Ty Cobb

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Cobb, Tyrus Raymond

Personal Info
Birth	December 18, 1886, Narrows, Georgia
Death:	July 17, 1961, Atlanta, Georgia
Professional Career
Debut	August 30, 1905, Detroit Tigers vs. New York Highlanders, Bennett Park
Team(s)	As Player Detroit Tigers (1905 - 1926) Philadelphia A's (1927 - 1928) As Manager Detroit Tigers (1921 - 1926)
HOF induction:	1936
Career Highlights
All-Time Records Career batting average (.366)[1] Career steals of home (54) Career batting titles (11) Notable Achievements Batted over .320 for 22 straight seasons 4,189 Career hits (2nd only to Pete Rose) Batted over .400 three times (1911, 1912 & 1922) Won the Triple Crown in 1909 One of the inaugural members of the Hall of Fame

Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "The Georgia Peach",^[2] was a Major League Baseball (MLB) player. Cobb is considered one of the greatest players ever and is in the Hall of Fame, having received the most votes of any player on the 1936 inaugural Hall of Fame Ballot.^[3]

Cobb wrote baseball's record books, setting more than 90 records at one time or another and holding 43 when he retired in 1928.^[4][5] As of 2007, he still holds several records, including highest MLB career batting average with .366^[1] and most career batting titles with 11.^[6] After his retirement, he retained many other records for almost a half century or more, including most career major league hits until 1985 (4,189, long believed to be 4,191),^[7][8] most career runs (2,246) until 2001,^[9] most career games played (3,035) and at bats (11,434) until 1974,^[10][11] and the modern record for most career stolen bases (892) until 1977.^[12]

The greatest of stars during his playing prime, Cobb's legacy as an athlete has sometimes been overshadowed by his surly temperament, passionate racism^[13] and aggressive reputation,^[14] which was described by the Detroit Free Press as "daring to the point of dementia."^[15]

Contents 1 Early life and baseball career 2 Major League career 2.1 Early years 2.2 1910 and the Chalmers Award controversy 2.3 1911 Season and onward 2.4 1915-1921 2.5 Cobb as player/manager 2.6 Cobb moves to Philadelphia 3 Post professional career 3.1 Later life 3.2 Death 3.3 Legacy 4 Regular season stats 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Early life and baseball career

Born in Banks County, Georgia, in an area known as the Narrows in 1886, Ty was the first of three children to Amanda Chitwood Cobb and William Herschel Cobb. The elder Cobb was a student of warfare and named his son Tyrus in reference to the Phoenician city of Tyre and its victorius battle with Alexander the Great in 332 BC.^[16][17] However, the sports press erroneously claimed at times that the etymology of Ty's name was from the Norse god Týr.^[16]

Ty spent his first years in baseball as a member of the Royston Rompers, the semi-professional Royston Red, and the Augusta Tourists of the Sally League. However, the Tourists cut Cobb two days into the season. He then went to try out for the Anniston Steelers of the semi-pro Tennessee-Alabama League, with his father's stern admonition still ringing in his ears: "Don't come home a failure".^[18] Cobb promoted himself by sending several postcards to Grantland Rice, the sports editor of the Atlanta Journal under several different aliases. Eventually, Rice wrote a small note in the Journal that a "young fellow named Cobb seems to be showing an unusual lot of talent."^[19] After about three months, Ty returned to the Tourists. He finished the season hitting .237 in 35 games.

