Seek out and celebrate your heroes, and explore online and in-person exhibits commemorating the history and impact of the game. If the legend is true, Cobb apparently thought he had proven his point and went back to what he called "real" baseball and finished the 1925 campaign with a lusty .378 average but "only" 12 home runs. Find out more. Most notably, his .366 career average is eight points better than second-place Rogers Hornsby +5 View gallery The Hillerich & Bradsby C28. In the 2nd inning of the May 5 game against the Browns, Tyrus Raymond smashed a pitch from Bullet Joe Bush for a long home run to right field. [80] 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. 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. Ty Cobb Position: Centerfielder Bats: Left Throws: Right 6-1 , 175lb (185cm, 79kg) Born: December 18, 1886 in Narrows, GA us More bio, uniform, draft, salary info Hall of Fame MVP Triple Crown 12x Batting Title Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. Any Tyruses today can thank Cobb for giving the name its initial exposure. [88] This occured in the same year where Cobb had allegedly grown pesimisstic and was quoted as saying: "It seems I am a burden to the Detroit club, as a trespasser of its rules. Year Team League; 1936: Detroit Tigers: AL: League Rankings. [24] Cobb's father was a state senator. Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886[1] July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He also ended his career with a rather dubious record. Ruth is one of the few who can take a terrific swing and still meet the ball solidly. [5] Speaker signed with the Washington Senators for 1927, and Cobb with the Philadelphia Athletics. Among those still standing are his career batting average (.366), combined total runs and runs batted in (4,065), and batting titles (11). Could Ty Cobb have been a big-time home run hitter had he decided to? He had played hard and lived hard all his life, had no friends to show for it at the end, and regretted it. In 1936, Cobb received the most votes of any player on the inaugural ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving 222 out of a possible 226 votes (98.2%); no other player received a higher percentage of votes until Tom Seaver in 1992. [157] 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. "[58], Tigers 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 $493,745 in today's terms[98]). "[52] 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. [171] 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 wrongly:[172][173]. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Tyrus Raymond Cobb was born December 18, 1886 to William Herschel Cobb and Amanda Chitwood Cobb in Narrows, Georgia. [145] Baseball's only representatives at his funeral were three old-time players, Ray Schalk, Mickey Cochrane and Nap Rucker, along with Sid Keener, the director of the Baseball Hall of Fame, but messages of condolences numbered in the hundreds and included notes from Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. [180][181] However, because Major League Baseball Enterprises, Inc. does have some official legal rights and responsibilities concerning major league baseball enforcing copyrights on team logos, making the official rules used by the teams, and so forth and because Major League Baseball does empower the Elias Sports Bureau with "official provider of MLB statistics" status - confusion sometimes arises and thus a few sources can still describe Cobb's major league batting average as being "officially" .367. MLB LONGEST STANDING RECORDS (SINCE 1900) Single Season Records: 1. In 1909, Ty Cobb led the American League in home runs, RBIs, and batting average, capturing a Triple Crown, the second instance in league history. On the subject of race, Cobb did fight a Black groundskeeper and a Black streetworker. One of the people who had reportedly heard Ty Cobb predict his power surge, Sid Keener, was a respected sports journalist. The prize for the winner of the title was a Chalmers automobile. Do you have a sports website? September 11, 1928 Where what happened yesterday is being preserved today. Babe Ruth (left) holds the record for highest slugging percentage, and on-base plus slugging while Ty Cobb (right) holds the records for highest batting average and most steals of home. [99] 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. Cobb wrote the Dodgers owner to show appreciation "for what you did for this fine man. [142] His first wife, Charlie, his son Jimmy and other family members came to be with him for his final days. This, too, was a fraud, as researchers later found Cobbs hits had, indeed, been properly accounted for. He (possibly) gave one of the greatest baseball quotes ever. Ty Cobb had a .366 average over his career. [26] 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. [156] This accusation was common for many decades before the movie was released. "[151] 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. