Ty Cobb Story

[kairos12]

Last edited Thu Dec 3, 2020, 08:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Back in the Ty Cobb days ballplayers not only shared rooms, but beds. One day Cobb's roommate showed up to the ballpark pretty well worked over. The manager asked him what happened.

The player responded that he was in bed when Cobb came in. Cobb proceeded to beat up his roommate. When the roommate asked Cobb why he did it, Cobb responded there was nothing he wasn't first in, including the first in bed.

[Clash City Rocker]

1. Yeah, Cobb was a pretty terrible person

I always loved the line from Field of Dreams: “Ty Cobb wanted to play, but none of us could stand the son-of-a-bitch when we were alive, so we told him to stick it!”

[zipplewrath]

2. He's in the hall of fame

And Pete Rose is not. Kinda strange.

[Clash City Rocker]

4. And he was a racist, a dirty player and his own teammates hated his guts

I believe there was some evidence that he also gambled on baseball, just like Rose. Babe Ruth, too. It just got swept under the rug.

[zipplewrath]

5. Stealing second base

There is actually a rule in baseball that it is illegal to steal second base from 3rd base. This rule is there because of Cobb. He used to do it just to humiliate his opponents. There is no tactical reason otherwise to do such a thing.

[JDC]

3. He was a hated, racist prick. But he could play.

[cachukis]

6. Al Stump.

Look him up to see how he did a disservice to Cobb, if you will. Just remember, Thomas Jefferson was a slaver.

[Bradshaw3]

9. I did and posted a reply below with more recent info on him

Cobb was no saint but he basically got screwed by one unscrupulous writer.

[El Supremo]

7. Watch Tommy Lee Jones' 'Ty Cobb'.

It has it all. BTW, I went to school with Tommy. He is a great actor.

[Bradshaw3]

8. According to more recent research, Cobb was not who he was portrayed to be

Yes, he took competition too far and was a jerk on the field and sometimes off it. But some of the worst stories came from one unreliable source, a biographer he tried to counter but died just before the book came out.

According to recent researchers who went over old records and news stories, Cobb did not beat up a black stadium worker and his wife, helped many black people financially over the years, supported Jackie Robinson and Blacks playing in the majors and funded a philanthropic foundation that continues to this day. His ancestor was an abolitionist in Georgia.

Just one of several stories you'll find, this from a recent bio;
https://www.mlb.com/news/ty-cobb-history-built-on-inaccuracies-c178601094