Ty Cobb signing habits

[maniac_73]

This thread gets me more enraged of what Al Stump did to this mans reputation. Awful

[theshleps]

Which would be the best TY Cobb bio to read?

[calvindog]

Besides lying about Cobb in his book, Stump stole items from Cobb and forged his diaries and some autographs.

The best two Cobb bios are:

Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leerhsen

War on the Basepaths, by Tim Hornbaker

[Shoelessseb]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Besides lying about Cobb in his book, Stump stole items from Cobb and forged his diaries and some autographs.

The best two Cobb bios are:

Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leerhsen

War on the Basepaths, by Tim Hornbaker

Herschel also mention in his book that he met Stump on one occasion. Stump only asked him negative stuff about his grandfather (his drinking, if he ever lost his temper or hit somebody in front of him). Obviously he never witnessed any of that, but that was the kind of stories Stump was looking for and he was insistent about it. On that same occasion he tried to steal a photo signed by Cobb, Ruth and someone else I can't recall.

I would recommend Herschel's book (Heart of a tiger). It's not your typical biography but we learn a lot about the person that was Ty Cobb in his latter years, and his soft side.

Thanks for all your replies !

[mr2686]

I will watch just about any sports movie, even the Babe Ruth movies, but I just cannot watch that damn Cobb movie with Tommy Lee Jones based on Stumps book. I just want to kick a hole in the TV. LOL

[brunswickreeves]

Does anyone know why Ty signed so many examples with the date as well? I’ve observed this like no other ball player of his time or caliber (takes extra time and effort to add a date).

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Just part of his specific and deliberate nature, to be sure. Lajoie did the same thing.

Hornsby was big on adding the year in later life. Randy Myers has been including the month and year for ages, but never the day. There are others.

[vintagechris]

Originally Posted by theshleps

Which would be the best TY Cobb bio to read?

I really enjoyed the book Peach: Ty Cobb in His Time and Ours by Richard Bak. I thought it was a more balanced and fair representation of who Ty Cobb was.
The writer seemed to really do the appropriate research about Cobb and wrote quite a bit about his charitable side while still doing a good job of explaining his complexities as well. Has some great pics in it as well.

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by maniac_73

This thread gets me more enraged of what Al Stump did to this mans reputation. Awful

Al Stump was a slime-ball. The other person I can't stand is writer Daniel Okrent. He was interviewed during Ken Burns "Baseball" and called Cobb the great black mark on baseball. I just love pompous self righteous a-holes that spout their opinions and shape other's opinions without putting that opinion in to proper context.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by maniac_73

This thread gets me more enraged of what Al Stump did to this mans reputation. Awful

Stump also forged Ty Cobb on handwritten letters that have gotten into the hobby.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

Stump also forged Ty Cobb on handwritten letters that have gotten into the hobby.

For years one of my "one that got away" items was a letter by Cobb. Two pages, pretty bland stuff, the second page was what I now know was Stumps fabricated Cobb. Not over the top nasty, but bad enough.

Now that I know more I'm glad I never scrounged up the money for it.