Purple Row: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Around SBN: ACC Power Rankings: 2.8

Rockies Retro: Alex Cole

This installment of Rockies Retro goes in a little bit different direction than the previous editions. Every former Rockie profiled up to this point had experienced some success, and/or was well-known, during their tenure in Colorado. Today, however, Rockies Retro will focus on a player who didn't really fit into either of those categories (mostly because he wasn't with the club long enough - he was actually solid in '93), but still holds a special place in the franchise's history. This player is Alex Cole.

Originally drafted in the 11th round by the Pirates in 1984, then again in the second round by the Cardinals in 1985 (Pittsburgh failed to sign him the year before), Alex Cole eventually made his way to Colorado in 1992, as the 17th overall pick in the MLB Expansion Draft. By that time, Cole had already been with 4 organizations in his 8 years in professional baseball.

Cole began the Rockies' inaugural season of 1993 penciled into Don Baylor's lineup as the starting centerfielder. He had a hot start (which may have coincided with the amount of games the Rox played at home in April), hitting .309/.382/.382 in 77 plate appearances (in case you were wondering, he hit .349 at home and .240 on the road, in typical stereotype-perpetuating fashion). However, Cole's numbers began to dip as the club played more road games, and he ended up splitting time in the outfield with guys like Daryl Boston and Chris Jones.

All things considered, though, Cole had a very solid 1993 season for Colorado, finishing up with a .256/.339/.305 line, with 43 walks (including the first in Rockies history, on April 5th at New York) and 30 stolen bases in 348 plate appearances. Stats like that suggest that he was truly that season's answer for Willy Taveras - a recent Rockie who was well known for having great speed and no power - though to be fair to Cole, he got on base at a much better clip because he was able to draw a walk once in a blue moon. He made up for that advantage over Willy, however, with the fact that he was a terrible defender. If you asked which game this happened in, I wouldn't remember, however I vividly recall a play in which Cole tried to climb the wall to catch a fly ball, only to have it hit him in the back. Also, he had issues with throwing the ball to the wrong base and missing cut-off men. He also wasn't exactly a wordsmith, once uttering the quote "Myself made a great try on the long ball. Why are you knocking myself? Anybody can throw to the wrong base once."

The Rockies chose not to resign Alex Cole after their inaugural season, and Cole ended up in Minnesota, where he put up a very good season in 1994, hitting .296/.375/.403 with 44 walks and 29 stolen bases in 345 plate appearances - an improvement over the previous season where he played half of his games in Mile High Stadium. However, Cole's downright shabby defense prevented him from really breaking out in the big leagues, as he was never able to hold down a starting job. He stuck around with the Twins for another season before heading to Boston, where he would play his final Major League game on May 22nd, 1996.

Five years later, while playing in the independent Atlantic League for the Bridgeport (CT) Bluefish, Cole was arrested at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport under the suspicion of possession and distribution of heroin. He ended up pleading guilty and serving 18 months in prison. Four years later, he was served a judgment for over $30,000 for running up credit card bills under a friend's name and failing to pay them.

All shortcomings aside, Alex Cole's special place in Rockies history is cemented because of the fact that he was the starter in centerfield for the team's first ever regular season game, and to a lesser extent, because he was a solid player for the team in their inaugural season. So, whatever you're up to these days, Alex Cole, Purple Row salutes you!

1376250101_medium

via www.beckett.com


 

 

0 recs  |  Comment 4 comments |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

I have that Baseball Card

along with a few others of Alex Cole and some more noteworthy Rockies players.

"A great catch is like watching girls go by; the last one you see is always the prettiest." ~Bob Gibson
JFK

by jrockies on Mar 13, 2009 10:54 PM MDT reply actions   0 recs

card

I remember thinking (back in ’93) that particular card was cool.

by kosmo99 on Mar 14, 2009 9:41 PM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

Does anyone remember this?

Cole was playing really shallow CF and misread a fly ball. Then as we chasing the fly ball down, the ball flew about 12 feet over his head?

I'm not much for giving inspirational addresses, but I'd just like to point out that every newspaper in the country has picked us to finish last. The local press seems to think that we'd save everyone the time and trouble if we just went out and shot ourselves. Me, I'm for wasting sportswriters' time. So I figured we ought to hang around for a while and see if we can give 'em all a nice big s***burger to eat!

by The Lodo Magic Man on Mar 14, 2009 6:54 PM MDT reply actions   0 recs

I think I remember that...

It seems like it was at home vs. the Phillies in ’93. I could be wrong, though…

"What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do." -Bob Dylan

by theoldgrizzlybear on Mar 15, 2009 10:16 AM MDT up reply actions   0 recs

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome to the SB Nation blog about the Colorado Rockies, established 28 April 2005.

Community Guidelines

Start posting about the Rockies »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Img_0128_small
Stewart and Mora
Hoodie2_small
Rockaholics Anonymous: The Things That So Easily Upset Us
Spring_break_128_small
(OT) The super Superbowl thread
Fire2_small
Which Evil Empire Team do we hate the most?
39135485-59af19dbb26654095f910f34176af094_4ae8a81e-scaled_small
Predictions Group
Small
O'Dowd Radio Interview
Bucco_bruce_small
2010 Rockies
2079194195_835e49fc8a_small
MLB.com 2010 Top 50 Prospects
Tired_small
Off-season off-topic self-portrait thread 2010!
Dsc00370_small
2010 Predictions

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

Blogroll

Colorado Sports Blogs

Mile High Report (Denver Broncos)
Mile High Hockey (Colorado Avalanche)
Pickaxe and Roll (Denver Nuggets)
The Ralphie Report (CU Buffaloes)

Top 30 PuRPs

  1. Christian Friedrich, LHP
  2. Tyler Matzek, LHP
  3. Jhoulys Chacin, RHP
  4. Esmil Rogers, RHP
  5. Eric Young, Jr., 2B/CF
  6. Wilin Rosario, C
  7. Hector Gomez, SS
  8. Michael McKenry, C
  9. Rex Brothers, LHP
  10. Casey Weathers, RHP
  11. Chris Balcom-Miller, RHP
  12. Tim Wheeler, OF
  13. Charlie Blackmon, OF
  14. Samuel Deduno, RHP
  15. Nolan Arenado, 3B
  16. Brandon Hynick (traded to CWS), RHP
  17. Chris Nelson, SS/2B
  18. Juan Nicasio, RHP
  19. Cole Garner, OF
  20. Chaz Roe, RHP
  21. Kiel Roling, 1B
  22. Parker Frazier, RHP
  23. Delta Cleary, OF
  24. Darin Holcomb, 3B
  25. Shane Lindsay, RHP
  26. Matt Reynolds, LHP
  27. Mike Zuanich, OF
  28. Scott Robinson, OF
  29. Edgmer Escalona, RHP
  30. Ben Paulsen, 1B
updated 9/14/2009


Managers

Rocktober_shirt_small Russ Oates

Rox_girl_small Rox Girl

Staff

Liquid_small Silverblood

Seth_smith_0004_2_small Andrew Martin

Sleepy_jeff_small Jeff Aberle

Coorsfield3_small theoldgrizzlybear

67880020--bled-slovenia_small Andrew T. Fisher

Rowbot Radio

Deep_forest_small WolfMarauder