There are some people who say that the Cardinals could run out nine random players and fans in St. Louis would show up for the game in mass. In the decade leading up to 1995, the Cardinals finished somewhere between first and third every year until 1993 when the team finished 6th. In 1994, the team's attendance was 5th in the National League. The team took a big hit with the fans after Gussie Busch died and August Busch IV took over the team and spent nothing on the team until 1995.
Before the 1995 season started the Cardinals traded for Ken Hill and signed Danny Jackson. Ken Hill lead the National League in wins during the 1994 season and Danny Jackson finished second. The team signed closer Tom Henke who hailed from the Jefferson City area. The team had one of the most exciting young outfields in the National League at the time with Ray Lankford, Brian Jordan, and Bernard Gilkey.
Cooper was the icing on the cake. The Cardinals traded for him on April 9th, 1995 at the end of Spring Training. The season started later that year because of the baseball strike.
Cardinals fans were excited to have another hometown player on the team. Cooper is from Maryland Heights, about twenty minutes northwest of the St. Louis, and attended Pattonville High School. Add in Bernard Gilkey from University City, just outside of St. Louis, and add in the previously mentioned Tom Henke too.
The Cooper traded was a complete disaster.
The first five games of the season were good. Cooper hit .350, but a stint on the disabled list cut short his April. He returned in May and never hit much after that point. Cooper had two months were he hit below .200 and two months where his OPS failed to make it above .500.
In retrospect, Cooper was very much a pre-sabermetrics All-Star. He was a decent hitter, he replaced Wade Boggs as the Red Sox third baseman and did a decent job, and he was pretty popular with Red Sox fans at the time. The Sox were low on talent at this point though outside of Mo Vaughn and John Valentin. Cooper was essentially an average, replacement level, player.
In 1994, Cooper had actually hit .292/.341/.500 with 13 home runs, 4 triples, and 15 doubles before the All-Star break. He had a shoulder injury, never good, and hit .239/.299/.254 after his return. I guess the Cardinals just focused in on that first half when they made the trade.
Despite the fact that Cooper's lone season in St. Louis was not very good, he remains visible around the town. He participates in the team's annual Caravan which takes Cardinals players to areas around Missouri and Illinois.....
he is pictured here with Ray King in Carbondale, Illinois.
Cooper also coached baseball at Fontbonne, a small college outside of St. Louis, for a few years. Now, on to the baseball card portion of the post.
Cooper's Cardinals cards are a mix of 1995 and 1996 issues. I am going heavy on the 1996 cards. Three cards, all are from the 1996 season.
Going simple to start out.
Collector's Choice was released in two different series. The first was at the end of 1995, the second in the middle of June 1996. Cooper was obviously in the second series with this picture coming from Spring Training. Cool action shot on the card too. Upper Deck used to make such great baseball cards, even when they were cheap cards that were sold at Wal-Mart, like the Collector's Choice set.
Nobody really raves about the 1995 Stadium Club set. Not really one of their better efforts, but I still like this Cooper card. Simple picture of him hitting during batting practice. Love that Mark DeJohn, long time Cardinals Minor League coach, is crashing the background on this card.
I also like the blue batting helmet that Cooper is wearing. For years, the Cardinals always wore blue hats and helmets on the road, but they have gone away from them the past few years. Always a good look, wish the team would leave it alone.
Last card.
I like this picture of Cooper on his 1996 Topps card. Of the three cards I have posted, this picture is probably the third best, since you cannot see his face. He also doesn't have some cool batting stance or follow thru.
Someone like Jeromy Burnitz can pull off something like that.......
I like that the back of this card has a nice blurb about Cooper. Yes, he played poorly in St. Louis. Given the fact that he had a shoulder injury, and hit poorly the year before he was traded to the Cardinals, the expectations were probably way to high for him as a Cardinal. Three hits on Opening Night, and a great series against the Cubs, appears to be the high of Cooper's time as a Cardinals player.
Considering the 1995 were the second worst team in the National League, saved by the Pirates, there were plenty of other players who also had their shortcomings beyond Cooper.
A random 1995 song off of my IPod.
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