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Ty Cobb
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{{short description|American baseball player (1886–1961)}}{{About||the Washington, D.C. lawyer|Ty Cobb (attorney)|the Soundgarden song|Ty Cobb (song)}}{{redirect|The Georgia Peach|other uses|Georgia Peach (disambiguation)}}{{pp-move|small=yes}}{{Use American English|date=July 2021}}{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2017}}- the content below is remote from Wikipedia
- it has been imported raw for GetWiki
| factoids | |
|---|---|
- Detroit Tigers ({{mlby|1905}}–{{mlby|1926}})
- Philadelphia Athletics ({{mlby|1927}}–{{mlby|1928}})
- Detroit Tigers ({{mlby|1921}}–{{mlby|1926}})|highlights=
- AL MVP (1911)
- Triple Crown (1909)
- 12× AL batting champion (1907–1915, 1917–1919)
- AL home run leader (1909)
- 4× AL RBI leader (1907–1909, 1911)
- 6× AL stolen base leader (1907, 1909, 1911, 1915–1917)
- Name honored by the Tigers
- Major League Baseball All-Century Team
- MLB record .366 career batting average|hoflink = National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|hoftype = National
Early life
Cobb was born in 1886 in Narrows, Georgia, a small, unincorporated rural community of farmers. He was the first of three children born to William Herschel Cobb (1863–1905) and Amanda Chitwood Cobb (1871–1936).BOOK,weblink The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill, Simon and Schuster, 358, 2003, New York, 978-0-7432-2722-3, James, Cobb's father was a state senator.WEB,weblink Who was Ty Cobb? The history we know that's wrong, Charles, Leerhsen, Hillsdale College, 2016, (File:Ty Cobb Birthplace Sign on GA Rt 105.jpg|thumb|left|Faded-out sign that shows the birthplace of Ty Cobb at the Narrows in Georgia on Route 105 about four miles southeast of Baldwin, GA)When he was still an infant, his parents moved to the nearby town of Royston, where he grew up.H. G. Salsinger. "Ty Cobb Not Extraordinary Ballplayer as Boy." Bridgeport (CT) Telegram, November 5, 1924, p. 18. By most accounts, he became fascinated with baseball as a child, and decided he wanted to play professional ball one day; his father was vehemently opposed to this idea, but by his teen years, he was trying out for area teams.WEB,weblink Ty Cobb (1886-1961), New Georgia Encyclopedia, He played his first years in organized baseball for the Royston Rompers, the semi-pro Royston Reds, and the Augusta Tourists of the South Atlantic League, who released him after only two days. He then tried out for the Anniston, Alabama based Anniston Steelers of the semipro Tennessee–Alabama League, with his father's stern admonition ringing in his ears: "Don't come home a failure!"MAGAZINE, Kanfer, Stefan,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070930072056weblink">weblink dead, September 30, 2007, Failures Can't Come Home, April 18, 2005, Time, February 26, 2007, After joining the Steelers for a monthly salary of $50, Cobb promoted himself by sending several postcards written about his talents under different aliases to Grantland Rice, the Atlanta Journal sports editor. Eventually, Rice wrote a small note in the Journal that a "young fellow named Cobb seems to be showing an unusual lot of talent."Cobb & Stump (1993), p. 48. After about three months, Cobb returned to the Tourists and finished the season hitting .237 in 35 games.While with the Tourists he was mentored and coached by George Leidy, who emphasized pinpoint bunting and aggression on the basepaths.WEB, Rice, Stephen, April 21, 2023, George Leidy,weblink April 23, 2023, SABR bio project, In August 1905, the management of the Tourists sold Cobb to the American League's Detroit Tigers for $750 ({{Inflation|US|750|1905|fmt=eq}}).ENCYCLOPEDIA,weblink Ty Cobb, New Georgia Encyclopedia, June 3, 2011, August 5, 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130805214326weblink">weblink dead, NEWS,weblink Cobb still revered, reviled 100 years after first game, Associated Press, August 29, 2005, NEWS, Ty Cobb, Baseball Great, Dies; Still Held 16 Big League Marks, The New York Times, 1, 21, July 18, 1961, NEWS, S. J., Woolf, Tyrus Cobb – Then and Now; Once the scrappiest, wiliest figure in baseball, 'The Georgia Peach' views the game as played today with mellow disdain, The New York Times, SM17 (Magazine section), September 19, 1948, WEB,weblink Ty Cobb Career Statistics, May 19, 2021, Sports Reference, Inc, On August 8, 1905, Cobb's mother, Amanda, fatally shot his father, William, with a pistol that William had purchased for her. Court records indicate that William Cobb had suspected Amanda of infidelityWEB,weblink Ty Cobb: Death In The Dark, May 2003, June 23, 2010, Blue Ridge Country, and was sneaking past his own bedroom window to catch her in the act. She saw the silhouette of what she presumed to be an intruder and, acting in self-defense, shot and killed her husband.BOOK, Holmes, Dan, 2004,weblink Ty Cobb: A Biography, 13, Greenwood Publishing Group, 0-313-32869-2, January 12, 2009, Amanda Cobb was charged with murder and released on a $7,000 recognizance bond.COURT, State of Georgia vs. Amanda Cobb (bond hearing), vol2, 1281p.478, 9, Franklin County, Georgia, Superior Court, September 29, 1905,weblink She was acquitted on March 31, 1906.COURT, State of Georgia vs. Amanda Cobb (murder trial verdict), vol2, 1282p040, 1, Franklin County, Georgia, Superior Court, March 31, 1906,weblink Ty Cobb later attributed his ferocious play to his late father, saying, "I did it for my father. He never got to see me play ... but I knew he was watching me, and I never let him down."Cobb was initiated into Freemasonry in 1907, earning the 32nd degree in 1912.WEB, Co-Freemasonry, Masonic Order of Universal, Masonic Biographies {{!, Ty Cobb |url=https://www.universalfreemasonry.org/en/famous-freemasons/ty-cobb |access-date=2023-03-09 |website=Universal Co-Masonry |language=en}}WEB, 2014-08-24, Masons in Baseball,weblink 2023-03-09, Lodge No. 43, F. & A. M., en-US, In 1911, Cobb moved to Detroit's architecturally significant and now historically protected Woodbridge neighborhood, from which he would walk with his dogs to the ballpark prior to games. The Victorian duplex in which Cobb lived still stands.WEB,weblink Ty Cobb as Detroit, Grantland.com, July 27, 2011, July 15, 2013,Professional career
Early years
Three weeks after his mother killed his father, Cobb debuted in center field for the Detroit Tigers. On August 30, 1905, in his first major league at bat, he doubled off Jack Chesbro of the New York Highlanders. Chesbro had won 41 games the previous season. Cobb was 18 years old at the time, the youngest player in the league by almost a year.WEB,weblink 1905 American League Awards, All-Stars, & More Leaders, Baseball-Reference.com, October 8, 2010, Although he hit only .240 in 41 games, he signed a $1,500 contract to play for the Tigers in 1905.WEB,weblink August 30, 1905 : Ty Cobb Plays His First Game As Detroit Tiger {{!, MSU Libraries|website=blogs.lib.msu.edu|access-date=2020-01-28}}As a rookie, Cobb was subject to severe hazing by his veteran teammates, who were jealous of the young prospect. The players smashed his homemade bats, nailed his cleats in the clubhouse, doused his clothes before tying knots in them, and verbally abused him.Russo, p. 17 Cobb later attributed his hostile temperament to this experience: "These old-timers turned me into a snarling wildcat."ENCYCLOPEDIA,weblink Ty Cobb (1886–1961), January 30, 2007, Hill, John Paul, November 18, 2002, New Georgia Encyclopedia, August 5, 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130805214326weblink">weblink dead, Tigers manager Hughie Jennings later acknowledged that Cobb was targeted for abuse by veteran players, some of whom sought to force him off the team. "I let this go for a while because I wanted to satisfy myself that Cobb has as much guts as I thought in the very beginning," Jennings recalled. "Well, he proved it to me, and I told the other players to let him alone. He is going to be a great baseball player and I won't allow him to be driven off this club."Kashatus (2002), pp. 72–73.