In 1905, the Tourists' management sold Cobb to the American League's Detroit Tigers for a sum between US$500 and $750.^[20][21][22] On August 8, 1905, Ty's father was shot to death by Ty's mother. William Cobb suspected his wife of infidelity, and was sneaking past his own bedroom window to catch her in the act. She only saw the silhouette of what she presumed to be an intruder, and, acting in self-defense, shot and killed her husband.^[18] Mrs. Cobb was charged with murder and then released on a $10,000 recognizance bond.^[23] She was acquitted on March 31, 1906.^[24]

[edit] Major League career

[edit] Early years

Three weeks after his mother killed his father, Cobb played center field for the Detroit Tigers. On August 30, 1905, in his first major league at-bat, Cobb doubled off the New York Highlanders's Jack Chesbro. That season, Cobb managed to bat only .240 in 41 games. Nevertheless, he showed enough promise as a rookie for the Tigers to give him a lucrative $1,800 contract for 1906.^[21]

Although rookie hazing was customary, Cobb could not endure it in good humor, and he soon became alienated from his teammates. He later attributed his hostile temperament to this experience: "These old-timers turned me into a snarling wildcat."^[15]

The following year (1906) he became the Tigers' full-time center fielder and hit .316 in 98 games. He would never hit below that mark again.^[22] Cobb, firmly entrenched in center field, led the Tigers to three consecutive American League Pennants from 1907 to 1909. Detroit would lose each World Series, however, with Cobb's post-season numbers being much below his career standard.

In one notable game on September 2, 1907, Cobb reached first, stole second, stole third, and then stole home on consecutive attempts.^[25] He finished that season with a league high .350 batting average and also led the league with 212 hits, and 119 Runs batted in (RBI).^[22] At age 20, Cobb became the youngest player to win a batting championship and held this record until 1955 when fellow Detroit Tiger Al Kaline won the batting title when he was one day younger than Cobb.^[26] Despite great success on the field, Cobb was no stranger to controversy off it. At spring training in 1907, he fought a black groundskeeper over the condition of the Tigers' field in Augusta, Georgia. Ty also ended up choking the man's wife when she intervened.^[27]

I always find that a drink of Coca-Cola between the games refreshes me to such an extent that I can start the second game feeling as if I had not been exercising at all, in spite of my exertions in the first. —Ty Cobb, 1907 Coca-Cola newspaper ad[28]

In September 1907, Cobb began a relationship with The Coca-Cola Company that would last the remainder of his life. By the time he died, he owned three bottling plants, in Santa Maria, California; Twin Falls, Idaho; and Bend, Oregon; and owned over 20,000 shares of stock.^[28] He was also a celebrity spokesman for the product.^[28]

The following season, the Tigers bested the Chicago White Sox for the American League pennant. Cobb again won the batting title, although he hit "only" .324 that year. Despite another loss in the Series, Cobb had something to celebrate. In August 1908, he married Charlotte "Charlie" Marion Lombard, the daughter of prominent Augustan Roswell Lombard. In the offseason, Cobb and his wife lived in his father-in-law's Augusta estate, The Oaks. In November of 1913, the couple moved into their own house on Williams Street.^[29]

The Tigers won the American League pennant again in 1909. During the Series Cobb stole home in the second game, igniting a three-run rally, but that was the high point for Cobb. He ended batting a lowly .231 in his last World Series, as the Tigers lost in seven games. Although he performed poorly in the post-season, Cobb won the regular-season Triple Crown by hitting .377 with 107 RBI and nine home runs - all inside-the-park. Cobb thus became the only player of the modern era to lead his league in home runs in a given season without hitting a ball over the fence.

It was also in 1909 that Charles M. Conlon snapped his famous photograph of a grimacing Ty Cobb sliding into third base amid a cloud of dirt, which visually captured the grit and ferocity of Cobb's playing style.^[30]

[edit] 1910 and the Chalmers Award controversy

In 1910, Cobb and Nap Lajoie were in competition for the American League batting title. Cobb was ahead by a slight margin going into the last day of the season. The prize for the winner of the title was a Chalmers Automobile. Cobb sat out the game to preserve his average. Lajoie, whose team was playing the St. Louis Browns, notched eight hits in a doubleheader. Six of those hits were bunt singles that fell in front of the third baseman. It turned out that Browns manager, Jack O'Connor, had ordered third baseman Red Corriden to play deep, on the outfield grass, so as to allow the popular Lajoie to win the title. A seventh hit is credited despite a wild throw to first base. The St. Louis Post was one of numerous newspapers to criticize the shenanigans, writing, "All St. Louis is up in arms over the deplorable spectacle, conceived in stupidity and executed in jealousy."^[31]

