The Cole File
Team: New York Yankees
Height: 6-4
Weight: 220
Age: 32
Birthday: 9/8/1990
Fastball Velo: 97.8 mph
College: UCLA
Draft: 1st overall pick, 2011
Contract: Signed a 9-year, $324 million contract after the 2019 season
WAG: Amy Crawford
Children: Caden Cole
Record/Accomplishments
- Five All-Star selections. 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022
- Two All-MLB First Team selections, 2019, 2021
- One All-MLB Second Team selection, 2020
- Led the American League in ERA, 2019
- Led MLB in strikeouts, 2019, 2022
- Led the American League in wins, 2021
- Holds the single-season Yankees record for strikeouts, 2022
Gerrit Cole and the joke that didn't stick
By Anthony Licciardi
Gerrit Cole used sticky stuff to become one of the best pitchers in baseball. You know it. I know it. He knows it, too. However, Cole never admitted to this heinous crime.
During the sticky stuff crackdown of 2021, droves of top pitchers had to undergo fundamental changes in their pitching style. The now-banned substances that gave them more control and bite, especially on their heaters, forced them to change their ways (or find innovative ways to hide it.)
Cole was one of these, and his New York Yankees teammates knew it. Trying to lighten the mood after the news of the prohibition broke, outfielder Brett Gardner marched around the clubhouse with a separate sticky substance, pine tar, smeared on his cap.
It's safe to say Cole was more soft than sticky. He, in front of his fellow Yankees, confronted Gardner, angrily telling him off. A light-hearted joke became an awkward wound between a team's most respected leader and its (then) highest-paid player.
Cole's production didn't take on any long-term dents due to the policy, but his reaction to it is telling. Take a joke, man. You're playing a kids' game.