His real name was Leonard Leslie Cole. He started his baseball career as a pitcher with the Cubs in 1909. By 1910, he was the ace of the staff. He led the National League that season with a record of 20-4 and helped win a National League Pennant for the Cubs. His 20-4 record is the best winning percentage (.866) for a Cubs pitcher in the twentieth Century.

He was immortalized as "King" Cole by Ring Lardner, who no doubt, got it from the children's nursery rhyme 'Old King Cole.' King Cole didn't stay with the Cubs very long. He won 18 games for them in 1911, and was traded (along with fan favorite Solly Hofman) to the Pirates for Tommy Leach early in the 1912 season.

Before he left the game, Cole gave up Babe Ruth's first ever hit in the majors (a double on October 2, 1914), and had one more decent season (for the Yankees). But this King Cole would not live to be a merry old soul. In 1915, he contracted a disease that knocked him out of baseball. Some sources say it was malaria, others say tuberculosis, and still others speculate it was syphilis, but whatever the disease, it took Cole's life.

He died on January 6th, 1916, a few months shy of his 30th birthday.