Longtime White Sox Coach Don Cooper Dies at 70

Don Cooper, the longtime Chicago White Sox pitching coach who helped guide the team to its 2005 World Series title, died at 70, his family said. The family said he died peacefully on September 22. No cause of death was disclosed. The White Sox said Cooper spent 33 seasons coaching in the organization, from 1988 through 2020, including 18 full seasons as the major-league pitching coach. The team announced his death on September 23 and paid tribute to his role in one of the franchise’s defining seasons. Cooper was the pitching coach for Chicago’s 2005 championship team. During that postseason, White Sox starters completed four consecutive games, a feat the team said had not been achieved by a club in a single postseason since the 1928 New York Yankees. Chicago went on to sweep the Houston Astros in the World Series, securing its first title since 1917. The run cemented Cooper’s place in the team’s history, but his connection to the White Sox extended well beyond that season. The organization first hired him in 1988 as a minor-league pitching coach. He later became a minor-league pitching coordinator and joined the major-league coaching staff in 2002.