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New York, New York The campaign began several years ago: I was determined to get my father into the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame. Dad was a crafty left-hander who pitched in the minors half a century ago. His specialty was the Iron Man stunt – starting and winning both ends of a doubleheader. In 1948 he did it for the Kingston (Ontario) Ponies, a feat reported in the Kingston Whig-Standard under the headline Art Cook Wins 21st Game – Great Lefthander Hurls Double Bill. According to the story, "Art Cook, greatest lefthander in the Border League, turned in his 21st victory of the season when the Ponies blanked the Ogdensburg Maples….Cook's brilliant shutout effort in the opener and the courage he exhibited in the next game were highlights of the show." I remember two physical reminders of Dad's pro career. He had a crooked pinky finger on his pitching hand, the result of a line drive back to the box. He also had an achy left arm, perhaps due to too many Iron Man stunts. There were no tendon transplants or "Tommy John" surgeries in the 1950s. He blew out his arm, packed up, and went home to Indiana, where he coached high school baseball and basketball. His hoops team won road games in the little gym you saw in the movie Hoosiers, but baseball was his true love. In Little League father-son games, he'd keep his mouth shut while other fathers batted third and fourth, then he'd bat ninth and hit one over the school.  Iron Man Art Cook: Kingston Ponies. Dad never talked much about his pro days other than to joke about them. He said he'd given up a homer to Ted Kluszewski that was still in the air. Then one weekend he and I went to the basement and dug out his old scrapbook. Turning its crispy yellow pages, I found him scattering footnotes to baseball history. Remember Joe Nuxhall, the longtime Cincinnati Reds radio announcer who was the youngest player in big-league history? In 1944, when the 15-year-old Nuxhall was shipped to the minors, Dad was released to make room for him. Dad faced Gil Hodges and the famous one-armed outfielder Pete Gray. He shut out a team managed by Daffy Dean, and was passed over when the Braves called up another obscure lefty, Warren Spahn. And in 1949, Kingston fans cheered the great lefthander on Art Cook Appreciation Night. He got shelled in the third inning. My favorite clipping from the Whig-Standard is headed New Hurler Mystifies Athletics – Art Koch Impressive In Kingston Debut. This was early in Dad's career; he was pitching under a fake name to fool the other team. "Koch," the story says, "who had been erroneously introduced as Art Cook of Indianapolis, hurled hitless ball during the first five and two-thirds innings." And won 9-1.
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