After some wrangling, American League president Ban Johnson declared all batting averages official, with Cobb seemingly hanging on to win, .3850687 to .3840947.^[31][32] With the Browns deliberately helping an opponent to surpass a total which was unknowingly inaccurate, the ensuing mathematical mess was described by one writer, "It could be said that 1910 produced two bogus leading batting averages, and one questionable champion."^[33] The Chalmers people, however, decided to award an automobile to both Cobb and Lajoie.^[32] The next year, the Chalmers Award was given to the player "most valuable" to his team, and the modern Most Valuable Player Award was born, with Cobb winning the American League version unanimously.

Muddying the waters further, it is the 1910 season which accounts for the statistical discrepancy in Cobb's career hit total, which was long reported as 4,191. A Detroit Tigers box score was mistakenly counted twice in the season-ending calculations, thus giving Cobb an additional two hits in three at bats. Beyond awarding him two nonexistent hits, it also raised Cobb's 1910 batting average from .383 to .385. Lajoie is credited with a .384 average for the 1910 season, and thus the downwardly revised figure would also cost Cobb one of his 12 batting titles.

On April 11, 1981, the office of baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn released a three-page statement in which the Official Baseball Records Committee "reaffirmed several important records and statistics, including the 1910 batting championship of Ty Cobb".^[34]. Kuhn's office explained that the records were reaffirmed for several reasons: AL President Ban Johnson had already ruled on the matter in 1910 in Cobb's favor; the events were over 70 seasons ago and there should be some statute of limitations; and the Cobb-Lajoie statistics should not be changed without a thorough review of all statistics of that time and such a review would be impractical.^[34] However, the baseball statisticians have ignored the commissioner's stance.^[22][35][36]

[edit] 1911 Season and onward

Cobb was regarded not just as an athlete, but a psychological competitor. Cobb was having a typically fine year in 1911, which included a 40-game hitting streak. Still, ”Shoeless” Joe Jackson had a .009 point lead on him in batting average. What happened next is discussed in Cobb's autobiography. Near the end of the season, Cobb’s Tigers had a long series against Jackson and the Cleveland Naps. Fellow Southerners, Cobb and Jackson were personally friendly both on and off the field. Cobb used that friendliness for his gain. However, Cobb suddenly ignored Jackson whenever Jackson said anything to him. When Jackson persisted, Cobb snapped angrily at Jackson, making him wonder what he could have done to enrage Cobb. As soon as the series was over, Cobb unexpectedly greeted Jackson and wished him well. Cobb felt that it was these mind games that caused Jackson to "fall off" to a final average of .408, while Cobb himself finished with a .420 average.^[31]

I often tried plays that looked recklessly daring, maybe even silly. But I never tried anything foolish when a game was at stake, only when we were far ahead or far behind. I did it to study how the other team reacted, filing away in my mind any observations for future use. —Ty Cobb, New York Times[37]

Cobb led the AL in numerous categories besides batting average, including 248 hits, 147 runs scored, 127 RBI, 83 stolen bases, 47 doubles, 24 triples, and a .621 slugging average. The only major offensive category in which Cobb did not finish first was home runs, where Frank Baker surpassed him 11-8. Cobb was awarded another Chalmers, this time for being voted the AL MVP by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

The game that may best illustrate Cobb's unique combination of skills and attributes occurred on May 12, 1911. Playing against the New York Yankees, Cobb scored a run from first base on a single to right field, then scored another run from second base on a wild pitch. In the 7th inning, he tied the game with a 2-run double. The Yankee catcher began vociferously arguing the call with the umpire, going on at such length that the other Yankee infielders gathered nearby to watch. Realizing that no one on the Yankees 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 slid into home plate for the game's winning run.^[31]

