Major League Baseball Player. Pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Yankees. He was the pitcher who gave Red Sox rookie Babe Ruth his first hit (a double base hit) of his career. Born in Toledo, Iowa, he was separated from his parents at an early age, and when he was 14, he lived as a student in the Industrial School for Boys in Eldora. In 1908 he was the winning pitcher for the minor league Bay City, Michigan team, when they won the pennant for their city. He was immediately recruited to the Chicago Nationals (changed that year to the Chicago Cubs), where Cole made his major league debut, stopping the Cardinals, 8 to 0. On July 31, 1910, Cole pitched a seven-inning no-hitter for a 4-0 win over St. Louis. Cole finished the 1910 season with a .883 league leading percentage and a 20-4 record, the major league’s best winning percentage (and the best by a Chicago Cub in the entire twentieth century), however, the Cubs lost the 1910 World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics 4 games to 1. The only game of the World Series that the Cubs won was the 4th game, and it was the only game that Cole pitched in. Cole played for the Cubs from 1909 to 1912, then played two years with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and from 1914-1915 with the New York Yankees. Sports writer and author Ring Lardner gave Cole immortality when Lardner developed him as the hero for his Alibi Ike series of short stories. A slow-thinking poker player, his manager Frank Chance once threatened Cole with a $50 fine unless he quit spoiling poker games on the team's train trips. Cole would pitch ten games in his last season with the Yankees, when he died from cancer at age 29 in Bay City, Michigan.
Major League Baseball Player. Pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Yankees. He was the pitcher who gave Red Sox rookie Babe Ruth his first hit (a double base hit) of his career. Born in Toledo, Iowa, he was separated from his parents at an early age, and when he was 14, he lived as a student in the Industrial School for Boys in Eldora. In 1908 he was the winning pitcher for the minor league Bay City, Michigan team, when they won the pennant for their city. He was immediately recruited to the Chicago Nationals (changed that year to the Chicago Cubs), where Cole made his major league debut, stopping the Cardinals, 8 to 0. On July 31, 1910, Cole pitched a seven-inning no-hitter for a 4-0 win over St. Louis. Cole finished the 1910 season with a .883 league leading percentage and a 20-4 record, the major league’s best winning percentage (and the best by a Chicago Cub in the entire twentieth century), however, the Cubs lost the 1910 World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics 4 games to 1. The only game of the World Series that the Cubs won was the 4th game, and it was the only game that Cole pitched in. Cole played for the Cubs from 1909 to 1912, then played two years with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and from 1914-1915 with the New York Yankees. Sports writer and author Ring Lardner gave Cole immortality when Lardner developed him as the hero for his Alibi Ike series of short stories. A slow-thinking poker player, his manager Frank Chance once threatened Cole with a $50 fine unless he quit spoiling poker games on the team's train trips. Cole would pitch ten games in his last season with the Yankees, when he died from cancer at age 29 in Bay City, Michigan.
Bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson
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