Wilbur Cooper

Cooper was born in Bearsville, West Virginia, and his family moved to Waterford, Ohio when he was a boy. He began his professional career in 1911 with a Marion, Ohio minor league team partially owned by future U.S. President Warren G. Harding; some reports suggested that Harding was the person who recommended Cooper to the Pirates, although he pitched for another minor league team before reaching the majors. In his first start with Pittsburgh in 1912, he pitched a shutout against the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1916 he set a team record, still unbroken, with a 1.87 earned run average. He won at least 17 games each year from 1917 through 1924, peaking with seasons of 24, 22 and 23 wins from 1920 to 1922, and led the league in starts and complete games twice each, and in wins, innings and shutouts once each. He worked quickly in his starts, often not getting the signal from his catcher until h…