On May 15, 1912, Cobb assaulted Claude Lueker, a heckler, in the stands in New York. Lueker and Cobb traded insults with each other throughout the first three innings, and the situation climaxed when Lueker called Cobb a "half-nigger." Cobb then climbed into the stands and attacked the handicapped Lueker, who due to an industrial accident had lost all of one hand and three fingers on his other hand. When onlookers shouted at Cobb to stop because the man had no hands, Cobb reportedly replied, "I don't care if he has no feet!"^[18] The league suspended him, and his teammates, though not fond of Cobb, went on strike to protest the suspension prior to the May 18, 1912, game in Philadelphia.^[38] For that one game, Detroit fielded a replacement team made up of college and sandlot ballplayers, plus two Detroit coaches, and lost 24-2.^[39]Some of major league baseball's all-time negative records were established in this game, notably the 26 hits allowed by Allan Travers, who pitched the sport's most unlikely complete game.^[40] The strike ended when Cobb urged his teammates to return to the field.^[39]

During Cobb's career he was involved in numerous 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 with a fistfight, to be conducted under the grandstand after the game. Members of both teams served as the spectators, and broke up the scuffle after Cobb had knocked Evans down, pinned him, and began choking him. Cobb once slapped a black elevator operator for being "uppity." When a black night watchman intervened, Cobb pulled out a knife and stabbed him (The matter was later settled out of court)."^[15]

[edit] 1915-1921

In 1915, Cobb set the single season steals record when he stole 96 bases. That record stood until Maury Wills broke it in 1962.^[41] Cobb’s streak of five batting titles (believed at the time to be nine straight^[33]) ended the following year when he finished second with .371^[22] to Tris Speaker’s .386.^[42]

In 1917, Cobb hit in 35 consecutive games, and he remains the only player with two 35-game hitting streaks to his credit (Cobb had a 40-game hitting streak in 1911).^[43] Over his career, Cobb had six hitting streaks of at least 20 games, second only to Pete Rose's seven.^[44]

Also in 1917, Cobb starred in the motion picture Somewhere in Georgia for a sum of $25,000 plus expenses.^[45] Based on a story by sports columnist Grantland Rice, the film casts Cobb as "himself" in a fictional account of a small-town Georgian bank clerk with a talent for baseball.^[46] Broadway critic Ward Morehouse called the movie "absolutely the worst flicker I ever saw, pure hokum."^[45]

In October of 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.^[47] He served approximately 67 days overseas before receiving an honorable discharge and returning to the United States.^[47] Cobb served as a 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.^[47] 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.^[47]

By 1920, Babe Ruth had established himself as a power hitter, something Cobb was not considered. When Cobb and the 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 and a triple during the series while Cobb got only one single in the entire series.

As Ruth's popularity grew, Cobb became increasingly hostile toward him. Cobb saw Ruth not only as a threat to his style of play, but also to his style of life. While Cobb preached ascetic self-denial, Ruth gorged on hot dogs, beer, and women.^[48][49][50] In spite of Ruth'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 set his own records.

After enduring several years of seeing his fame and notoriety usurped by Ruth, Cobb decided that he was going to show that swinging for the fences was no challenge for a top hitter. On May 5, 1925, Cobb began a two-game hitting spree better than any even Ruth had unleashed. He was sitting in the dugout talking to a reporter and told him that, for the first time in his career, he was going to swing for the fences. That day, Cobb went 6 for 6, with two singles, a double, and three home runs.^[51] His 16 total bases set a new AL record.^[51] The next day he had three more hits, two of which were home runs.^[51] His single his first time up gave him 9 consecutive hits over three games.^[51] His five homers in two games tied the record set by Cap Anson of the old Chicago NL team in 1884.^[51] Cobb wanted to show that he could hit home runs when he wanted, but simply chose not to do so. At the end of the series, 38-year-old Cobb had gone 12 for 19 with 29 total bases, and then went happily back to bunting and hitting-and-running. Ruth stated, "I could have had a lifetime .600 average, but I would have had to hit them singles. The people were paying to see me hit home runs."^[52]