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. ", "Author says Cobb's reputation built on tales", "Ty Cobb's best performances from retrosheet.org", "C.B.C. Javascript is required for the selection of a player. [111] 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. ")[171], According to Retrosheet, Cobb recorded 1 six-hit game, 13 five-hit games, and 82 four-hit games in his MLB career.[179]. 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. Somehow it seems like if he were alive, he would still manage to hit .300. I have no right to be regretful of what I did. . Explore the archives and go deep into the lives, careers, and stories of the Hall of Fame's honorees. Cobb was known for his aggressive base running style and his ability to hit to all fields. He was fined $50.[91]. [72] In this game, the two traded insults with each other through the first couple of innings. "[141], He was taken to Emory University Hospital for the last time in June 1961 after falling into a diabetic coma. One could easily see Cobb making such a boast and then having the talent (along with a little bit of luck) to pull it off. On May 6, the man from Royston slammed two more home runs, making it five round-trippers in two games. Ty Cobb still holds many Major League records. They became one of the most successful double steal pairings in baseball history. He was awarded another Chalmers car, this time for being voted the AL MVP by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Along with the three long balls, Cobb hit a double and two singles, finishing the day 6 for 6. 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. When Cummings' wife tried to defend him, Cobb allegedly choked her. [126][127] The elder Cobb subsequently traveled to the Princeton campus and beat his son with a whip to ensure against future academic failure. [120] He was a major stockholder in the Coca-Cola Corporation, which by itself would have made him wealthy. He still holds several records as of the end of the 2022 season, including the highest career batting average (.366) and most career batting titles with 11 (or 12, depending on source). Lajoie hit safely eight times in a doubleheader but six of those hits were bunt singles. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, highest career batting average in baseball history, most hits in a career in the American League, Franklin County High School (Royston, GA). [170], Cobb has the highest batting average in major league history, .366. His timing is perfect. Cobb thought the deluge of home runs minimized the need for strategies he honed to perfection during the dead ball; skills like bunting, the hit-and-run, using the whole field, and the stolen base. Data Provided By Speaker then joined Cobb in Philadelphia for the 1928 season. Baseball Almanac likes to take a look "beyond the stats" and we hope you enjoy the following historical baseball article about a time when Cobb slugged five homers in two games: A fascinating legend that surrounds the storied career of Ty Cobb centers on the time he hit five home runs over a two-game stretch in 1925. [35][36][37][38][39], On August 8, 1905, Cobb's mother fatally shot his father with a pistol that his father had purchased for her. [120], 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. Ty Cobb Was Not A Racist. But Baseball-Almanac.com and other sources credit Cobb with 54 steals of home -- 21 more than his next-closest competitor, NL leader Max Carey (33). Ty Cobb set some of the greatest records in baseball history. [167], 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. But if we let the percentages dictate the pecking order, then you could technically say Cobb was the first Hall of Famer. He played only 79 games that year, but this 273-plate-appearance sample is still good for an incredible 0.7% strikeout rate. "I never saw anyone like Ty Cobb. One wonders if someone in the public eye like Keener, would stick to this false narrative like he did in subsequent years. 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. Cobb was allowed to show up late for spring training and was given private quarters on the road perks not offered to Crawford. [19], 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. (AP), Tris Speaker, Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb at a fundraising exhibition game in Cleveland in 1941. Year 3B Rank; CINCINNATI Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's career hit record Wednesday night, 57 years to the day after Cobb's last swing. 