(File:Cobbsign.jpg|thumb|Cobb signs a $5,000 contract in 1908 (equivalent to ${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|5,000|1908|r=-1}}}} today) after a holdout)The following year, 1906, Cobb became the Tigers' full-time center fielder and hit .316 in 98 games, setting a record for the highest batting average (minimum 310 plate appearances) for a 19-year-old (later bested by Mel Ott's .322 average in 124 games for the 1928 New York Giants).WEB,weblink Batting Leaders Before, During and After Age 19, Baseball-Reference.com, October 8, 2010,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110930031332weblink">weblink September 30, 2011, dead, mdy-all, He never hit below that mark again. After being moved to right field, he led the Tigers to three consecutive American League pennants in 1907, 1908 and 1909. Detroit would lose each World Series (to the Cubs twice and then the Pirates); however, Cobb's postseason numbers were far below his career standard. Cobb did not get another opportunity to play on a pennant-winning team.In 1907, Cobb reached first and then stole second, third and home. He accomplished the feat four times during his career, still an MLB record as of 2022.ENCYCLOPEDIA, Ty Cobb, The New Georgia Encyclopedia,weblink January 25, 2009, August 5, 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130805214326weblink">weblink dead, WEB, Ty Cobb – Baseball Legend, BBC, July 22, 2003,weblink January 25, 2009, He finished the 1907 season with a league-leading .350 batting average, 212 hits, 49 steals and 119 runs batted in (RBI). At age 20, he was the youngest player to win a batting championship and held this record until 1955, when fellow Detroit Tiger Al Kaline won the batting title while twelve days younger than Cobb had been.WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080803081922weblink">weblink dead, 2008-08-03, Facts and Figures – Baseball batting champions, January 25, 2009, Baseball Digest, November 2000, Reflecting on his career in 1930, two years after retiring, he told Grantland Rice, "The biggest thrill I ever got came in a game against the Athletics in 1907 [on September 30]... The Athletics had us beaten, with Rube Waddell pitching. They were two runs ahead in the 9th inning, when I happened to hit a home run that tied the score. This game went 17 innings to a tie, and a few days later, we clinched our first pennant. You can understand what it meant for a 20-year-old country boy to hit a home run off the great Rube, in a pennant-winning game with two outs in the ninth."WEB,weblink Film from Baseball's Past, Baseballspast.com, March 19, 1930, November 8, 2013, File:1909 Ty Cobb Honus Wagner.jpg|thumb|left|170px|Cobb (left) and Honus WagnerHonus WagnerDespite great success on the field, Cobb was no stranger to controversy off it. As described in Smithsonian, "In 1907 during spring training in Augusta, Georgia, a black groundskeeper named Bungy Cummings, whom Cobb had known for years, attempted to shake Cobb's hand or pat him on the shoulder." The "overly familiar greeting infuriated" Cobb, who attacked Cummings. When Cummings' wife tried to defend him, Cobb allegedly choked her. The assault was only stopped when catcher Charles "Boss" Schmidt knocked Cobb out.When Cobb Met Wagner: The Seven-Game World Series of 1909 by David Finoli, McFarland, 2010, page 230. However, aside from Schmidt's statement to the press, no other corroborating witnesses to the assault on Cummings ever came forward and Cummings himself never made a public comment about it. Author Charles Leerhsen speculates that the assault on Cummings and his wife never occurred and that it was a total fabrication by Schmidt. Cobb had spent the previous year defending himself on several occasions from assaults by Schmidt, with Schmidt often coming out of nowhere to blindside Cobb. On that day, several reporters did see Cummings, who appeared to be "partially under the influence of liquor," approach Cobb and shout "Hello, Carrie!" (the meaning of which is unknown) and go in for a hug. Cobb then pushed him away, which was the last interaction that anyone saw between Cobb and Cummings. Shortly thereafter, hearing a fight, several reporters came running and found Cobb and Schmidt wrestling on the ground. When the fight was broken up and Cobb had walked away, Schmidt remained behind and told the reporters that he saw Cobb assaulting Cummings and his wife and had intervened. Leerhsen speculates that this was just another one of Schmidt's assaults on Cobb and that once discovered, Schmidt made up a story that made him sound like he had assaulted Cobb for a noble purpose.Leerhsen (2015), pp. 151–152. In 1908, Cobb attacked a black laborer in Detroit who complained when Cobb stepped into freshly poured asphalt; Cobb was found guilty of battery, but the sentence was suspended.In September 1907, Cobb began a relationship with The Coca-Cola Company that lasted the remainder of his life. By the time he died, he held over 20,000 shares of stock and owned bottling plants in Santa Maria, California, Twin Falls, Idaho, and Bend, Oregon. He was also a celebrity spokesman for the product.WEB,weblink Ty Cobb Sold Me a Soda Pop: Hall of Fame Outfielder Ty Cobb and Coca-Cola, January 30, 2007, Holmes, Dan, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20061206111050weblink">weblink December 6, 2006, dead, mdy-all, In the offseason between 1907 and 1908, Cobb negotiated with Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina, offering to coach baseball there "for $250 a month, provided that he did not sign with Detroit that season." This did not come to pass, however.Bryan, Wright, "Clemson: An Informal History of the University 1889–1979," The R. L. Bryan Company, Columbia, South Carolina, 1979, Library of Congress card number 79-56231, {{ISBN|0-934870-01-2}}, page 214.The following season, the Tigers finished ahead of the Chicago White Sox for the pennant. Cobb again won the batting title with a .324 average, but Detroit suffered another loss in the World Series. In August 1908, Cobb married Charlotte ("Charlie") Marion Lombard, the daughter of prominent Augustan Roswell Lombard. In the offseason, the couple lived on her father's Augusta estate, The Oaks, until they moved into their own house on Williams Street in November 1913.NEWS,weblink Aggressive play defined Ty Cobb, February 7, 2007, Price, Ed, June 21, 1996, The Augusta Chronicle,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070209235657weblink">weblink February 9, 2007, dead, mdy-all, File:Cobb_slide_into_third.jpg|thumb|Charles M. ConlonCharles M. ConlonThe Tigers won the AL pennant again in 1909. During that World Series, Cobb's last, he stole home in the second game, igniting a three-run rally, but that was the high point for him, finishing with a lowly .231, as the Tigers lost to Honus Wagner and the powerful Pirates in seven games. Although he performed poorly in the postseason, he won the Triple Crown by hitting .377 with 107 RBI and nine home runs, all inside the park, thus becoming the only player of the modern era to lead his league in home runs in a season without hitting a ball over the fence.WEB,weblink Year in Review: 1909 American League, May 28, 2007, Baseball Almanac, In the same season, Charles M. Conlon snapped the famous photograph of a grimacing Cobb sliding into third base amid a cloud of dirt, which visually captured the grit and ferocity of his playing style.WEB,weblink Ty Cobb, Times Mirror Co., 1998, February 25, 2007, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070129000518weblink">weblink January 29, 2007, mdy-all,1910: Chalmers Award controversy
Going into the final days of the 1910 season, Cobb had a .004 lead on Nap Lajoie for the American League batting title. The prize for the winner of the title was a Chalmers automobile. Cobb sat out the final two games to preserve his average. Lajoie hit safely eight times in a doubleheader but six of those hits were bunt singles. Later it was rumored that the opposing manager had instructed his third baseman to play extra deep to allow Lajoie to win the batting race over the generally disliked Cobb. Although Cobb was credited with a higher batting average, it was later discovered in the 1970s that one game had been counted twice so that Cobb actually lost to Lajoie. As a result of the incident, AL president Ban Johnson was forced to arbitrate the situation. He declared Cobb the rightful owner of the title, but car company president Hugh Chalmers chose to award one to both Cobb and Lajoie.WEB, Queen, Mike, Embarrassing Baseball Scandals Fans Want to Forget,weblink Headlines and Heroes: Newspapers, Comics and More Fine Print [Blog], Library of Congress, 17 August 2023, 11 July 2023, BOOK, Gillette, Gary, Palmer, Pete, The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, Sterling Publishing Co, New York, 2007, Fourth, 1764–1765, 978-1-4027-4771-7,1911–1914