On August 19, 1921, in the second game of a double header against Elmer Myers of the Boston Red Sox, Cobb collected his 3,000th hit. Cobb still holds the distinction as of 2007 of being the youngest ballplayer, only 34, and the player with the fewest at-bats, 8,093, to reach the milestone.^[53][54]

[edit] Cobb as player/manager

Frank Navin, the Detroit Tigers owner, signed Cobb to take over for Hughie Jennings as manager for the 1921 season. Cobb signed the deal on his 34th birthday for $32,500. Even though he was recognized as one of baseball's legends, his fellow players were not fond of him.^[8] As a coach, Cobb had high expectations for his team and felt most of his players fell below that standard.^[55]

The closest he came to winning the pennant race was in 1924 when the Tigers finished in third place, six games behind the pennant-winning Washington Senators. The Tigers had finished second in 1922 but were 16 games behind the Yankees.

Cobb blamed his lackluster managerial record (479 wins-444 losses) on the frugal Navin, who had passed up a number of quality players that Cobb wanted to add to the team. In fact, Navin had saved money by hiring Cobb to manage the team.

Also in 1922, Cobb tied a batting record set by Wee Willie Keeler, with four five-hit games. This has since been matched by Stan Musial, Tony Gwynn and Ichiro Suzuki.

At the end of 1925 Cobb was once 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, leading the Tigers to a sweep of the doubleheader and beating Cobb for the batting crown, .393 to .389. Cobb and Browns manager George Sisler each pitched in the final game. Cobb pitched a perfect inning.

[edit] Cobb moves to Philadelphia

Cobb finally called it quits from a 22-year career as a Tiger in November 1926 by announcing his retirement.^[31] Shortly thereafter, Tris Speaker also retired as player-manager of the Cleveland team. 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 for Cobb.^[56]

Leonard accused Wood and Cobb of betting on a Tiger-Cleveland game played in Detroit on September 25, 1919, in which they allegedly coerced a Detroit victory to win the bet. Leonard claimed proof existed in letters written to him by Cobb and Wood.^[56] Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis held a secret hearing with Cobb and Speaker as well as former pitcher and outfielder Joe Wood.^[56] A second secret meeting amongst the AL directors led to Cobb and Speaker resigning with no publicity; however, rumors of the scandal led Judge Landis to hold additional hearings.^[56] Leonard subsequently refused to appear at the hearings. Cobb and Wood admitted to writing the letters, but they claimed it was a horse racing bet, and that Leonard's accusations were the result of Cobb's earlier release of Leonard from the Tigers to the minor leagues.^[56] Speaker denied any wrongdoing.^[56]

On January 27, 1927, Judge Landis cleared Cobb and Speaker of any wrongdoing because of Leonard's refusal to appear at the hearings.^[56] Landis allowed both Cobb and Speaker to return to their original teams, and both became free agents.^[56] Speaker signed with the Washington Senators for 1927; Cobb signed with the Philadelphia Athletics. Speaker then joined Cobb in Philadelphia for the 1928 season. Cobb says he came back only to seek vindication and so that he could 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 1927 Yankees, which won 110 games. He returned to Detroit to quite a welcome on May 11, 1927. Cobb doubled in his first at bat, to the cheers of Tiger fans. On July 18, 1927, Cobb became the first player to enter the 4000 hit club when he doubled off former teammate Sam Gibson of the Detroit Tigers at Navin Field.^[31]

