Growing up in Tonawanda, New York, Cook said his father "pushed baseball on" him and his brothers to the point that he did not allow the family to take vacations.

Cook told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, however, that he was glad that his dad pushed him so hard.

[2] He was promoted to the majors on June 20, 1985, to fill a vacancy in the starting rotation left after the Rangers traded away Frank Tanana.

At the time, his wife, Linda Ann, formerly of Lawton, Oklahoma, was expecting a baby.

This biographical article relating to an American baseball pitcher born in the 1950s is a stub.