File:Cobb jackson.jpg|upright|thumb|right|Cobb and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson in Cleveland]]{{further|1912 suspension of Ty Cobb}}Cobb regarded baseball as "something like a war," future Tiger second baseman Charlie Gehringer said. "Every time at bat for him was a crusade."BOOK, Honig, Donald, Baseball When the Grass Was Real, University of Nebraska Press, 1975, 42, 0-8032-7267-7, Baseball historian John Thorn said in the book Legends of the Fall, "He is testament to how far you can get simply through will. ... Cobb was pursued by demons."Cobb was having a tremendous year in 1911, which included a 40-game hitting streak. Still, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson led him by .009 points in the batting race late in the season. Near the end of the season, Cobb's Tigers had a long series against Jackson's Cleveland Naps. Fellow Southerners Cobb and Jackson were personally friendly both on and off the field.Russo (2014), p. 20. Cobb used that friendship to his advantage. Cobb ignored Jackson when Jackson tried to say anything to him. When Jackson persisted, Cobb snapped angrily back at him, making him wonder what he could have done to enrage Cobb. Cobb felt that it was these mind games that caused Jackson to "fall off" to a final average of .408, twelve points lower than Cobb's .420, a 20th-century record which stood until George Sisler tied it and Rogers Hornsby surpassed it with .424, the record since then except for Hugh Duffy's .438 in the 19th century.}}Cobb led the AL that year in numerous other categories, including 248 hits, 147 runs scored, 127 RBI, 83 stolen bases, 47 doubles, 24 triples and a .621 slugging percentage. Cobb hit eight home runs but finished second in that category to Frank Baker, who hit eleven. He was awarded another Chalmers car, this time for being voted the AL MVP by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.(File:Outing (1885) (14753422496).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Cobb in 1911)On May 12, 1911, playing against the New York Highlanders, he scored from first base on a single to right field, then scored another run from second base on a wild pitch. In the seventh inning, he tied the game with a two-run double. The Highlanders catcher vehemently argued the safe call at second base with the umpire in question, going on at such length that the other Highlanders infielders gathered nearby to watch. Realizing that no one on the Highlanders had called time, Cobb strolled unobserved to third base, and then casually walked towards home plate as if to get a better view of the argument. He then suddenly broke into a run and slid into home plate for the eventual winning run. It was performances like this that led Branch Rickey to say later that Cobb "had brains in his feet."WEB,weblink First Five: The Original Members of the Hall of Fame, Holmes, Dan, June 15, 2007, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070608145751weblink">weblink June 8, 2007, dead, mdy-all, Describing his gameplay strategy in 1930, he said, "My system was all offense. I believed in putting up a mental hazard for the other fellow. If we were five or six runs ahead, I'd try some wild play, such as going from first to home on a single. This helped to make the other side hurry the play in a close game later on. I worked out all the angles I could think of, to keep them guessing and hurrying." In the same interview, Cobb talked about having noticed a throwing tendency of first baseman Hal Chase but having to wait two full years until the opportunity came to exploit it. By unexpectedly altering his own baserunning tendencies, he was able to surprise Chase and score the winning run of the game in question.On May 15, 1912, Cobb assaulted a heckler, Claude Lucker (often misspelled as Lueker), in the stands in New York's Hilltop Park where the Tigers were playing the Highlanders. Lucker, described by baseball historian Frank Russo as "a Tammany Hall lackey and two-bit punk," often berated Cobb when Detroit visited New York.Russo (2014), p. 19. In this game, the two traded insults with each other through the first couple of innings. Cobb at one point went to the Highlander dugout to look for the Highlanders' owner to try to have Lucker ejected from the game, but his search was in vain.Leerhsen (2015), p. 259. He also asked for the police to intervene, but they refused. The situation climaxed when Lucker allegedly called Cobb a "half-nigger."BOOK,weblink Dan, Holmes, Ty Cobb: A Biography, 2004, Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut, 58, 978-0-313-32869-5, Cobb, in his discussion of the incident in the Holmes biography,Cobb & Stump (1993), pp. 131–135. avoided such explicit words but alluded to Lucker's epithet by saying he was "reflecting on my mother's color and morals." He went on to state that he warned Highlander manager Harry Wolverton that if something wasn't done about that man, there would be trouble. No action was taken. At the end of the sixth inning, after being challenged by teammates Sam Crawford and Jim Delahanty to do something about it, Cobb climbed into the stands and attacked Lucker, who it turned out was handicapped (he had lost all of one hand and three fingers on his other hand in an industrial accident). Some onlookers shouted at him to stop because the man had no hands, to which Cobb reportedly retorted, "I don't care if he got no feet!"WEB, ESPN.com's 10 infamous moments,weblink August 26, 2007, According to Russo, the crowd cheered Cobb on in the fight. Though extremely rare in the 21st century, attacking fans was not so unusual an activity in the early years of baseball. Other notable baseball stars who assaulted heckling fans include Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Rube Waddell, Kid Gleason, Sherry Magee, and Fred Clarke.Leerhsen (2015), p. 258.(File:Ty Cobb 1916-restore.jpeg|thumb|150px|Cobb in 1916)The league suspended him. His teammates, though not fond of Cobb, went on strike to protest the suspension, and the lack of protection of players from abusive fans, before the May 18 game in Philadelphia. For that one game, Detroit fielded a replacement team made up of hastily recruited college and sandlot players plus two Tiger coaches and lost 24–2, thereby setting some of Major League Baseball's modern-era (post-1900) negative records, notably the 26 hits in a nine-inning game allowed by Allan Travers, who pitched one of the sport's most unlikely complete games.WEB,weblink Al Travers from the Chronology, Charlton, James, June 15, 2007, BaseballLibrary.com, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150923182449weblink">weblink September 23, 2015, mdy-all, The pre-1901 record for the most hits and runs given up in a game is held by the Cleveland Blues' Dave Rowe. Primarily an outfielder, Rowe pitched a complete game on July 24, 1882, giving up 35 runs on 29 hits.WEB, 1882 Year in Review,weblink Baseball Reference, The current post-1900 record for most hits in a nine-inning game is 31, set in 1992 by the Milwaukee Brewers against Toronto; however, the Blue Jays used six pitchers.WEB, Milwaukee gets 31 hits,weblink Baseball Reference, The strike ended when Cobb urged his teammates to return to the field. According to him, this incident led to the formation of a players' union, the "Ballplayers' Fraternity" (formally, the Fraternity of Professional Baseball Players of America), an early version of what is now called the Major League Baseball Players Association, which garnered some concessions from the owners.ENCYCLOPEDIA, Baseball Players' Fraternity, Encyclopædia Britannica,weblink January 25, 2009, During his career, Cobb was involved in numerous other fights, both on and off the field, and several profanity-laced shouting matches. For example, Cobb and umpire Billy Evans arranged to settle their in-game differences through fisticuffs under the grandstand after the game. Members of both teams were spectators, and broke up the scuffle after Cobb had knocked Evans down, pinned him and began choking him. In 1909, Cobb was arrested for assault for an incident that occurred in a Cleveland hotel. Cobb got into an argument with the elevator operator around 2:15 a.m. when the man refused to take him to the floor where some of his teammates were having a card game. The elevator operator stated that he could only take Cobb to the floor where his room was. As the argument escalated, a night watchman approached and he and Cobb eventually got into a physical confrontation. During the fight, Cobb produced a penknife and slashed the watchman across the hand. Cobb later claimed that the watchman, who had the upper hand in the fight, had his finger in Cobb's left eye and that Cobb was worried he was going to have his sight ruined. The fight finally ended when the watchman produced a gun and struck Cobb several times in the head, knocking him out.Leerhsen (2015), p. 218. Cobb would later plead guilty to simple assault and pay a $100 fine. This incident has often been retold with the elevator operator and the watchman both being black. However, recent scholarship has shown that all parties involved were white.Leerhsen (2015), pp. 219–220.On August 13, 1912, the same day the Tigers were