The 1927 season was also the last of Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson's career.^[57] With their careers largely overlapping, Ty Cobb faced Johnson many times. Cobb got the first hit allowed in Johnson's career on August 2, 1907;^[58] however, Cobb had little success against Johnson over the next 8 years. That situation changed after Johnson hit Detroit's Ossie Vitt with a pitch on August 10, 1915, seriously injuring him. After hitting Vitt, Johnson appeared shaken as he then allowed four runs in the first inning and another four through the 6th inning.^[59] Cobb's conclusion from this incident was that Johnson feared hitting opponents, and Cobb used this knowledge to his advantage by standing closer to home plate when batting against Johnson.^[59] From that point forward, Cobb averaged .435 against Johnson, a marked improvement over his previous season high of .222 in the preceding eight years.^[59] Over his entire career, Cobb faced Johnson in 67 games and averaged .335.^[58]

Cobb returned again in 1928. He 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, 1928, Ty Cobb pinch hit in the 9th inning of the first game of a double-header against the Senators and doubled off Bump Hadley for his last career hit.^[31] Against the Yankees on September 11, 1928, Cobb had his last at bat, popping out against pitcher Hank Johnson to shortstop Mark Koenig as a pinch hitter in the 9th inning.^[31] He then announced his retirement, effective at the end of the season.^[31] Cobb ended his career with 23 consecutive seasons batting .300 or better (the only season under .300 being his rookie season), a Major League record not likely to be broken.^[22]

[edit] Post professional career

Cobb retired a very rich and successful man.^[60] He toured Europe with his family, went to Scotland for some time then returned to his farm in Georgia.^[60] He spent his retirement pursuing his off-season activities of hunting, golfing, polo and fishing.^[60] His other pastime was trading stocks and bonds, increasing his immense personal wealth.^[61]

In the winter of 1930, Cobb moved into a Spanish ranch estate on Spencer Lane in the millionaire's community of Atherton outside San Francisco, California. At that same time, his wife Charlie filed the first of several divorce suits;^[62] however, she withdrew that suit shortly thereafter.^[63] Charlie finally divorced Cobb in 1947,^[64] after 39 years of marriage, the last few of which she lived in nearby Menlo Park. The couple had three sons and two daughters: Tyrus Ramond, Jr., Shirley Marion, Herschel Roswell, James Howell, and Beverly.^[21][29][65]

Cobb had never had an easy time being a father and husband. His children had found him to be demanding, yet also capable of kindness and extreme warmth. Cobb had expected his boys to be exceptional athletes, especially baseball players. Cobb, Jr. flunked out of Princeton,^[66] where he had played on the varsity tennis team much to the dismay of Cobb, Sr.^[67] The elder Cobb subsequently traveled to the Princeton campus and beat his son with a whip to insure against future academic failure.^[67] Cobb, Jr. then entered Yale University and became captain of the tennis team while improving his academics; however, he was arrested twice in 1930 for drunkenness and left Yale without graduating.^[67] Cobb, Sr. helped his son address the pending legal problems and then permanently broke off ties with the younger Cobb.^[67] Although Cobb, Jr. eventually earned an M.D. in obstetrics from the Medical College of South Carolina and practiced in Dublin, Georgia, until his death at the age of forty-two on September 9, 1952, from a brain tumor, his father remained distant.^[68][69]

A personal achievement came in February 1936, when the first 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 in that first year. His 98.2 percentage stood as the record until Tom Seaver received 98.8% of the vote in 1992 (Nolan Ryan and Cal Ripken, Jr. have also surpassed Cobb, with 98.79% and 98.53% of the votes, respectively). Those incredible results show that although many people disliked him personally, they respected the way he played and what he accomplished. In 1998, Sporting News ranked him as third on the list of 100 Greatest Baseball Players.

By then, Cobb drank and smoked heavily, and spent a great deal of time complaining about the lack of fundamental skills with modern-day players.^[15] Cobb was known to help out young players. He was instrumental in helping Joe DiMaggio negotiate his rookie contract with the New York Yankees, but ended his friendship with Ted Williams when the latter suggested to him that Rogers Hornsby was a greater hitter than Cobb.