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. "The great trouble with baseball today is that most of the players are in the game for the money and that's it. The fight finally ended when the watchman produced a gun and struck Cobb several times in the head, knocking him out. Cobb sat out the final two games to preserve his average. The game then was Cobbs game, and he left it clutching the career records for games played (3,305), at-bats (11,429, 11,434 or 11,440, depending on the source), runs (2,246), hits (4,189 or 4,191, depending on the source), total bases (5,854) and batting average (.367 or .366, depending on the source). [126] Cobb helped his son deal with his pending legal problems, but then permanently broke off with him. [Ty Cobb Quotes], Ty 'The Georgia Peach' Cobb Autograph on a 2004 Legendary Cuts Baseball Card (#10/18). [33] While with the Tourists he was mentored and coached by George Leidy, who emphasized pinpoint bunting and aggression on the basepaths. 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 ranks fifth all time in number of games played and committed 271 errors, the most by any American League (AL) outfielder. [95], 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). That guy was superhuman, amazing," said Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel. December 18, 1886 [69] Cobb used that friendship to his advantage. Cobb's own sense of manhood, according to Tripp, was a product of his Southern upbringing that prized individualism, excitement, and family honor. 2 April 2013. [28] He then tried out for the Anniston Steelers of the semipro TennesseeAlabama League, with his father's stern admonition ringing in his ears: "Don't come home a failure! 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. Cobb was inducted into the first class of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936 and was part of the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Cobb played regularly in 1927 for a young and talented team that finished second to one of the greatest teams of all time, the 11044 1927 Yankees, returning to Detroit to a tumultuous welcome on May 10 and doubling his first time up to the cheers of Tigers fans. Do you know who was the first player to lead the junior circuit in all three of those baseball statistics during the same season? His combined total of 4,065 runs scored and runs batted in (after adjusting for home runs) is still the highest ever produced by any major league player. "[153] Many of baseball's greatest players were friends with Cobb. He accomplished the feat four times during his career, still an MLB record as of 2022. He would go on to hit 2-3 with two singles and a run scored, as well as batting .418. 4. Author Charles Leerhsen speculates that the assault on Cummings and his wife never occurred and that Schmidt likely made it up completely. [146][147][145] 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. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. 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. [5] 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. Approximately 150 friends and relatives attended a brief service in Cornelia, Georgia, and drove to the Cobb family mausoleum in Royston for the burial. 2,755th in major league history) (the meaning of which is unknown) and go in for a hug. 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. Also achieved by Ty Cobb (1909-1911), Eddie Collins (1912-1914), Ted Williams (1940-1942), and Mickey Mantle (1956-1958) Youve got to remember, Cobb added, Im 73 years old!, Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb after a charity golf match to raise money for the USO in June 1941. 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. vs. NYY 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB. Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of InsideTheBook.com, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. Ty Cobb [1] 1886-1961 American baseball player Ty Cobb is arguably the greatest baseball player who ever put on spikes. [78] For that one game, Detroit fielded a replacement team made up of hastily recruited college and sandlot players plus two Tiger coaches and lost 242, 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. On August 30, 1905, in his first major league at bat, he doubled off Jack Chesbro of the New York Highlanders. (AP). Copyright 1999- [5] 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[5] in which Leonard subsequently refused to participate. Ty Cobb was born on Saturday, December 18, 1886, in Narrows, Georgia. Childhood & Early Life. [15][16] Cobb's reputation as a violent man was fanned by his first biographer, sportswriter Al Stump, whose stories about Cobb have been discredited as sensationalized, and have largely proven to be fictional. I worked out all the angles I could think of, to keep them guessing and hurrying. This article on Cobb's final months, written in 1961 . Those five legends made up the first class voted into the Hall on Jan. 29, 1936. Not for the love of it, the excitement of it, the thrill of it." Probably. Tyrus Raymond, Jr. flunked out of Princeton[125] (where he had played on the varsity tennis team), much to his father's dismay. Scores from any date in Major League history, Minor, Foreign, College, & Black Baseball, Frequently Asked Questions about MLB and Baseball, Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREE. And during a game on May 15, 1912, the relentless heckling of a fan named Claude Lueker prompted Cobb to head into the stands and attack him. Cobbs mother was arrested on the charge of manslaughter and indicted by a grand jury. 7. In 1887, Richter, and other baseball journalists, formed the Base Ball Reporters Association of America, also referred to as the National Base Ball Reporters' Association. 