Athletes - Ty Cobb

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	Athletes - Ty Cobb

Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American baseball player generally considered to be the greatest player of the "dead ball era" (1900 – 1920). For many years arguments raged as to whether he or Babe Ruth, diametrically opposite types of players, was the greatest player of all time. He is still generally considered one of the dozen or so greatest players. He was certainly a great drawing card. Writers about the Tigers have noted that the team often acquiesced to Cobb's salary demands, possibly to the detriment of the rest of the team, because he brought people into the ballparks. When he retired in 1928 he was the holder of 90 major league records and he received the most votes of the first five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in 1936. When asked, in the late 1950s how well he thought he would hit against modern pitchers, he responded "Probably only about .270...you have to remember I'm over 70 years old now." (Harrigan, 1997). Cobb also said of himself that "in legend, I am a sadistic, slashing, swashbuckling despot who waged war in the guise of sport."

Pre-professional career

Tyrus Raymond Cobb was born in Narrows, Georgia, the first of three children. His mother Amanda (Chitwood), who had married William Herschel Cobb when she was twelve, was fifteen when she gave birth to Ty. In 1893, W.H. Cobb, a teacher by profession, bought a one hundred acre (400,000 m²) farm in Royston, Georgia to supplement his teaching income. It was on this farm that Ty's father taught him the values of hard work and perseverance. It was also in those fields that Ty grew strong and developed his relationship with his father. When W.H. saw that Ty displayed a knack for farming and its economics, the two grew closer. Cobb once said, "It was the sweetest thing in the world to be fully accepted by my father. All at once, he was willing to hear my ideas, discuss them, and even exchange opinions."

W.H. Cobb became a very well respected man in the community, getting elected to the Georgia State Senate. When Ty was not working the farm for his father, he was honing his baseball skills by playing for the Royston Rompers and the semi-pro Royston Reds during his early and mid-teens. W.H. greatly disapproved of Ty playing baseball, fearing that his firstborn would become a drunken womanizer like the stereotypical big league ballplayers of the day. However, when Ty, at seventeen, approached his father to ask for his blessing to try out for the South Atlantic League (Sally League) team in Augusta, W.H. reluctantly acquiesced. He figured that it would be best for his son to get the baseball out of his system and return home to pursue a career as a doctor, lawyer, or military man.

Professional career

Minor leagues

In 1904, Cobb successfully tried out for the Augusta Tourists, a minor league club in the newly formed South Atlantic League, but was cut two days into the season. Cobb asked his father for permission to try out for a semi-pro team in Anniston, Alabama. In Cobb's account of the conversation he said that his father gave him permission to go, but warned him, "Don't come home a failure." Cobb tried out for the Anniston Steelers of the Tennessee-Alabama League. He easily made the team due to his previous professional experience. Cobb was hoping that his success would be noted in a major paper in Georgia, but to no avail. He took matters into his own hands by sending postcards to Grantland Rice, the sports editor of the Atlanta Journal, under several different aliases. Eventually, Rice wrote a small note in the Journal that a "young fellow named Cobb seems to be showing an unusual lot of talent." W.H. kept this press clipping in his wallet until his death, showing it to all as if it were a baby picture.

Cobb continued to tear up the league, and after about three months, he received a telegram from Augusta asking him to return. Con Strouthers, Cobb's previous manager with the Tourists, had been released, and the team missed his aggressive style. His return to Augusta proved unfruitful, as he finished the season hitting a meager .237 in 35 games.

Andy Roth, manager of Augusta, wanted Cobb back for 1905, but Cobb demanded a raise to $125 per month. It was the first of many salary disputes in his career. Despite the fact that he was asking a lot for a teenager with less than a season's experience, Roth consented and he rejoined the team in the spring of 1905.

By August 1905, Cobb, under the tutelage of his new manager, George Leidy, was leading the league in hitting. The Tourists' management sold the left-handed hitting and right-handed fielding Cobb to the American League's Detroit Tigers for $750. Cobb was given a $50 gold watch as a gift in his final appearance with the Augusta Tourists.

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Athletes - Ty Cobb

Pre-professional career

Professional career

Minor leagues

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