to play the New York Highlanders at Hilltop Park, Cobb and his wife were driving to a train station in Syracuse that was to transport him to the game when three intoxicated men had stopped him on the way. When Cobb had gotten out of the car to confront the men, they had asked for money and instigated a physical fight, with Cobb defending himself from one of the men by punching him in the chin as another had fled the scene. After being grabbed by the neck by another man, the man had pulled a knife and stabbed him in the back before he forced him away and returned to his car to continue driving to the station for the game. Cobb refused to speak any further of the issue. He would go on to hit 2–3 with two singles and a run scored, as well as batting .418. The Tigers lost 2–3.WEB, Press Democrat 13 August 1912 — California Digital Newspaper Collection,weblink 2023-05-01, cdnc.ucr.edu, WEB, Detroit Tigers vs New York Highlanders Box Score: August 13, 1912,weblink 2023-05-01, Baseball-Reference.com, en, In 1913, Cobb signed a contract worth $12,000 for the six-month season ({{Inflation|US|12000|1913|fmt=eq}}), making him likely the first baseball player in history to be paid a five-figure salary.NEWS, Haupert, Michael, Baseball's Major Salary Milestones,weblink 21 October 2019, The Baseball Research Journal, Society for American Baseball Research, Fall 2011, This occurred in the same year where Cobb had allegedly grown pessimistic and was quoted as saying: "It seems I am a burden to the Detroit club, as a trespasser of its rules. If that be the case, let Mr. Navin put a price on me and I'll take a chance on being able to negotiate my own release. I don't think I shall ever play ball again. This is positively my last statement in this matter." This attributed statement was first published on an April 19, 1913 edition of the Los Angeles Herald.WEB, Los Angeles Herald 19 April 1913 — California Digital Newspaper Collection,weblink 2023-05-01, cdnc.ucr.edu, Cobb did not play that day as the Tigers won 4–0 against the St. Louis Browns.WEB, St. Louis Browns vs Detroit Tigers Box Score: April 19, 1913,weblink 2023-05-01, Baseball-Reference.com, en, In June 1914, Cobb pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace after pulling a revolver during an argument at a Detroit butcher shop. He was fined $50 ({{Inflation|US|50|1914|fmt=eq}}).NEWS, Ty Cobb Fined $50,weblink 9 February 2022, The York Dispatch, 25 June 1914, 1,1915–1921
In 1915, Cobb set the single-season record for stolen bases with 96, which stood until Dodger Maury Wills broke it in 1962.WEB,weblink Single-Season Leaders for Stolen Bases, February 7, 2007, Sports Reference, Inc, That year, he also won his ninth consecutive batting title, hitting .369.During 1917 spring training, Cobb showed up late for a Dallas spring training doubleheader against the New York Giants because of a golf outing. Several of the Giants, including Buck Herzog, called him names from the bench. Cobb retaliated by spiking Herzog during the second game, prompting a bench-clearing brawl in which Cobb ground Herzog's face in the dirt. The Dallas Police Department had to help stop the brawl, and Cobb was thrown out of the game.WEB, Schechter, Gabriel,weblink Buck Herzog, SABR, April 26, 2021, Russo (2014), pp. 124-125. Both teams were staying at the Oriental Hotel, and at dinner that evening, Herzog walked up to Cobb and challenged him to a fight. The two met an hour later in Cobb's room, where the Tiger outfielder had prepared for the fight by moving furniture out of the way and pouring water on the floor. Cobb's leather-soled shoes enabled him to get better footing than Herzog, who wore tennis shoes. The fight lasted for thirty minutes, over the course of which Cobb knocked down Herzog about six times while Herzog only knocked Cobb down once. The scuffle left Herzog's face bloodied and his eyes nearly shut.Russo (2014), p. 125. With McGraw vowing revenge, Cobb skipped the rest of the exhibition series against the Giants, heading to Cincinnati to train with the Reds, who were managed by Cobb's friend Christy Mathewson. However, Cobb later expressed the deepest respect for Herzog because of the way the infielder had conducted himself in the fight.In 1917, Cobb hit in 35 consecutive games, still the only player with two 35-game hitting streaks (including his 40-game streak in 1911).WEB,weblink Consecutive Games Hitting Streaks, June 6, 2007, Baseball Almanac, He had six hitting streaks of at least 20 games in his career, second only to Pete Rose's eight.WEB,weblink Player Pages: Pete Rose, February 7, 2007, Also in 1917, Cobb starred in the motion picture Somewhere in Georgia for a sum of $25,000 plus expenses (equivalent to approximately ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|25000|1917|r=-3}}}} today{{inflation-fn|US}}). Based on a story by sports columnist Grantland Rice, the film casts Cobb as "himself," a small-town Georgia bank clerk with a talent for baseball.WEB,weblink Somewhere in Georgia, Internet Movie Database, February 7, 2007, Broadway critic Ward Morehouse called the movie "absolutely the worst flicker I ever saw, pure hokum."{{multiple image||align = left|direction = horizontal|total_width = 350|image2 = Cobbruth.jpg|caption2 = Babe Ruth (left) and Ty Cobb in 1920|image1 = Ty Cobb Paul Thompson, c1918.jpg|caption1 = Cobb circa 1918|footer =}}In October 1918, Cobb enlisted in the Chemical Corps branch of the United States Army and was sent to the Allied Expeditionary Forces headquarters in Chaumont, France.JOURNAL, Gurtowski, Richard, July 2005, Remembering baseball hall of famers who served in the Chemical Corps, CML Army Chemical Review,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060222165016weblink">weblink dead, 2006-02-22, March 10, 2007, He served approximately 67 days overseas before being honorably discharged and returning to the United States. He was given the rank of captain underneath the command of Major Branch Rickey, the president of the St. Louis Cardinals. Other baseball players serving in this unit included Captain Christy Mathewson and Lieutenant George Sisler. All of these men were assigned to the Gas and Flame Division, where they trained soldiers in preparation for chemical attacks by exposing them to gas chambers in a controlled environment, which eventually caused Mathewson to contract the tuberculosis that killed him on the eve of the 1925 World Series.On August 19, 1921, in the second game of a doubleheader against Elmer Myers of the Boston Red Sox, Cobb collected his 3,000th hit. Aged 34 at the time, he is still the youngest ballplayer to reach that milestone, and in the fewest at-bats (8,093).WEB,weblink The 3000 Hit Club: Ty Cobb, February 10, 2007, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070209031106weblink">weblink February 9, 2007, dead, mdy-all, MAGAZINE,weblink August 6, 1999, Inside the numbers: 3,000 hits, February 10, 2007, Sporting News, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20050211195538weblink">weblink February 11, 2005, mdy-all, By 1920, Babe Ruth, sold to the renamed New York Yankees from the Boston Red Sox, had established himself as a power hitter, something Cobb was not considered to be. When his Tigers showed up in New York to play the Yankees for the first time that season, writers billed it as a showdown between two stars of competing styles of play. Ruth hit two homers, a triple, and two singles during the series, compared to Cobb's two hits of a double and a single.WEB, Detroit Tigers vs New York Yankees Box Score: May 24, 1920,weblink 2023-03-29, Baseball-Reference.com, en, WEB, Detroit Tigers vs New York Yankees Box Score: May 25, 1920,weblink 2023-03-29, Baseball-Reference.com, en, WEB, Detroit Tigers vs New York Yankees Box Score: May 26, 1920,weblink 2023-03-29, Baseball-Reference.com, en, As Ruth's popularity grew, Cobb became increasingly hostile toward him. He saw the Babe not only as a threat to his style of play, but also to his style of life.WEB,weblink Zirin, Dave, Bonding With the Babe, The Nation, May 8, 2006, March 1, 2007, WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20050120092744weblink">weblink dead, 2005-01-20, Kalish, Jacob, Fat phenoms: are hot dogs and beer part of your training regimen? Maybe they should be, Men's Fitness, October 2004, March 1, 2007, NEWS,weblink Klinkenberg, Jeff, Thanks, Babe, St. Petersburg Times, March 24, 2004, March 1, 2007, Perhaps what angered him the most about Ruth was that despite Babe's total disregard for his physical condition and traditional baseball, he was still an overwhelming success and brought fans to the ballparks in record numbers to see him challenge his own slugging records.JOURNAL, Bisher, Furman, A Visit with Ty Cobb, Saturday