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. No one even close to him. A total of 226 ballots were cast by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, with 170 votes needed for election. Publicly, however, he claimed to have no regrets: "I've been lucky. Ty Cobb? Wesley Fricks August 2, 2008. [107][108][109] 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. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife Sandy. (Other pages on the website do give the correct value. [174] Retrosheet gives Cobb the same number of hits in five more at-bats (11,439),[175] and Baseball Reference and the Baseball Hall of Fame add one more at-bat (11,440). Simon & Schuster Publishing. Based on quotes from teammates and opponents, Ty Cobb was the most competitive and aggressive player in baseball, often screaming at teammates and talking trash to opposing teams, but it cannot be denied that he was well respected as a ballplayer. [112] The next day Cobb had three more hits, two of which were home runs. Cobb sat out the final two games of the season in order to preserve his slim lead. If you believe all the stories that circulate about Cobb, he was a racist lunatic who sharpened his cleats to intentionally wound opposing players and even killed a man hours before a game. Thats about $112 million in todays dollars. This did not come to pass, however. He spent 22 seasons in Detroit and another two in Philadelphia. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Aged 34 at the time, he is still the youngest ballplayer to reach that milestone, and in the fewest at-bats (8,093). He hit .300 in 23 consecutive seasons. He eventually had 4,191 hits, a record that wasn't broken until 1985. Discover one-of-a-kind artifacts and get lost in sweeping exhibitions that explore pivotal moments in the game and its impact far beyond the field. In interviews with Al Stump, Cobb told of studying Crawford's base-stealing technique and of how Crawford would teach him about pursuing fly balls and throwing out base runners. I often tried plays that looked recklessly daring, maybe even silly. Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith. Bryan, Wright, "Clemson: An Informal History of the University 18891979," The R. L. Bryan Company, Columbia, South Carolina, 1979, Library of Congress card number 79-56231, Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina, Major League Baseball Players Association, SABR (the Society for American Baseball Research), United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, List of Major League Baseball stolen base records, List of Major League Baseball hit records, List of Major League Baseball single-game hits leaders, List of Major League Baseball player-managers, List of Major League Baseball individual streaks, List of Major League Baseball record holders, "Thorstein Veblen, Ty Cobb, and the evolution of an institution", "Ty Cobb, the greatest Tiger of them all", "Career Leaders for At Bats (Progressive)", "Ty Cobb's label as racist is undeserved, baseball historian says", "How Ty Cobb the truth got lost inside Ty Cobb the myth", "The Softer Side of Ty Cobb | The Saturday Evening Post", "Ty Cobb's Philanthropy Has Lessons for Us All", "Who was Ty Cobb?The history we know that's wrong", "Cobb still revered, reviled 100 years after first game", "1905 American League Awards, All-Stars, & More Leaders", "August 30, 1905: Ty Cobb Plays His First Game As Detroit Tiger | MSU Libraries", "Batting Leaders Before, During and After Age 19", "Facts and Figures Baseball batting champions", "Ty Cobb Sold Me a Soda Pop: Hall of Fame Outfielder Ty Cobb and Coca-Cola", "First Five: The Original Members of the Hall of Fame", National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, "Press Democrat 13 August 1912 California Digital Newspaper Collection", "Detroit Tigers vs New York Highlanders Box Score: August 13, 1912", "Los Angeles Herald 19 April 1913 California Digital Newspaper Collection", "St. Louis Browns vs Detroit Tigers Box Score: April 19, 1913", "Remembering baseball hall of famers who served in the Chemical Corps", "Detroit Tigers vs New York Yankees Box Score: May 24, 1920", "Detroit Tigers vs New York Yankees Box Score: May 25, 1920", "Detroit Tigers vs New York Yankees Box Score: May 26, 1920", "Fat phenoms: are hot dogs and beer part of your training regimen?
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