Cobb, Ty

Ty Cobb, in full Tyrus Raymond Cobb, byname the Georgia Peach, (born December 18, 1886, Narrows, Georgia, U.S.—died July 17, 1961, Atlanta, Georgia), professional baseball player, considered one of the greatest offensive players in baseball history and generally regarded as the fiercest competitor in the game.

Cobb took to baseball early in his life: by age 14 he was playing alongside adults on the local baseball team in Royston, Georgia. In 1904 he joined a semiprofessional team in Anniston, Alabama, and the following year he signed with the minor league Augusta (Georgia) Tourists. While playing with the Tourists, Cobb had his personal life jolted by an unusual tragedy: on August 8, 1905, his mother shot and killed his father, who was atop the family’s porch roof in an attempt to catch her being unfaithful and whom she purportedly mistook for a burglar. That event overshadowed his promotion to the Detroit Tigers later that month. His combative reaction to his subsequent rookie hazing created animosity between Cobb and his teammates that lasted for years, which greatly helped to establish the antagonistic public persona that would become one of Cobb’s hallmarks.

He spent 22 seasons as an outfielder with the Tigers (1905–26) and also managed the team from 1921 through 1926. Cobb led the team to three consecutive American League (AL) pennants (1907–09), but the Tigers lost all three World Series in which he appeared. A member of the Philadelphia Athletics when he retired in 1928, Cobb hit .323 in his last season, at age 41. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed, stood about 6 feet 1 inch (1.9 metres), and weighed 175 pounds (79.4 kg).

During his 24-season career in the AL, Cobb established numerous batting records. His career hits record of 4,189 lasted until it was broken by Pete Rose in 1985. He also set the runs-scored mark of 2,246, a total that was not surpassed until 2001 by Rickey Henderson. Cobb’s total of 892 stolen bases was surpassed in 1979 by Lou Brock. Finally, Cobb’s lifetime batting average of .366 was unequaled through the 20th century. (It should be noted that there is disagreement among sports statisticians as to the exact figure for Cobb’s batting statistics.) Cobb led the AL in batting 12 times. Three times his batting average topped .400 (1911, .420; 1912, .409; and 1922, .401), and for 23 straight years he batted at least .300. In the first election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in 1936, Cobb received the most votes. He invested his baseball earnings shrewdly and amassed a comfortable fortune.

Cobb’s historic baseball accomplishments are occasionally overshadowed by his notorious personality. Known for sharpening his spikes in order to cause the most damage to opponents’ legs when sliding, he was one of the most aggressive players in baseball history, and his short temper led to numerous on-field scuffles (he even attacked a heckling fan in the stands on one occasion). His autobiography, My Life in Baseball, ghostwritten by sportswriter Al Stump, was published in 1961. Stump amended the record in 1994 with Cobb: A Biography, which presents a far more honest view of the great player. Cobb’s racism, misogyny, and volatile and violent personality are covered in Stump’s second book, which was the basis of a 1994 film, Cobb.