My grandmother. Jessie Cook Sain, had given me many of her family photos and I have been scanning them off and on over the last few years. Probably more off than on. Yesterday while cleaning I found a little pile of the last group of photos I had been scanning. And in that pile was this picture:
Cook 1911
At the bottom of the photo someone has written Cook 1911 and on the back I have written: “Joseph pitched Pittsburg Pirates. ” I do not know when I wrote this, but it is my handwriting. I am assuming the photo is of my great uncle, Joseph Edward Cook (1888-1976). He would have been 23 in 1911. I tried to research if there was every a Joseph Edward Cook playing major league baseball. I looked up Cook in the Baseball Almanac, but there was no Joseph, Joe or J.E. At Baseballreference.com I did find a J.E. Cook that pitched in the minor leagues in 1911. He was on the roster for two teams: Topeka Jayhawks and Omaha Rourkes. There was no personal information about him, just his batting and pitching statistics. I do know that by 1920 my great uncle was married, living in Peoria, Illinois and had two children. His occupation was a salesman for an automotive dealership. And in the 1930 census he owned dealership.
So my question is, why is he wearing a Cubs uniform and why on the back have I written that he pitched for the Pirates? Were the teams he played for farm teams for these organizations? So I guess I need to read some baseball history. It is amazing how one old photo can open up a bunch of questions.
MK's Family Page 