Wilbur Cooper

Who was Wilbur Cooper?

Arley Wilbur Cooper was an American left-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played most of his career for the Pittsburgh Pirates. A four-time winner of 20 games in the early 1920s, he was the first National League left-hander to win 200 games. He established NL records for left-handers – second only to Eddie Plank among all southpaws – for career wins, innings pitched and games started; all were broken within several years by Eppa Rixey. His career earned run average of 2.89 is also the lowest of any left-hander with at least 3000 innings in the NL. He still holds the Pirates franchise records for career victories and complete games; he also set club records, since broken, for innings, strikeouts, and games pitched.