Cobb's competitive fires continued to burn after retirement. At the 1947 Old-Timers Game in Yankee Stadium, Cobb warned catcher Benny Bengough to move back, claiming he was rusty and hadn't swung a bat in almost 20 years. Bengough stepped back, to avoid being struck by Cobb's backswing. Having repositioned the catcher, Cobb cannily laid down a perfect bunt in front of the plate, and easily beat the throw from a surprised Bengough.^[31]

A bittersweet moment in Cobb's life reportedly came in the late 1940s when he and sportswriter Grantland Rice were returning from the Masters golf tournament. Stopping at a 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. But Jackson did not appear to recognize him, and finally Cobb asked, "Don't you know me, Joe?" “Sure I know you, Ty,” replied Jackson, “but I wasn’t sure you wanted to speak to me. A lot of them don’t.”^[70]

[edit] Later life

At 62, Cobb remarried 40-year-old Frances Fairbairn Cass.^[71] This childless marriage also failed, and they divorced in 1956.^[72]

When two of his three sons died young, Cobb was alone, with few friends left. He therefore began to be generous with his wealth, donating $100,000 in his parents' name for his hometown of Royston to build a modern 24 bed hospital now called the Cobb Memorial Hospital. 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.^[61]

Cobb knew that another way he could share his wealth was by having biographies written that would set the record straight and teach young players how to play. John McCallum spent some time with Cobb to write a combination how-to and biography entitled The Tiger Wore Spikes: An Informal Biography of Ty Cobb that was published in 1956.^[73][74]

After McCallum completed his research for the book, Cobb was again alone and had a longing to return to Georgia. In December of 1959, Cobb was diagnosed with prostate cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and Bright's disease, a degenerative kidney disorder.^[15][75] He did not trust his initial diagnosis, however, so he went to Georgia to seek advice from doctors he knew, and they found his prostate to be cancerous. They removed it at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, but that did little to help Cobb. From this point until the end of his life, Cobb criss-crossed the country, going from his lodge in Tahoe to the hospital in Georgia.

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. Their collaboration was contentious, and after Cobb's death, was described by Stump in other works, including the film Cobb.

[edit] Death

In his last days Cobb spent some time with the old movie comedian Joe E. Brown, talking about the choices Cobb had made in his life. He told Brown that 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, and had no friends to show for it at the end, and he regretted it. Publicly, however, Cobb claimed not to have any regrets: "I've been lucky. I have no right to be regretful of what I did".^[76]

He checked into Emory Hospital for the last time in June 1961, bringing with him a paper bag with over $1 million in negotiable bonds and a Luger pistol.^[4][77] This time his first wife, Charlie, his son Jimmy and other family members came to be with him for his final days. He died a month later, on July 17, 1961, at Emory University Hospital.^[15]

..the most sensational player of all the players I have seen in all my life... —Casey Stengel, New York Times, July 18, 1961[78] 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. Baseball's only representatives at his funeral were three old players, Ray Schalk, Mickey Cochrane, and Nap Rucker, along with Sid Keener, the director of the Baseball Hall of Fame; however, messages of condolences numbered in the hundreds.^[79][80] 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 US$11,780,000 - $10 million worth of General Electric stock and $1.78 million in Coke stock.^[81] Cobb's will left a quarter of his estate to the Cobb Educational Fund, and the rest of his reputed $11 million he distributed among his children and grandchildren. Cobb is interred in the Royston, Georgia, town cemetery. As of 2005 the Ty Cobb Educational Foundation has distributed nearly $11 million in scholarships to needy Georgians.^[82]

[edit] Legacy

The greatness of Ty Cobb was something that had to be seen, and to see him was to remember him forever. —George Sisler[83]

Efforts to create a Ty Cobb Memorial in Royston initially failed, primarily because most of the artifacts from his life were sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and the Georgia town was viewed as too remote to make a memorial worthwhile. However, on July 17, 1998, the 37th anniversary of Cobb's death, the Ty Cobb Museum opened its doors in Royston. On August 30, 2005, his hometown hosted a 1905 baseball game to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Cobb's first major league game. Players in the game included many of Cobb's descendants as well as many citizens from his hometown of Royston. Another early-1900s baseball game was played in his hometown at Cobb Field on September 30, 2006, with Cobb's descendants and Roystonians again playing. Cobb's personal bat boy from his major league years was also in attendance and threw out the first pitch.

