Ty Cobb

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Tyrus Raymond Cobb (The Georgia Peach)

  • Bats Left, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 1", Weight 175 lb.

Inducted into Hall of Fame in 1936


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Contents

[edit] Introduction

"The Babe was a great ballplayer, sure, but Cobb was even greater. Babe could knock your brains out, but Cobb would drive you crazy." - Tris Speaker

Ty Cobb, The Georgia Peach, was an extremely unusual personality who became one of the greatest ballplayers ever. By the Gray Ink method and the Hall of Fame Monitor, he ranks # 1 all-time. By the Black Ink method he ranks # 2, and by the Hall of Fame Standards, he ranks # 6. He has the highest major league batting average of all time (of any long-time player) and once led the league in OPS+ nine times in a row. No player is at all similar to him, with the similarity scores method showing only one player with a score higher than 670 - that player being Tris Speaker at 760, a contemporary player who was often compared to him when they were active.

[edit] Biographical Information

"Ty Cobb was still fighting the Civil War, and as far as he was concerned, we were all damn Yankees." - Sam Crawford
  • Cobb was born in a farming community called "The Narrows." There was and is no community in Georgia called "Narrows." The area was called "The Narrows" because it lay in an area where the valley narrowed near a river or stream. There were roughly a dozen homes or homesteads in that small area.
  • Cobb's brother Paul Cobb played minor league ball from 1907 to 1916.
  • He played for Augusta in 1904-05 before coming to the majors.
  • Owns the highest career batting average.
  • was a Captain under Branch Rickey's CWS Chemical Warfare unit in World War I; never saw action although he did make the trip to France; he was in Army's Gas and Flame Division
  • Made a fortune by investing in Coca-Cola and General Motors. He was a personal friend of the Woodruff family, who were the principal owners of the Coca Cola Company and, like Cobb, native Georgians. Cobb's endorsements of their product helped to hone his own business acumen.
  • On the way to the park in Detroit one day, Cobb was attacked by a couple of men. He fought them off and chased them away. He caught one and beat him into such a bloody pulp that the man's face was impossible to distinguish and he was having trouble breathing. Cobb went to the park, and, despite a knife wound in the back, played that game and got a few hits. Shortly after, the badly beaten body of a John Doe was found not far from the park. Cobb later told a sportswriter that he believed he killed that man.

(This story is not completely correct, and it continues to circulate and tarnish Cobb's image. Al Stump first reported it and he never bothered to investigate the claim. Here's what we know: in 1912, after Cobb's infamous run-in with heckler Claude Lucker in New York, which resulted in the Tigers going on strike, Cobb and his wife were ambushed by three men in Detroit. They were not going to the ballpark in Detroit, but were driving to the train station so Cobb could travel to Syracuse to play an exhibition game. The men acted as if their automobile was broken down, and waved down Cobb. When Cobb got out of his car, the men attacked him. Cobb brandished a gun and chased one of the men who was fleeing. According to Stump, Cobb claimed in 1961, that he killed that man in an alley. This is highly unlikely, since no bodies were found in Detroit during this period that match that story. Most likely, though we'll never know, Cobb fought the three men, chased one down and may have pistol-whipped him. But he almost certainly didn't kill a man, although it is possible that Cobb, who was in a diminished mental state when he spoke to Stump, could have made such a claim. The attack was reported in the papers and the Tiger trainer stitched Cobb up on the train, so it would have been news if a body had been found in an alley or a street in Detroit that matched a murder by beating at the same time. Cobb did play in the exhibition game and performed well. That part of the story is true.)

  • Stole home a record 50 times.
  • In an Old Timer's Game at Yankee Stadium, between former Yankees and other former major leaguers, Cobb told the catcher to "stay back, I don't know how well I can hold on to the bat," then proceeded to bunt down the third base line. Despite the tactic, Cobb was still thrown out at first and was slightly miffed about it, at least for a few seconds.
  • Portrayed by actor Tommy Lee Jones in the movie Cobb.
  • Has highest career batting average in major league baseball history for a long-time player. That average was for many years believed to be .367, and many a schoolchild grew up memorizing .367. However, when researchers discovered a mistake, his average was corrected to .366. This angered many fans who had grown up associating Ty Cobb with the number 367.
  • Hit over .300 for 23 years in a row.
  • Rarely recognized for his power but led league in Slugging Percentage 8 times, was in the top 5 in Home Runs 7 times, led league in home runs in 1909 with 9 and led league in RBIs 4 times.

Image:TyCobb.jpg

[edit] Notable Achievements

  • AL MVP (1911)
  • AL Triple Crown Winner (1909)
  • 11-time AL Batting Average Leader (1907-1909, 1911-1915 & 1917-1919)
  • 7-time AL On-Base Percentage Leader (1909, 1910, 1913-1915, 1917 & 1918)
  • 8-time AL Slugging Percentage Leader (1907-1912, 1914 & 1917)
  • 10-time AL OPS Leader (1907-1912, 1914, 1915, 1917 & 1925)
  • AL At Bats Leader (1917)
  • 5-time AL Runs Scored Leader (1909-1911, 1915 & 1916)
  • 8-time AL Hits Leader (1907-1909, 1911, 1912, 1915, 1917 & 1919)
  • 6-time AL Total Bases Leader (1907-1909, 1911, 1915 & 1917)
  • 6-time AL Singles Leader (1907, 1909, 1911, 1912, 1915 & 1917)
  • 3-time AL Doubles Leader (1908, 1911 & 1917)
  • 4-time AL Triples Leader (1908, 1911, 1917 & 1918)
  • AL Home Runs Leader (1909)
  • 6-time AL Stolen Bases Leader (1907, 1909, 1911 & 1915-1917)
  • 100 RBI Seasons: 7 (1907-1909, 1911, 1917, 1921 & 1925)
  • 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 11 (1909-1912, 1915-1917, 1921, 1923, 1924 & 1927)
  • 200 Hits Seasons: 9 (1907, 1909, 1911, 1912, 1915-1917, 1922 & 1924)
  • 50 Stolen Bases Seasons: 8 (1909-1913 & 1915-1917)
  • Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1936


Preceded by
Hughie Jennings 		Detroit Tigers Manager
1921-1926 		Succeeded by
George Moriarty

[edit] Records Held

  • Batting average, career, .366
  • Batting average, left handed batter, career, .366
  • Hits, left handed batter, career, 4189
  • Runs, left handed batter, career, 2246
  • Games with five or more hits, career, 14
  • Singles, left handed batter, career, 3051
  • Times reached base, left handed batter, career, 5532
  • Seasons leading the league in batting average, 11
  • Consecutive seasons leading the league in batting average, 9
  • Seasons with 10 or more triples, 17 (tied)
  • Seasons batting .400, 3 (tied)
  • Seasons batting .300, 23
  • Consecutive seasons batting .350, 11
  • Consecutive seasons batting .300, 23
  • Highest batting average over three consecutive seasons, .408 (1911-13)
  • Games, outfielder, career, 2934
  • Steals of home, career, 54

[edit] Further Reading

  • Charles C. Alexander: Ty Cobb, Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, TX, 2006 (originally published in 1984)
  • Ry E. Brownell II: "Was Ty Cobb a Power Hitter?", in The Baseball Research Journal, Society for American Baseball Research, Cleveland, OH, # 35 (2007), pp. 34-39.
  • Tom Stanton: Ty and the Babe: Baseball's Fiercest Rivals, Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, New York, NY, 2007.

[edit] Related Sites

The Baseball Page

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