DENVER—It’s been four years since Aaron Cook nearly died on the mound at Coors Field facing the Cincinnati Reds, the team he rooted for as a kid growing up in Ohio.
Feeling dizzy and short of breath for days, the Colorado Rockies pitcher was taken to a Denver hospital in the third inning. He had blood clots in both lungs. Cook remembers lying in the hospital bed as doctors told him they were trying to save his life.
He underwent two surgeries. Part of his right rib was removed to relieve pressure from a vein that had been blocked and caused the two pulmonary embolisms.
The ordeal was an awakening experience for Cook, who’s decided he wants to eventually go into the ministry.
“Once you realize you don’t have any control and your life is in somebody else’s hand, it just kind of gives you freedom to live your life,” he said.
Now at 29, Cook has become a front-line pitcher, his 12 wins tied for second in the National League, one behind Arizona’s Brandon Webb. Last week, he pitched three stellar innings in his first All-Star game, even wiggling out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the 10th.
He still considers himself a small-town guy from Hamilton, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati, and looks forward to returning home as the Rockies visit the Reds this weekend.
Cook’s family—wife Holly and kids Alexis and Elijah—live in Hamilton. He takes Alexis and Elijah to school during the offseason.
“We try to be a regular family,” he said. “Sometimes it’s hard because everybody knows who I am.”
Being a regular guy in Denver, however, is easier. It just takes swapping his Rockies cap for a camouflage cap before hitting the local Bass Pro Shop, where the 6-foot-3 redhead says he can go virtually unnoticed.
Cook says he has no plans on basking in the media spotlight—and is sure he can avoid having a play-by-play of his personal life appear in the papers.
“I think at times the people who are in the media like that bring it on themselves,” Cook said. “In Colorado, it’s easy to hide from the limelight. You can go hide in the mountains.”
And that’s what he does.
Cook has taken up deer hunting and savors the moments before sunrise when he can hear birds chirp instead of a crowd roar. He’s also a fisherman, and although he throws a wickedly diving sinker he admits the one he tosses into streams when fly fishing could use some work.
Cook also considers himself the “loose guy” in the clubhouse—something of a quiet, behind-the-scenes team leader.
“I think everybody respects ‘Cookie,'” teammate and fellow All-Star Matt Holliday said. “He’s not a real vocal guy, but I think everyone respects his place on the team, his role as our ace now, and somebody who goes out there and gives us a chance to win every day.”
Cook grew up the son of a paper mill worker. His father, Garry, was his coach growing up and often switched shifts with workers at the plant so he could make his son’s Little League games.
As Cook takes the mound Friday against the Reds, Garry is expected be in the crowd with about 500 other fans from Hamilton.
“Anytime you go back to your hometown it’s always nice,” Cook said.