Evening Post, 1958, 230, 50, 42,weblink 27 February 2018, On May 5, 1925, Cobb told a reporter that, for the first time in his career, he was going to try to hit home runs, saying he wanted to show that he could hit home runs but simply chose not to. That day, he went 6 for 6, with two singles, a double and three homers.WEB,weblink May 1925, February 8, 2007, Baseballlibrary.com, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150923224657weblink">weblink September 23, 2015, mdy-all, The 16 total bases set a new AL record, which stood until May 8, 2012, when Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers hit four home runs and a double for a total of 18 bases.WEB, Baseball Almanac,weblink Total Bases Records, May 9, 2012, The next day Cobb had three more hits, two of which were home runs. The single his first time up gave him nine consecutive hits over three games, while his five homers in two games tied the record set by Cap Anson of the old Chicago NL team in 1884. By the end of the series Cobb had gone 12 for 19 with 29 total bases, and afterwards reverted to his old playing style. Even so, when asked in 1930 by Grantland Rice to name the best hitter he'd ever seen, Cobb answered, "You can't beat the Babe. Ruth is one of the few who can take a terrific swing and still meet the ball solidly. His timing is perfect. [No one has] the combined power and eye of Ruth."Cobb as player/manager
File:Ty Cobb sliding2-edit1.jpg|thumb|Cobb slides into third base for a triple against the Washington Senators at Griffith StadiumGriffith StadiumTigers owner Frank Navin tapped Cobb to take over for Hughie Jennings as manager for the 1921 season, a deal he signed on his 34th birthday for $32,500 (equivalent to approximately ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|32500|1921|r=0}}}} in today's terms{{inflation-fn|US}}). The signing surprised the baseball world. Although Cobb was a legendary player, he was disliked throughout the baseball community, even by his own teammates.WEB,weblink Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb: a North Georgia Notable, About North Georgia, February 27, 2007, January 26, 2007,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070126120456weblink">weblink dead, The closest Cobb came to winning another pennant was in 1924, when the Tigers finished in third place, six games behind the pennant-winning Washington Senators. The Tigers had also finished third in 1922, but 16 games behind the Yankees. Cobb blamed his lackluster managerial record (479 wins against 444 losses) on Navin, who was arguably even more frugal than he was, passing up several quality players Cobb wanted to add to the team. In fact, he had saved money by hiring Cobb to both play and manage.In 1922, Cobb tied a batting record set by Wee Willie Keeler, with four five-hit games in a season. This has since been matched by Stan Musial, Tony Gwynn and Ichiro Suzuki. On May 10, 1924, Cobb was honored at ceremonies before a game in Washington, D.C., by more than 100 dignitaries and legislators. He received 21 books, one for each year in professional baseball.BOOK, Salsinger, H.G., Ty Cobb, 2012, McFarland, US, 978-0-7864-6546-0, 162,weblinkweblink" title="archive.today/20130128090001weblink">weblink dead, 2013-01-28, At the end of 1925, Cobb was again embroiled in a batting title race, this time with one of his teammates and players, Harry Heilmann. In a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns on October 4, 1925, Heilmann got six hits to lead the Tigers to a sweep of the doubleheader and beat Cobb for the batting crown, .393 to .389. Cobb and Browns player-manager George Sisler each pitched in the final game, Cobb pitching a perfect inning.Managerial record{| class"wikitable" style"font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
Move to Philadelphia
Cobb announced his retirement after a 22-year career as a Tiger in November 1926, and headed home to Augusta, Georgia. Shortly thereafter, Tris Speaker also retired as player-manager of the Cleveland Indians. The retirement of two great players at the same time sparked some interest, and it turned out that the two were coerced into retirement because of allegations of game-fixing brought about by Dutch Leonard, a former pitcher managed by Cobb.WEB,weblink Ty Cobb, November 24, 2007, baseballbiography.com, mdy-all, File:1928 Gehrig Speaker Cobb Ruth.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Lou Gehrig, Tris Speaker, Cobb, and Babe RuthBabe RuthLeonard accused former pitcher and outfielder Smoky Joe Wood and Cobb of betting on a Tigers–Indians game played in Detroit on September 25, 1919, in which they allegedly orchestrated a Tigers victory to win the bet. Leonard claimed proof existed in letters written to him by Cobb and Wood. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis held a secret hearing with Cobb, Speaker and Wood. A second secret meeting among the AL directors led to the unpublicized resignations of Cobb and Speaker; however, rumors of the scandal led Judge Landis to hold additional hearings in which Leonard subsequently refused to participate. Cobb and Wood admitted to writing the letters, but claimed that a horse-racing bet was involved and that Leonard's accusations were in retaliation for Cobb's having released him from the Tigers, thereby demoting him to the minor leagues. Speaker denied any wrongdoing.On January 27, 1927, Judge Landis cleared Cobb and Speaker of any wrongdoing because of Leonard's refusal to appear at the hearings. Landis allowed both Cobb and Speaker to return to their original teams, but each team let them know that they were free agents and could sign with any club they wanted. Speaker signed with the Washington Senators for 1927, and Cobb with the Philadelphia Athletics. Speaker then joined Cobb in Philadelphia for the 1928 season. Cobb said he had come back only to seek vindication and say he left baseball on his own terms.Cobb played regularly in 1927 for a young and talented team that finished second to one of the greatest teams of all time, the 110–44 1927 Yankees, returning to Detroit to a tumultuous welcome on May 10 and doubling his first time up to the cheers of Tigers fans. On July 18, Cobb became the first member of the 4,000 hit club when he doubled off former teammate Sam Gibson, still pitching for the Tigers, at Navin Field.Cobb returned for the 1928 season but played less frequently due to his age and the blossoming abilities of the young A's, who were again in a pennant race with the Yankees. On September 3, Ty Cobb pinch-hit in the ninth inning of the first game of a doubleheader against the Senators and doubled off Bump Hadley for his last career hit although his last at-bat wasn't until September 11 against the Yankees, popping out off Hank Johnson and grounding out to shortstop Mark Koenig. He then announced his retirement, effective the end of the season, after batting .300 or higher in 23 consecutive seasons (the only season under .300 being his rookie season), a major league record that is unlikely to be broken. Despite not being known as a slugger, he led the AL in slugging percentage eight times in his 11 seasons from 1907 to 1917.He also ended his career with a rather dubious record. When Cobb retired, he led AL outfielders for most errors all-time with 271, which still stands today.BOOK, Curveballs and Screwballs, Jeffrey, Douglas, Lyons, Lyons, 978-0812933154, Random House Puzzles & Games, 2001,weblink Nineteenth-century player Tom Brown holds the major league record with 490 errors committed as an outfielder, while the National League record is held by 19th-century player George Gore with 346 errors.WEB, Fielding Errors: Errors Committed as an OF,weblink BaseballReference.com, July 25, 2012, WEB, George Gore,weblink Baseball-Reference.com, Cobb ranks 14th on the all-time list for errors committed by an outfielder.Post-playing career
