1990 Best Memphis Chicks, Stu Cole

#4 Stu Cole

Here is another card that I got signed in Colorado Springs this summer. This one was signed by Stu Cole, the Sky Sox manager.

Unknown to me at the time, Stu saw a bit of Major League action in 1991 as a Royals September call-up. Since the only card I could find of him was a minor league card, I just figured that he was a career minor leaguer. But, that was not the case and I was actually surprised to see that Stu did appear in two different Topps set. He was in 1992 Stadium Club and 1992 Topps Debut, a set I had never heard of before. I knew Topps put out a Debut set in 1990, but I had no idea that they did it more than once.

Stu got into nine games with the Royals that September and October and he went 1-7 at the plate with a run and two walks. The one hit he did have set up a twelfth inning walk-off walk for the Royals. He only started one game during the call-up and it was on the final day of the season. On that day, most of the regulars got the day off and the Kansas City Royals basically put the Omaha Royals out on the field that day. Here are some of the names that filled out Hal McRea's lineup that day- Bobby Moore, Harvey Pulliam, Jorge Pedre, and Tim Spehr. Stu was eventually pinch hit for in the bottom of the ninth by some guy named George Brett, who struck out looking.

After that season, it was back to the minors for good for Stu. He played for four more seasons, spending the final three with the Sky Sox, the team he currently manages.