Christian Cook, center, after receiving the Eric Cooper All-Heart Award for showing the most heart during the Official Leadership Program in Des Moines. Bill Cooper (right) is Eric’s dad; Donna (left) is Bill’s wife.
Before he started umpiring, Christian Cook was like most baseball fans. He would watch games on TV and wonder why an umpire made a call.
“I thought, ‘How did you miss that?’ ” Christian said. “Man, that’s the easiest call of your life. Then I started umpiring, and I realized it’s a lot harder than I thought. Now I watch TV, and I think that’s gotta be such a hard call.”
Sometimes, when he’s working a game, trying to get the best angle of home plate, and he said he has one thought racing through his brain: “I wish I could have instant replay in my mind.”
Christian, 14, has been around baseball most of his life. His brother plays. He plays. Dad played too. Even mom played softball. But as Christian watched more and more baseball, he got intrigued with the umpires and how they worked games.
A local umpire assignor, J.P. Richardson, suggested that Christian try the UMPS CARE Charities Official Leadership Program. This free, 6-week course trains teens like Christian, on the field in umpiring mechanics and in the classroom where students learned leadership and life skills.
The Official Leadership Program is offered for free to teens in central Iowa through the generosity of Travis Gorsch, Larry Jacobus, J.P. Richardson, the Cooper family, Mike Everitt and supporters of the annual Eric Cooper Memorial Bowling Tournament Presented by the Iowa Cubs.
Every weekend since graduating from the course, Christian has been on the field working games. He was pretty low-key when asked how often he was umpiring, but then his mom, Sydney, jumped in. To date, she said, he has umpired 54 games for teams with kids as young as 9 to players as old as 14.
Christian really enjoys umpiring games for the 10-year-olds, saying, “You really have to teach them things they don’t know. I like that.”
With his passion for learning and for the sport, it’s little wonder why the Official Leadership Program instructors awarded him with the Eric Cooper All-Heart Award. Cooper, a product of Des Moines who went on to become a Major League Baseball Umpire, died unexpectedly in 2019, and the program (and the heart award) are our way of continuing his legacy in his home state.
Bill Cooper, Eric’s father, and his wife, Donna, presented Christian with the All-Heart Award on the last day of the course. The family did not know much about Eric before Christian received the award, but they did some research when they got home. They posted about the award on social media.
“There were so many of our friends who saw the post, and said, ‘Wow, Eric is so famous, we know all about him and his story,’ ” Christian’s mom, Sydney, said. “There aren’t a lot of people who make it to the MLB level, or umpire in general but then to have someone from Iowa that made it. … Everybody was impressed with the award and the work Christian had done to try to earn it.”
Christian said that knowing that someone from Iowa made it to the Major League level is inspiring, adding, “It is possible.”
Christian came away with new knowledge about how to umpire, but he also left the class with skills such as goal-setting, financial literacy and conflict resolution. He knew umpiring was a great way to earn money, but prior to taking this course he didn’t know anything about what to do with the money he earned.
“I didn’t know the first thing about saving,” Christian said. “I’d never saved a dollar in my life.”
After the classroom session on financial literacy, he told his parents he needed to set up a Roth IRA. For those who haven’t taken the Official Leadership Program course, a Roth IRA is retirement savings tool that offers tax-free growth and tax-free withdrawals in retirement.
“He told us, the next time you meet with your financial advisors, can you talk about setting up an IRA for me?” Sydney said. “We went to our financial advisors and told them this story, and they said, ‘That is amazing. Nobody comes in here asking about that at 14.’ ”
Next thing you know, the paperwork was drafted and signed. Proud parent moment for sure.
Christian has, however, treated himself to a small splurge with his newfound funds – he bought himself some sports trading cards.
After graduating from the Official Leadership Program, 14-year-old Christian has been taking his skills to the diamond. He has worked 54 games since taking our 6-week umpiring and leadership course.
He’s also more mature than his years on the field. Early on, a coach “got into my face,” after he made a call on the field. What really helped Christian, is that he was able to reach out to J.P. Richardson, one of the Official Leadership Program’s instructors, for guidance.
“J.P. told me that what parents and coaches say is not personal,” Christian said. “That really helped me in a few situations where some guys have gotten on my nerves. I remember that.”
The course, and the mentorship, have improved Christian’s confidence level.
“It’s a scary thing when you’re the person that’s making the calls, and you’ve got parents chirping behind you, you’ve got coaches that are decades older than you getting in your face,” Sydney said.
“I’ve noticed a big difference between his first game and now,” added Christian’s dad, Chris.
The bottom line is that Christian loves making the calls, even the tough ones. And just like Eric Cooper, he is getting his plate shoes wet in Des Moines.
Who knows what the future holds?
Special thanks to the Cooper Family, Travis Gorsch, Larry Jacobus, J.P. Richardson, Mike Everitt, the Iowa Cubs and everyone who has supported the Eric Cooper Memorial Bowling Tournament Presented By The Iowa Cubs who have made the Official Leadership Program possible in Des Moines.