File:Ty Cobb HOF plaque.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Cobb's plaque in the Baseball Hall of FameBaseball Hall of FameCobb retired a wealthy and successful man.MAGAZINE, May 10, 1937, Champion, Time,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070930231051weblink">weblink dead, September 30, 2007, February 27, 2007, He toured Europe with his family, went to Scotland for some time and then returned to his farm in Georgia. He spent his retirement pursuing his off-season avocations of hunting, golfing, polo and fishing. His other pastime was trading stocks and bonds, increasing his immense personal wealth.WEB,weblink Cobb's philanthropy, The Ty Cobb Museum, February 10, 2007, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070516162007weblink">weblink May 16, 2007, mdy-all, He was a major stockholder in the Coca-Cola Corporation, which by itself would have made him wealthy.In the winter of 1930, Cobb moved into a Spanish ranch estate on Spencer Lane in the affluent town of Atherton located south of San Francisco, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. At the same time, his wife Charlie filed the first of several divorce suitsMAGAZINE, April 27, 1931, Milestones, Time,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20071018010325weblink">weblink dead, October 18, 2007, February 27, 2007, but withdrew the suit shortly thereafter.MAGAZINE, May 11, 1931, Milestones, Time,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070930041649weblink">weblink dead, September 30, 2007, February 27, 2007, The couple eventually divorced in 1947MAGAZINE, June 30, 1947, Milestones, Time,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070930063754weblink">weblink dead, September 30, 2007, February 27, 2007, after 39 years of marriage, the last few years of which Cobb's wife lived in nearby Menlo Park. The couple had three sons and two daughters: Tyrus Raymond Jr, Shirley Marion, Herschel Roswell, James Howell, and Beverly.WEB,weblink Biography for Ty Cobb, February 10, 2007, Internet Movie Database, Cobb's children found him to be demanding, yet also capable of kindness and extreme warmth. He expected his sons to be exceptional athletes in general and baseball players in particular. Tyrus Raymond, Jr. flunked out of PrincetonNEWS,weblink FILM REVIEW; A Hero Who Was a Heel, Or, What Price Glory?, 29 September 2019, The New York Times, Maslin, Janet, December 2, 1994, (where he had played on the varsity tennis team), much to his father's dismay.WEB, Kossuth, James,weblink Cobb Hangs 'em Up ...eventually, February 6, 2007, The elder Cobb subsequently traveled to the Princeton campus and beat his son with a whip to ensure against future academic failure. Tyrus Raymond, Jr. then entered Yale University and became captain of the tennis team while improving his academics, but was then arrested twice in 1930 for drunkenness and left Yale without graduating. Cobb helped his son deal with his pending legal problems, but then permanently broke off with him. Even though Tyrus Raymond, Jr. finally reformed and eventually earned an M.D. from the Medical College of South Carolina and practiced obstetrics and gynecology in Dublin, Georgia, until his death at 42 on September 9, 1952, from a brain tumor, his father remained distant.NEWS, Ty Cobb's Son Dies at 42, The New York Times, 29, September 10, 1952, In February 1936, when the first Baseball Hall of Fame election results were announced, Cobb had been named on 222 of 226 ballots, outdistancing Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson, the only others to earn the necessary 75% of votes to be elected that first year.WEB,weblink Hall of Fame Voting: Baseball Writers Elections 1936, October 26, 2007, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070829205105weblink">weblink August 29, 2007, dead, mdy-all, His 98.2% stood as the record until Tom Seaver received 98.8% of the vote in 1992. Those results show that although many people disliked him personally, they respected the way he had played and what he had accomplished. In 1998, Sporting News ranked him as third on the list of 100 Greatest Baseball Players.WEB,weblink 100 Greatest Baseball Players, Baseball Almanac, March 22, 2012, Of major league stars of the 1940s and 1950s, Cobb had positive things to say about Stan Musial, Phil Rizzuto, and Jackie Robinson, but few others.WEB,weblink Cobb Hangs 'em Up, April 18, 2008, Kossuth, James, Even so, he was known to help out young players. He was instrumental in helping Joe DiMaggio negotiate his rookie contract with the New York Yankees.According to sportswriter Grantland Rice, he and Cobb were returning from the Masters golf tournament in the late 1940s and stopped at a Greenville, South Carolina, liquor store. Cobb noticed that the man behind the counter was "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, who had been banned from baseball almost 30 years earlier following the Black Sox scandal. Jackson did not appear to recognize him, and after making his purchase an incredulous Cobb asked, "Don't you know me, Joe?" "Sure, I know you, Ty" replied Jackson, "but I wasn't sure you wanted to know me. A lot of them don't."BOOK, Frommer, Harvey, 1,weblink March 26, 2016, 1992, University of Nevada Press, Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball, 9780803218628, Cobb was mentioned in the poem "Line-Up for Yesterday" by Ogden Nash:
}}
Later life
(File:Ty Cobb 1951 (1).jpg|thumb|Cobb in 1951)At the age of 62, Cobb married a second time in 1949. His new wife was 40-year-old Frances Fairbairn Cass, a divorcée from Buffalo, New York.MAGAZINE, September 26, 1949,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20071018010340weblink">weblink dead, October 18, 2007, The Old Gang, Time (magazine), Time, February 10, 2007, Their childless marriage also failed, ending with a divorce in 1956.MAGAZINE, May 21, 1956,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20061205135053weblink">weblink dead, December 5, 2006, Milestones, Time (magazine), Time, February 10, 2007, At this time, Cobb became generous with his wealth, donating $100,000 in his parents' name for his hometown to build a modern 24-bed hospital, Cobb Memorial Hospital, which is now part of the Ty Cobb Healthcare System. He also established the Cobb Educational Fund, which awarded scholarships to needy Georgia students bound for college, by endowing it with a $100,000 donation in 1953 (equivalent to approximately ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|100000|1953|r=0}}}} in current year dollars {{inflation-fn|US}}).Cobb knew that another way he could share his wealth was by having biographies written that would both set the record straight on him and teach young players how to play.{{clarify|reason=How's he sharing his wealth by having biographies written? If it's immaterial wealth (of knowledge), this should be phrased differently. Also, a statement about how Cobb "knew" anything shouldn't be unsourced.|date=December 2023}} John McCallum spent some time with Cobb to write a combination how-to and biography titled The Tiger Wore Spikes: An Informal Biography of Ty Cobb that was published in 1956.BOOK, John, McCallum, John McCallum (author), The Tiger Wore Spikes: An Informal Biography of Ty Cobb, 240 pages, A. S. Barnes, New York, 1956, NEWS, Arthur, Daley, Baseball with Brains, 231, The New York Times Book Review, June 17, 1956, In December 1959, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, and Bright's disease.WEB,weblink Did You Know?, The Ty Cobb Museum, February 26, 2007, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20061230070900weblink">weblink December 30, 2006, mdy-all, It was also during his final years that Cobb began work on his autobiography, My Life in Baseball: The True Record, with writer Al Stump. Cobb retained editorial control over the book and the published version presented him in a positive light. Stump said that the collaboration was contentious, and after Cobb's death Stump published two more books and a short story giving what he said was the "true story." One of these later books was used as the basis for the 1994 film Cobb (a box office flop starring Tommy Lee Jones as Cobb and directed by Ron Shelton). In 2010, an article by William R. "Ron" Cobb (no relation) in the peer-reviewed The National Pastime (the official publication of the Society for American Baseball Research) accused Stump of extensive forgeries of Cobb-related documents and diaries. The article further accused Stump of numerous false statements about Cobb in his last years, most of which were sensationalistic in nature and intended to cast Cobb in an unflattering light.Death
In his last days, Cobb spent some time with the old movie comedian Joe E. Brown, talking about the choices he had made in his life. According to Brown, Cobb said he felt that he had made mistakes and that he would do things differently if he could. He had played hard and lived hard all his life, had no friends to show for it at the end, and regretted it. Publicly, however, he claimed to have no regrets: "I've been lucky. I have no right to be regretful of what I did."JOURNAL, July 31, 1961, How to Dominate the Diamond, Newsweek, LVIII, 54, He was taken to Emory University Hospital for the last time in June 1961 after falling into a diabetic coma.MAGAZINE, Montville, Leigh, The Last Remains of a Legend, Sports Illustrated,weblink en-us, 27 October 1992, His first wife Charlie, his son Jimmy, and other family members came to be with him for his final days. He died there on July 17, 1961, at age 74.Russo (2014), p. 22.
