I feel like I’ve known Ty Cobb as long as I’ve known baseball. When I was nine years old, I remember reading a book about famous baseball players and being enamored with the Georgia Peach. There were pictures of him with his unique batting grip and sliding with his spike flying high.
As a Detroit Tigers fan, Ty Cobb is always in the shadows of the franchise’s history. Any hitter hoping to set any Tigers hitting records has to climb the Mt. Everest of hitters that is Cobb. Any rookie joining the Detroit Tigers only needs 3,901 hits to surpass Cobb for the franchise record.
Ty Cobb’s career amazes me every time I dig into his statistics. The man won twelve batting titles, including a Triple Crown. He hit over .400…THREE times, and has a LIFETIME .366 batting average. In the dead ball era in which he played, he was considered a power hitter. Considering he led the league in slugging percentage eight times, this is an accurate analysis.
| I | Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | TB | HBP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 Totals | 95 | 85 | 393 | 353 | 54 | 114 | 26 | 4 | 1 | 40 | 6 | 8 | 34 | 16 | .323 | .389 | .428 | .817 | 151 | 4 |
This final Ty Cobb card is one that most players would be happy with as their career year. For Cobb, it was all he could manage with his 41-year old body. Ty gave two good seasons to Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics. In 1927, he hit .357 in 133 games. However, in 1928 he was limited to 95 games, and his average “dipped” to .323. After 24-seasons, Cobb decided to call it a career. Though this card doesn’t hit with much power, any card with three zeros, three 7s, and a 10 can play in my lineup. Plus, with three 31s, this would be an excellent hit & run card.
If you haven’t, you need to read Charles Leerhsen Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty. Since his death in 1961, Cobb’s reputation and legacy have taken a dramatic nosedive. Leerhsen’s book sets the record straight on many accounts. Much of the damage was done by Al Stump, who interviewed and wrote about Cobb near the end of his life. Was Ty Cobb and an imperfect man with many flaws? Without question, he was. However, Leerhsen’s book gives depth to a complex man, who also showed great compassion, courage, and intelligence throughout his amazing life.
I don’t care if he was the world largest A$$hole. His records stand for themselves. The record is for “most lifetime hits”, not “most lifetime hits by a nice guy”.