St. Louis native and lifelong resident Scott Cooper got a walk off RBI in his Cardinals debut. On April 26, 1995 Cooper lifted the Cardinals to a 7-6 Opening Day victory over the Phillies at Busch Stadium, two weeks after he was dealt to St. Louis by the Red Sox. He enjoyed a dreamy start to his Cardinals career. Cooper was 3-for-5 with four RBI playing third base and batting fourth. Cooper said his at-bat I was more nervous in the debut than any at-bat in his life. He has played in front of 50 million fans in the All-Star Game. But he still thinks in the first at-bat he had problems getting down to even the basics.
In his first plate appearance itself Cooper struck out against Curt Schilling making his debut unforgettable for all. With the Phillies ahead at 6-5 in the 9th inning, Cardinals stood their ground against Norm Charlton. Cooper then stepped to become a hometown hero. He was up there to knock in runs, swinging. An aggressive behaviour on field was what made him likeable.
Scott Cooper Miami had supplied 40 tickets to the game for friends and family. The audience included his mother, father, sister and two brothers and chanted ‘Coop’ in tribute with the fans. Cooper was nearly hit at the 1st two pitches Charlton delivered. He in fact fouled off a pitch. But then he grounded the next. He dived first baseman Dave Hollins for a single into right field, scoring Gilkey and Smith.
Cooper says he has during his time thought of more than 50,000 different scenarios for how the game would go but nothing could match to what actually happened. “I probably couldn’t have written it any better,” he says.