regarding Ty Cobb shortly after Cobb's death}}
Approximately 150 friends and relatives attended a brief service in Cornelia, Georgia, and drove to the Cobb family mausoleum in Royston for the burial. Cobb's family kept the event private, not trusting the media to report accurately on it. Baseball's only representatives at his funeral were three old-time players, Ray Schalk, Mickey Cochrane, and Nap Rucker, and Sid Keener, the director of the Baseball Hall of Fame, but messages of condolence numbered in the hundreds and included notes from Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams.BOOK, Ty Cobb, Alexander, C., 235,weblink 1985, Oxford University Press, 0-19-503598-4, NEWS, Funeral Service Held for Ty Cobb, The New York Times, 20, July 20, 1961, Russo (2014), p. 21. Family in attendance included Cobb's former wife Charlie, his two daughters, his surviving son Jimmy, his two sons-in-law, his daughter-in-law Mary Dunn Cobb and her two children.At the time of his death, Cobb's estate was reported to be worth at least $11.78 million (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{Inflation|US|11780000|1961|r=4}}}} today){{Inflation-fn|US}}, including $10 million worth of General Motors stock and $1.78 million in The Coca-Cola Company stock.NEWS, Cobb Said to Have Left At Least $11,780,000, The New York Times, S3 (Sports section), September 3, 1951, His will left a quarter of his estate to the Cobb Educational Fund, and distributed the rest among his children and grandchildren. Cobb is interred in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Royston, Georgia. As of April 2021, the Ty Cobb Educational Foundation has distributed $19.2 million in college scholarships to needy college bound Georgia students.WEB,weblink Ty Cobb Educational Foundation, January 30, 2007, Legacy
{{MLBBioHon|Image = Cobb_DET.png|Name = Ty Cobb|Team = Detroit Tigers|Year = 2000}}File:Ty Cobb's flying feet in 1912.jpeg|thumb|right|Cobb sliding spikes-high into St. Louis Browns catcher Paul KrichellPaul Krichell}}The historian Steven Elliott Tripp has explored the public's reaction to Cobb as a pioneer sports celebrity and "a player fans loved to hate."Tripp (2016), p. 256. Tripp writes that Cobb was both loved and hated as a representative of a particular kind of masculinity on the field, inviting male spectators to participate in the contest through taunts directed at opposing players. Cobb's own sense of manhood, according to Tripp, was a product of his Southern upbringing that prized individualism, excitement, and family honor.Tripp (2016), pp. 109–110. Russo wrote, "There is no denying that Cobb ranks as one of baseball's greatest players, if not the game's fiercest competitor."Russo (2014), p. 15. Many of baseball's greatest players were friends with Cobb. Mathewson and Walter Johnson were some of his closest friends. Others included Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Home Run Baker, and Eddie Collins. Following his retirement, Cobb even befriended one of his greatest rivals, Babe Ruth, whose wife Claire was from Georgia.Cobb has been judged by some historians and journalists as the best player of the dead-ball era, and is generally seen as one of the greatest players of all time.WEB, Zacharias, Patricia, Ty Cobb, the greatest Tiger of them all,weblink August 25, 2007, dead,weblink" title="archive.today/20120720080112weblink">weblink July 20, 2012, mdy-all, NEWS, Povich, Shirley, Best Player-Not Best Man,weblink August 25, 2007, The Washington Post, July 24, 1998, Some historians, including Wesley Fricks, Dan Holmes, and Charles Leerhsen, have defended Cobb against unfair portrayals of him in popular culture since his death. A noted case is the book written by sportswriter Al Stump in the months after Cobb died in 1961. Stump was later discredited when it became known that he had stolen items belonging to Cobb and also betrayed the access Cobb gave him in his final months.Russo, pp. 18-19. As a result of the movie Cobb, which starred Tommy Lee Jones, there are many myths surrounding Cobb's life, including one that he sharpened his spikes to inflict wounds on opposing players.WEB, Holmes, Dan, Five Myths About Ty Cobb,weblink Vintage Detroit, August 30, 2012, September 29, 2022, This accusation was common for many decades before the movie was released.Writing in The Journal of American Culture, Hunter M. Hampton says that Leerhsen "succeeds in debunking the myth of Cobb that Stump created, but he spawned a new myth by conflating Stump's shortcomings to depict Cobb as an egalitarian."In 1977, a statue of Ty Cobb, designed by the sculptor Felix de Weldon, was installed outside the Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium. It would later be relocated to the front of the public library in his hometown of Royston in 2017.WEB, Ty Cobb Statue,weblink October 14, 2020, New Georgia Encyclopedia,Views on race
Stories of Cobb's racial intolerance during his playing days were embellished and falsified by his biographers Al Stump and Charles Alexander.WEB,weblink How Ty Cobb was framed as a racist, Smith, Kyle, May 31, 2015, New York Post, September 6, 2020, Recent research on his life has clarified a number of stories about Cobb. Five years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, Cobb publicly supported blacks and whites playing baseball together, adding: "Certainly it is okay for them to play. I see no reason in the world why we shouldn't compete with colored athletes as long as they conduct themselves with politeness and gentility. Let me say also that no white man has the right to be less of a gentleman than a colored man; in my book that goes not only for baseball but in all walks of life." Using even stronger language, Cobb told the Sporting News in 1952 that "the Negro should be accepted and not grudgingly but wholeheartedly."Leerhsen (2015), p. 304. In 1953, black newspapers cited his praise for Brooklyn Dodgers' catcher Roy Campanella, who Cobb said was "among the all-time best catchers" in baseball."One of the Game's Top Catchers." Philadelphia Tribune, August 8, 1953, p. 11. Following Campanella's accident that left him paralyzed, the Dodgers staged a tribute game where tens of thousands of spectators silently held lit matches above their heads. Cobb wrote the Dodgers owner to show appreciation "for what you did for this fine man."Leerhsen (2015), p. 305. Cobb also stated that Willie Mays was the "only player I'd pay money to see."Leerhsen (2015), p. 305. In the obituaries that ran in the black press following Cobb's death, he was praised for "[speaking] in favor of racial freedom in baseball.""Ty Cobb Backed Negroes." Los Angeles Sentinel, August 3, 1961, B11.Rivalry with Sam Crawford
