Joe Cook, By Doug Underhill

MIRAMICHI - Joe Cook is what many consider one of the grandfathers of the development of baseball in the Chatham area. He began his baseball involvement in 1949, and basically hasn’t looked back.

His first step was to coach the Intermediate Ironmen who played out of the old racetrack in Chatham. The team had been told that their tenure there was over, but Cook was able to talk the people into an extension, and coached the team for four years.

In 1953, Ben O’Reilly obtained a grant with the idea of building a ballpark, the park that has evolved into the Ironmen Field of today.

"Everybody chipped in to volunteer in helping build the park. Later, I was the one who was responsible for making sure the field was ready for play," said Cook.

Cook then became involved with the Chatham Recreation Council, which formed a four-team minor baseball league. In 1963, with Cuffy MacLaughlin Senior, Cook picked and co-coached a midget all-star team from the four teams and went on to win the provincial title that year. They lost to PEI (which had an older age limit) in the Maritime Championship series.

Cook then co-coached the Chatham Juveniles to a provincial title, and then co-coached with Greg Morris to win another provincial midget title, adding the Maritime Championship the same year.

After a few years of trying his hand at golf, Cook returned in 1967 to take the reins of the Chatham Ironmen in the Intermediate Miramichi Valley Baseball League, leading the Ironmen to a championship.

The next step was to go senior and they did. Under Cook’s guidance, the team rose to the higher challenge, and defeated Marysville for the provincial senior crown in both 1968 and ’69.

It was about this time that people started talking about getting lights for Ironmen Field, and not surprisingly, one of the people instrumental in achieving that objective was Joe Cook. As a worker with the NB Power Commission, he knew what was needed, to whom he should talk, and how to get a better rate for the ball field. The result was night baseball at Ironmen Field.

Along the way, Cook also managed the Lord Beaverbrook Arena, helping to bring in an ice machine. He also served on the selection committee for Baseball New Brunswick’s Hall of Fame and the NB Sports Hall of Fame. He pushed for establishing basic criteria for entrance to the BB Hall of Fame. Cook also served the Ironmen organization as its director and president.

But going into the Hall is not entirely a first for Cook. He was inducted as part of the 1975 Chatham Senior Ironmen when the team was inducted. He served that team as manager. Cook was also one of the first to be selected to the Chatham Sports Wall of Fame.

Greg Morris, himself a baseball icon on the river and beyond, and a member of the Hall of Fame, perhaps says it best:

"Joe Cook is as much deserving as any person in the province to be in the NB Baseball Hall of Fame. He is the prototypical builder. He was a leader in getting a park, getting it lights, looking after the field, and an overall leader of the Ironmen teams and organization. We still look to Joe for advice both on and off the field," said Morris.

A few health problems kept Cook away from the ball field for a few years. But with those resolved, at 86 years of age, he can often still be found on the third floor of the Ironmen Field Press Box watching his beloved Ironmen. Joe Cook: Builder in the NBBB Hall of Fame.