100 Years of Ty Cobb Today

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Posted By: Daniel Bretta

I would recommend to anyone interested in Cobb to read his autobiography "My life in baseball: The true record". While he may gloss over the nasty things that he did, he does explain why he reacted the way he did in many instances. Matty McIntyre was a key instigator in the hazing that Cobb received as a rookie. Most players would have taken the hazing in good nature, but Cobb reacted violently to it which only made his instigators continue with the hazing. I really believe that this shaped his career more than anything. The racism may be a little overblown. It is clear that he felt whites were superior to blacks (he did afterall grow up in the Jim Crow South), but he was very kind to a young black child that had taken residence in Briggs field and he took him home with him for the winter, and he also was fond of a black woman that helped raise him. I'm not saying that Cobb was an angel, but his reputation is certainly overblown. There is no proof that Cobb sharpened his spikes. That was a rumor started by if I remember correctly a Philidelphia journalist after Cobb slid hard into Frank Baker. Cobbs charity went unnoticed and he often did it anonomysly. He even helped out one of his tormenters, Ed Killian when Killian was out of baseball and broke.