Tales from the Teepee Vol. Eight: Alex Cole

With the Cleveland Indians of 2008 in desperate need of a true leadoff hitter (Grady should be batting third), we decided to go back 18 years and look at who the Tribe felt would be their leadoff hitter for the next decade.

The year was 1990, and John McNamara’s Cleveland Indians were in need of a spark. Hank Peters had noticed that the St. Louis Cardinals possessed a slick fielding speedy outfielder who sported motorcycle goggles. With Mitch Webster not exactly tearing the cover off of the ball, the Indians went ahead and traded catching prospect Tom Lampkin for center fielder Alex Cole.

When Cole arrived in Cleveland, he was immediately put into the leadoff spot during a double header against the New York Yankees on July 27. He went a combined 3-8, and stole his first base off of pitcher Jeff Robinson. That was the first of 40 stolen bases he would accrue over the next 63 games, a staggering feat.

Just one week later he would set a Major League record by stealing five bases against the lollipop-arm of Kansas City Royals catcher Mike MacFarlane. He ended the season batting .300 and drove in 13 runs. As an 11-year old back then, he instantly became my favorite player, and I waited over two hours to get his autograph at a local baseball card shop that summer.

The front office was so excited about this future phenom patrolling center field for years to come that they immediately moved back and increased the height of the center field wall in old Cleveland Municipal Stadium for the 1991 season. This was done to apparently maximize Cole's range and potential gap hits.

Alex Cole was subsequently caught stealing 17 times that year, and he never showed his Gold-Glove potential. The wall experiment didn't work, as the Indians finished a dismal 57-105, and John McNamara was fired in the middle of the season.

Murray Chass wrote about Cole's struggles in the New York Times on July 28, 1991. Here is what he said.

It was the beginning of the end for Alex Cole in a Tribe uniform, as he was traded on July 4, 1992 to the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor-league prospect Tony Mitchell. This gave way to former University of Arizona point guard Kenny Lofton.

Cole bounced around the majors the next four-and-a-half years with the Pirates, expansion Rockies, Twins, and Red Sox. He was out of the league after 1996, while bouncing around the minors a few years after that. Unfortunately, this is not where the Alex Cole story ends.

In 2002, he plead guilty to possession of heroin, with the intent to distribute, and served 18 months in jail. Four years later, a judgment in excess of $30,000.00 was entered against him for running up credit-card bills under a friend's name and then not repaying them.

I prefer to remember Alex Cole as I did 18 years ago, as a speedy center fielder with the cool goggles. There wasn't much to root for with the Wahoos back then, and he provided hope for a prosperous future.

Hopefully, the current Indians regime can find a spark plug that they can stick at the top of the order to set the table, so we don't have to suffer through anymore disappointing summers.