Leonard Leslie "King" Cole (April 15, 1886 – January 6, 1916) was an American
professional baseball player in the early 20th century. He started his baseball career as a
pitcher with the
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
of
Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1909.
With the
1910 Cubs, Cole had a record of 20–4 and helped the team win the
National League pennant. On July 31 of that season, he pitched all seven innings in a 4–0 Cubs win over the
St. Louis Cardinals, without giving up a hit. It was the second game of a
doubleheader: the teams had agreed to end the game at 5 p.m. so they could catch their trains.
Due to a 1991 change to the official MLB definition of a
no-hitter
In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...
—it must last at least nine innings—Cole's effort is not recognized by as a no-hitter by MLB.
[
Cole's 20–4 record in 1910 was the third-best single-season winning percentage (.833) for a Cubs pitcher in the 20th century. Cole was traded to the ]Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...
in May 1912, did not play in the major leagues in 1913, then played for the New York Yankees in 1914 and 1915. On October 2, 1914, Cole gave up a double to Babe Ruth, then a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, for Ruth's first hit in the major leagues.
In 1915, Cole was diagnosed with lung cancer; he died in January 1916.Alibi Ike
''Alibi Ike'' is a 1935 American romantic comedy film directed by Ray Enright and starring Joe E. Brown, Olivia de Havilland and William Frawley. Based on the short story of the same name by Ring Lardner, first published in the ''Saturday Evening ...
'' stories.
See also
* List of baseball players who died during their careers
*List of Major League Baseball annual ERA leaders
In baseball, earned run average (ERA) is a statistic used to evaluate pitchers, calculated as the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. A pitcher is assessed an earned run for each run scored by a baserunner who reach ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, King
1886 births
1916 deaths
Chicago Cubs players
Pittsburgh Pirates players
New York Yankees players
Major League Baseball pitchers
Baseball players from Iowa
National League ERA champions
Bay City (minor league baseball) players
Columbus Senators players
Deaths from lung cancer
People from Toledo, Iowa
Deaths from cancer in Michigan