Don Cooper, White Sox Pitching Coach, Dies At 70

Cooper died Tuesday at his home in Brentwood, Tennessee, and his family announced it Wednesday without giving a cause. On the South Side, 'Coop' was never just a coach. He was the White Sox pitching staff from 1988 through 2020, first as a minor league instructor, then for 18 seasons as the big-league pitching coach. For a generation of Sox fans, Cooper standing in the dugout was just part of the ballpark.

Jon Morosi

@jonmorosi

Legend. My prayers are with Coop’s family and many friends around the game.

Chicago White Sox@whitesox

The White Sox send our condolences to the family, friends and fans of Don Cooper, who has passed away at 70. Don Cooper spent 33 seasons as a coach in the White Sox organization from 1988-2020, including 18 full seasons as the major-league pitching coach. Cooper served as the pitching coach for the 2005 World Series champion club, which became the first team since the 1928 Yankees to toss four consecutive complete games in a single postseason. Forever in our thoughts.

The résumé holds up. The 2005 staff put up a 3.61 ERA and then did something nobody had seen in the playoffs in decades. In the ALCS against the Angels, Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Freddy Garcia and Jose Contreras went the distance in Games 2 through 5. That's 4 straight complete games, and it sent Chicago to the World Series it went on to win. Buehrle also threw a perfect game and a no-hitter with Cooper as his coach, Philip Humber threw a perfect game, and Lucas Giolito threw a no-hitter in 2020, Cooper's last year.

Contreras came to Chicago in 2004 as a Cuban veteran who was struggling to find his footing in the States. He became a key piece of that title rotation, and when he talked to Scott Merkin of MLB.com about Cooper, the pitching barely came up. He talked about family.

Scott Merkin

@scottmerkin

Jose Contreras told me when he heard the news about Don Cooper passing, it was like losing a member of his family.

The way Contreras tells it, that connection started the first day they met. Cooper spoke some Spanish to a pitcher who needed to hear it, and it made a difference. That's coaching you won't find in a box score.

Scott Merkin

@scottmerkin

Jose Contreras on first meeting Coop: "The day I met him, he gave me a hug like he knew me for a long time. He spoke with me in Spanish a little bit. I said, ‘Ok, that’s good. That’s what I need.’"

Merkin said Contreras also talked about how much Cooper helped him away from the field, and he added some of his own memories: 2 decades of conversations with Coop about life outside baseball. He called him a true baseball original in the best way, which is about the most fitting thing anyone has said.

Scott Merkin

@scottmerkin

Jose Contreras also talked of how Coop helped him as much off the field as on the field. I can add that I had some great talks with Coop about life beyond baseball over the two decades I knew him. A true baseball original in the best way.

The current front office said the same thing. General manager Chris Getz called him a legendary coach and person, and when Getz thought about Cooper he thought about the pitchers first. 'The guys loved him' is a short sentence, but it's the one every pitching coach would want on their tombstone.

Scott Merkin

@scottmerkin

Chris Getz on Coop: "Certainly a legendary coach and person. Someone who made such a mark on the Chicago White Sox. When I think of Don Cooper, I think of the players, the pitchers that pitched for him. The guys loved him."

Cooper also pitched in the big leagues himself. The Yankees drafted him in 1978, and he got into 44 games with a 5.27 ERA. The job that mattered came after that. He served as interim manager for the last 2 games of 2011 after Ozzie Guillen left, and he was let go after the 2020 season along with Rick Renteria. Across 33 years, the Sox won a ring, their pitchers threw 3 perfect games and no-hitters between them, and a long list of arms came up under him. Expect the organization to honor him before this season is out. Rest easy, Coop.