seven appearances out of New York’s bullpen in 1985, then spent his final two seasons in the minors before retiring as a pitcher after 1987. His MLB line ended at 1-6 with a 5.27 ERA.
If the playing career was modest, the coaching résumé was something else entirely. Former White Sox executive Ken Williams didn’t hesitate to spell that out.
“I will always believe him to be one of the best pitching coaches the game has seen,” former White Sox executive Ken Williams said of Cooper.
The White Sox also acknowledged Cooper’s death on social media, saying, “The White Sox send our condolences to the family, friends and fans of Don Cooper, who has passed away at 70.”
Over the long run, Chicago’s pitching groups carried Cooper’s imprint. From 2003-20, the White Sox staff ranked fourth in baseball in FanGraphs’ version of WAR, even while the team cycled through different front-line arms from Mark Buehrle to Chris Sale and dealt with uneven offensive support.
Former players remembered him warmly, too, and that personal imprint was part of what made Cooper such a fixture in the organization for more than three decades.
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