1996

The St. Louis Cardinals drafted Alex Cole in the Second Round of the 1985 draft, but he had an up-and-down time with the Cardinals. He debuted with Johnson City of the Rookie-Level Appalachian League in 1985 and led the league with 46 stolen bases. An outfield with Vince Coleman, Cole and Willie McGee would steal a ton of bases but hit very few home runs. Manager Whitey Herzog wanted a power hitter in the outfield, which made Cole potential trade bait.

After all his hard work and development, he was traded to San Diego in 1990. San Diego started him in Triple-A Las Vegas before trading him to Cleveland. He appeared in just 63 games and stole 40 bases and also batted .300. Given a chance to start regularly in 1991, he hit well, with a .295 batting average. But after hitting .206 in 1992, he was sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

After the season had ended, Cole was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the expansion draft, where he spent most of 1993 as their starting center fielder. After the season, the Rockies opted to not extend his contract, so Cole left via free agency and signed with the Minnesota Twins in February of 1994.

With Minnesota, he was on fire before getting injured in an outfield collision. He broke his right fibula and dislocated his ankle, which needed surgery, but still batted .324 for the season.

A free agent again in the offseason, Cole signed with the Red Sox. He did not make the team out of spring training and began 1996 with Triple-A Pawtucket. He was promoted to the majors at the end of April and had a few good games but batted just .222, so after about a month, he was returned to Pawtucket and never returned again to the major leagues.

Alex Cole Jr died on August 18, 2023 just a day after his 58th birthday.