Bizarro Player Profile: Cecil Cooper

Good article at Boston.com on new Houston Astros manager Cecil Cooper ('93), the former Red Sox and Brewers first baseman who is one of the Bizarro HOF's most accomplished members.

"The one thing you always watch when a coach gets a manager's job is, does he change?" said Astros second baseman Mark Loretta. "In Coop's case, he didn't change one bit, and I think that the guys really appreciate that."

"I believe you need to get your team on the right page, get out of the way, and let them play," Cooper said. "You have to have a firm hand. That, I believe in. I don't want guys running haywire, and you can't let them run over you. There'll be rules. The strictest of all will be what everybody should abide by: Be on time. Be professional and do it the right way. Part of my big spiel to them was play right, practice right, and they won't have any issues with me."

It will be interesting to see how the players respond to Cooper's "firm hand." Personally, I'd last about ten seconds - punctuality has never been my strong suit - but it sounds like he has the support of veterans like Loretta, which is a key detail.

One other thing that stood out from the article:

"Cooper, 58, is thus the first African-American player who came up through the Red Sox system and went on to manage in the majors. That is significant for an organization that once was considered racist by some and didn't employ an African-American player until 1959, when Pumpsie Green was called up from the minors."

Question: where, exactly, are the people that look back on the 1950s Red Sox and think for one second that the organization wasn't racist in nature? I love the Sox, I love New England sports, and I hate the ongoing "Everyone in Boston is a racist!" joke that has recently gained a foothold on the Internet, but facts are facts: the people who put together those teams did not do so by determining which players were the best fit or the most talented; their first qualification was skin color.

A bench mark for Cooper (Boston.com)

Welcome to the Bizarro Hall of Fame

The Bizarro Hall of Fame is an "organization" dedicated to recognizing Major League Baseball players whose careers met the eligibility requirements for enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame and who appeared on the ballot but were not so fortunate as to actually receive a vote from the Baseball Writers Association of America. It first appeared at One More Dying Quail on January 11, 2007 - almost ten months later, on September 28 (my wife's birthday, incidentally), the final historical group, the Class of 1978, was inducted.

Shortly after that post, the decision was made to create a new home for the BizHOF, a place for the initial concept to spread its wings, where each member could be honored to the greatest extent and the endless minutiae of their careers could be explored at a leisurely pace.

This is that place.

It's pretty barren around here right now, but hopefully you come back in the near future, when more building blocks have been added, and take a look around. Comments and recommendations are always welcome, so feel free to speak your mind and tell me what you think.