Marvin Howard Cole of Sherwood Park, Alta. will be inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame individual category, as a player, Saturday, Aug, 15.
Cole was born in Semans, Sask., June 17, 1941. It became obvious at an early age that Marv possessed exceptional athletic ability.
He excelled in track and field, curling and hockey. He was inducted into the Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013, but baseball was the game he loved.
Cole played minor league baseball through juvenile as a catcher and was known as the best in the entire region.
At the age of 15, he began playing with the Semans Senior Baseball Club in the Last Mountain Baseball League. He was with them for the 1956, 1957 and 1958 seasons.
The first tournament Cole played in was Raymore where he played second base.
Semans defeated the always powerful Govan Angels 1-0 to make it to the finals against the Lestock Red Sox team. Cole laid down a suicide bunt in the eighth inning, scoring the winning run.
This same team, the Semans Baseball Club, won first money against tough clubs in many tournaments during the 1956, 1957 and 1958 seasons.
Among some of the tournaments won were Raymore, Cupar, Guernsey, Imperial, Nokomis and Southey, which was co-shared with Fort Qu’Appelle Sioux Indians, which was called after four innings as it was too dark to continue play.
This team was a force to be reckoned with and a major part of that was the impact made by Cole’s steady and consistent play.
In 1958, Semans wrapped up the season defeating their old nemesis, the Govan Angels 5-4 at the Nokomis Fall Fair.
Besides catching, Cole played third base, outfield and second base, for which he was an early pick for the all-star team. Cole ended his baseball playing days as catcher for Saskatoon Apex.
Cole played the game the way it is meant to be played, with honour, passion, sportsmanship and skill. Cole was a leader and he just did not have a bad game!