Sam Crawford and Ty Cobb were teammates for parts of thirteen seasons. They played beside each other in right and center field, and Crawford followed Cobb in the batting order year after year. Despite the physical closeness, the two had a complicated relationship.JOURNAL, Blaisdell, L.D., 1992, Legends as an Expression of Baseball Memory, Journal of Sport History, 19, 3,weblink April 17, 2008, File:SamCrawford4.jpg|thumb|left|Sam CrawfordSam CrawfordInitially, they had a student-teacher relationship. Crawford was an established star when Cobb arrived, and Cobb eagerly sought his advice. The student–teacher relationship gradually changed to one of jealous rivals.BOOK, Peach: Ty Cobb In His Time And Ours, Bak, Richard, 2005, Sports Media Group, 1-58726-257-6, Cobb was not popular with his teammates, and as Cobb became the biggest star in baseball, Crawford was unhappy with the preferential treatment given to Cobb. Cobb was allowed to show up late for spring training and was given private quarters on the road – perks not offered to Crawford. The competition between the two was intense. Crawford recalled that, if he went three for four on a day when Cobb went hitless, Cobb would turn red and sometimes walk out of the park with the game still on. When it was reported that Nap Lajoie had won the batting title, Crawford was alleged to have been one of several Tigers who sent a telegram to Lajoie congratulating him on beating Cobb.WEB, The Strangest Batting Race Ever,weblink August 26, 2007, In retirement, Cobb wrote a letter to a writer for The Sporting News accusing Crawford of not helping in the outfield and of intentionally fouling off balls when Cobb was stealing a base. Crawford learned about the letter in 1946 and accused Cobb of being a "cheapskate" who never helped his teammates. He said that Cobb had not been a very good fielder, "so he blamed me." Crawford denied intentionally trying to deprive Cobb of stolen bases, insisting that Cobb had "dreamed that up."When asked about the feud, Cobb attributed it to envy. He felt that Crawford was "a hell of a good player," but he was "second best" on the Tigers and "hated to be an also ran." Cobb biographer Richard Bak noted that the two "only barely tolerated each other" and agreed with Cobb that Crawford's attitude was driven by Cobb's having stolen Crawford's thunder.Bak (2005), p. 38Although they may not have spoken to each other, Cobb and Crawford developed an ability to communicate non-verbally with looks and nods on the base paths. They became one of the most successful double steal pairings in baseball history.Bak (2005), p. 177.Regular season statistics
Cobb has the highest batting average in major league history, .366. In Cobb's time, major league records were kept very well, but not with the absolute accuracy seen later. Thus, for many years, Cobb's lifetime batting average was reported as .367, but rigorous research of source documents late 20th century found that this is wrong, as some games had been reported incorrectly.WEB,weblink How Many Hits Did Ty Cobb Make in His Major League Career? What Is His Lifetime Batting Average?, Herm Krabbenhoft, Spring 2019, Baseball Research Journal, SABR (Society for American Baseball Research), February 11, 2021, BOOK, Banks, Kerry, Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records,weblink February 6, 2021, 2010, Greystone Books, 9781553655077, 9, All sources with standing agree that Cobb's lifetime batting average is .366 (except MLB.com, see below); some show slightly different numbers for at-bats and hits, but all devolve to .366. SABR (the Society for American Baseball Research) (seconded by John Thorn and Pete Palmer, among others), the Baseball Almanac, and ESPN credit Cobb with 4,189 hits in 11,434 at-bats.SABRE's Ty Cobb totalsBaseball Almanac Cobb totalsESPN Cobb totals Retrosheet gives Cobb the same number of hits in five more at-bats (11,439),Retrosheet Cobb totals and Baseball Reference and the Baseball Hall of Fame add one more at-bat (11,440).Baseball Reference Cobb totalsHall of Fame Cobb totals All of these round to .366.MLB.com lists Cobb's lifetime average as .367 (4,191 hits in 11,429 at-bats),MLB.com Cobb totals the number that had been reported and believed true from Cobb's retirement until the late 20th century. (Other pages on the website do give the correct value.)WEB,weblink Author says Cobb's reputation built on tales, Anthony Castrovince, May 17, 2016, Mlb.com, February 11, 2021, According to former Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, Major League Baseball continues and will continue to report the incorrect value on the basis of it being grandfathered in ("The passage of 70 years, in our judgment, constitutes a certain statute of limitation as to recognizing any changes.")WEB,weblink Numbers Are Cast in Bronze, but Are Not Set in Stone, Alan Schwarz, July 31, 2005, The New York Times, February 11, 2021, According to Retrosheet, Cobb recorded 1 six-hit game, 13 five-hit games, and 82 four-hit games in his MLB career.WEB,weblink Ty Cobb's best performances from retrosheet.org, retrosheet.org, September 24, 2022,See also
- Major League Baseball titles leaders
- Major League Baseball Triple Crown
- List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual runs scored leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual doubles leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual stolen base leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual triples leaders
- List of Major League Baseball batting champions
- List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career on-base percentage leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career OPS leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career total bases leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career doubles leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career triples leaders
- List of Major League Baseball single-game hits leaders
- List of Major League Baseball player-managers
- List of Major League Baseball individual streaks
References
{{reflist|30em}}Book sources
- BOOK, Cobb, Ty, Al Stump, My Life in Baseball: The True Record, 1993, reprint, 0-8032-6359-7, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, Cobb,
- BOOK, Bak, Richard, Peach: Ty Cobb In His Time And Ours, Sports Media Group, 2005, 1-58726-257-6,weblink Bak,
- BOOK, Russo, Frank, The Cooperstown Chronicles: Baseball's Colorful Characters, Unusual Lives, and Strange Demises, New York, Rowman & Littlefield, 2014, 978-1-4422-3639-4, Russo,
- BOOK, Leerhsen, Charles, Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, 2015, New York, N.Y., Simon & Schuster, 978-1-451645-76-7,weblink Leerhsen,
- BOOK, Tripp, Steven Elliott, Ty Cobb, Baseball, and American Manhood, 2016, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., 978-1-44-225191-5, Tripp,
Further reading
- BOOK, Alexander, Charles, Ty Cobb,weblink registration, Oxford University Press, New York, 1984, 0-8032-6359-7,
- BOOK, Bak, Richard, Ty Cobb: His Tumultuous Life and Times, Taylor, Dallas, Texas, 1994, 0-87833-848-9,weblink
- BOOK, Stanton, Tom, Ty and The Babe, Baseball's Fiercest Rivals: A Surprising Friendship and the 1941 Has-Beens Golf Championship, Thomas Dunne Books, New York, 2007, 978-0-312-36159-4,weblink
- BOOK, Cobb, Herschel, Heart of a Tiger: Growing Up with My Grandfather, Ty Cobb, 2013, ECW Press, Toronto, 978-1-77-041130-2,weblink
External links
{{Commons category}}- {{baseballstats|mlb=112431|espn=20249|br=c/cobbty01|fangraphs=1002378|brm=cobb--001tyr|retro=C/Pcobbt101}}
- {{baseball-reference manager|cobbty01}}
- {{Official websiteweblink}}
- {{bbhof|cobb-ty}}
- {{sabrbio|ty-cobb}}
- {{find a grave|210}}
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