Quote:
Originally Posted by mr2686
Jim, there's been a little bit of discussion on this topic over the last few years on a couple of threads, and I've always had a hard time understanding the "myth" of Cobb's demeanor vs the many letters and notes that have been published from him (which all have seemed very cordial). I think between Stump and Dan Okrent (he called Cobb the great black mark on baseball in the Ken Burns series...like he would know), the Cobb myth has be perpetuated. I hope someday someone will write an accurate book on the man.
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Most of the modern day information came from Stump which was almost all fabricated , and from team mate Sam Crawford who was interviewed by Larry Ritter in "Glory of their Times" ....Crawford and Cobb WERE rivals so his dislike of Cobb was obvious , If Cobb had outlived Crawford maybe Crawford would be the villan today...
However to keep things in context , Ty Cobb was a FIERCE competitor ! You don't hit .367 over a career by just "showing up"..
and he played in the dead ball era and was no choir boy , not too many of his contemporaries were. But he was certainly not the demon history has made him out to be.
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