[edit] Regular season stats

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	TB	SH	HBP
3,035	11,434	2,246	4,189	724	295	117	1,937	892	178	1,249	357	.366	.433	.512	5,854	295	94

[edit] See also

• Al Stump
• Ty Cobb's Conlon Photo
• 3000 hit club
• 4000 hit club
• List of Major League Baseball individual streaks
• Ty Cobb Museum

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Alexander, Charles (1984). Ty Cobb. New York: Oxford University Press. 
• Bak, Richard (1994). Ty Cobb: His Tumultuous Life and Times. Dallas, Texas: Taylor. 
• Pietrusza, David; Matthew Silverman & Michael Gershman (2000). Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia. Total/Sports Illustrated. Taylor. 
• Stump, Al (1994). Cobb: A Biography. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. 
• Ty Cobb at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
• Baseball Library
• Baseball Hall of Fame
• Official site of Ty Cobb
• Find-A-Grave
• ngeorgia.com - Biography page
• The Baseball Page
• Ty Cobb Museum
• Archive of correspondence between Sporting News publisher Taylor Spink and Ty Cobb
• Peach, James (June 2004). "Thorstein Veblen, Ty Cobb, and the evolution of an institution". Journal of Economic Issues

Preceded by George Stone	American League Batting Champion 1907 - 1909	Succeeded by Nap Lajoie
Preceded by Harry Davis	American League RBI Champion 1907 - 1909	Succeeded by Sam Crawford
Preceded by Sam Crawford	American League Home Run Champion 1909	Succeeded by Jake Stahl
Preceded by Nap Lajoie	American League Triple Crown 1909	Succeeded by Jimmie Foxx
Preceded by First AL MVP	American League Chalmers Award Winner 1911	Succeeded by Tris Speaker
Preceded by Sam Crawford	American League RBI Champion 1911	Succeeded by Frank Baker
Preceded by Nap Lajoie	American League Batting Champion 1911 - 1915	Succeeded by Tris Speaker
Preceded by Tris Speaker	American League Batting Champion 1917 - 1919	Succeeded by George Sisler
Preceded by Hughie Jennings	Detroit Tigers Manager 1921 - 1926	Succeeded by George Moriarty

Major League Baseball | MLB All-Century Team

Nolan Ryan | Sandy Koufax | Cy Young | Roger Clemens | Bob Gibson | Walter Johnson | Warren Spahn | Christy Mathewson | Lefty Grove Johnny Bench | Yogi Berra | Lou Gehrig | Mark McGwire | Jackie Robinson | Rogers Hornsby | Mike Schmidt | Brooks Robinson | Cal Ripken, Jr. | Ernie Banks | Honus Wagner Babe Ruth | Hank Aaron | Ted Williams | Willie Mays | Joe DiMaggio | Mickey Mantle | Ty Cobb | Ken Griffey, Jr. | Pete Rose | Stan Musial

Persondata
NAME	Tyrus Raymond Cobb
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Cobb, Ty ;Peach, Georgia (nickname) ;Peach, The Georgia (nickname)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Hall of Fame Major League Baseball (MLB) player
DATE OF BIRTH	December 18, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH	Narrows, Georgia, Georgia (U.S. state), United States
DATE OF DEATH	July 17, 1961
PLACE OF DEATH	Atlanta, Georgia, Georgia (U.S. state), United States