Former Major League Baseball relief pitcher Dennis Cook has been added to the Northwestern Wildcats baseball staff, head coach Jim Foster announced.
After starting his collegiate playing career at Angelina College, he spent his last two collegiate seasons at Texas where he was named All-Southwest Conference as an outfielder in 1984 and 1985. He made two trips to the College World Series and won Southwest Conference titles in both of his season in Austin.
Cook played 18 seasons of professional baseball, including 15 years in Major League Baseball. He was a member of two World Series title teams with the Florida Marlins in 1997 and Anaheim Angels in 2002. He made three appearances in the 1997 World Series, earning the win in relief in Game 3. He pitched for nine big league clubs and made 665 career appearances totaling 1011.2 innings pitched while totaling a 3.91 ERA. During his stint in the National League, he was known as one of the league's best hitting pitchers, posting a .264 (29-for-110) batting average with nine RBI.
Following his playing career, Cook began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Texas in 2003, where the Longhorns advanced all the way to the Championship Series of the College World Series. Cook has coached at numerous levels including stints with the Swedish, German, and Italian National teams. As manager of the Swedish national team, he guided the club in three European championships, earning a fifth-place finish in 2010. Cook also served as a pitching consultant for the Italian team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifier. Additionally, Cook worked as a team advisor for USA Baseball from 2009-14.
He was a pitching coach in the Cape Cod League, college baseball's premier summer league, in 2018 for the Chatham Anglers.
After starting his collegiate playing career at Angelina College, he spent his last two collegiate seasons at Texas where he was named All-Southwest Conference as an outfielder in 1984 and 1985. He made two trips to the College World Series and won Southwest Conference titles in both of his season in Austin.
Cook played 18 seasons of professional baseball, including 15 years in Major League Baseball. He was a member of two World Series title teams with the Florida Marlins in 1997 and Anaheim Angels in 2002. He made three appearances in the 1997 World Series, earning the win in relief in Game 3. He pitched for nine big league clubs and made 665 career appearances totaling 1011.2 innings pitched while totaling a 3.91 ERA. During his stint in the National League, he was known as one of the league's best hitting pitchers, posting a .264 (29-for-110) batting average with nine RBI.
Following his playing career, Cook began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Texas in 2003, where the Longhorns advanced all the way to the Championship Series of the College World Series. Cook has coached at numerous levels including stints with the Swedish, German, and Italian National teams. As manager of the Swedish national team, he guided the club in three European championships, earning a fifth-place finish in 2010. Cook also served as a pitching consultant for the Italian team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifier. Additionally, Cook worked as a team advisor for USA Baseball from 2009-14.
He was a pitching coach in the Cape Cod League, college baseball's premier summer league, in 2018 for the Chatham Anglers.