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  Ty Cobb Photo Gallery

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  Ty Cobb in military uniform
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  Ty Cobb Christmas card
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  Ty Cobb with the pennant-winning 1907 Tigers.
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  Three greats of the game: Tris Speaker, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb
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  Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker on the dugout steps.
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  Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker
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  Ty Cobb
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  Ty Cobb
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  1923 Tigers: Ty Cobb, Harry Heilmann, Bobby Veach, Fatty Fothergill, Heine Manush
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  Smiling Ty Cobb
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  Cobb and Wagner meet in the 1909 World Series
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  Ty Cobb
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  Ty Cobb, 1913
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  Ty Cobb
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  Ty Cobb with Tigers' owner Frank Navin
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  Ty Cobb

“It’ll never happen again!”

Ty Cobb Completes the Stolen Base Cycle…In One Inning!

Here’s a record that we can safely put into the file: “It’ll never happen again!” Check this out:

One hundred fifteen years ago today, for the second time in his career, Ty Cobb completes the stolen base cycle in one inning when he steals second, third, and home in the first inning of the Tigers’ 9-0 Bennett Park victory over Philadelphia. Cobb will accomplish the feat four times, establishing a major league mark shared with Honus Wagner.

This gives me the opportunity to say a few words about the career of the great Georgia Peach and his great season of 1911:

“I often tried plays that looked recklessly daring, maybe even silly. But I never tried anything foolish when a game was at stake, only when we were far ahead or far behind. I did it to study how the other team reacted, filing away in my mind any observations for future use.” —Ty Cobb

In March 1908, Ty Cobb resigned with the Tigers for $4000, with an $800 bonus if he hit over .300.  Talk about a bargain! I’d say this turned out to be quite a good deal for the Tigers.

(The beautiful featured oil painting of Ty Cobb by Graig Kreindler: www.graigkreindler.com/)

Over his 24-year career (1905-1938), Ty Cobb played for the Tigers (1905-1926), and the Athletics (1927-28). He batted .367 (1^st all-time), with 4191 hits (2^nd all-time), 117 home runs, 1938 RBIs (8^th all-time), 892 stolen bases (4^th all-time), 2244 runs (2^nd all-time), 724 doubles (4^th all-time), a .433 on-base percentage (8^th all-time), .512 slugging average, and 5854 total bases (5^th all-time). His 163 OPS+ is 10^th all-time and well above the major league average of 100. He was the American League MVP in 1911, the American League Triple Crown winner in 1909, a 12-time American League batting champion (1^st all-time), and a four-time RBI leader.

 He still holds the career record for stealing home (54 times), and was the youngest player to compile 4,000 hits and score 2,000 runs. Cobb ranks fifth all-time in number of games played and committed 271 errors, the most by any American League outfielder.

 Ty Cobb’s Great 1911 Season

Ty Cobb led the American League in 1911 in numerous categories, including 248 hits, 147 runs scored, 127 RBI, 83 stolen bases, 47 doubles, 24 triples, a .621 slugging percentage, and a 40-game hitting streak. Cobb hit eight home runs but finished second in that category to Frank Baker, who hit eleven. He was awarded a second Chalmers car, this time for being voted the American League MVP by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Shoeless Joe Jackson led him by .009 points in the batting race late in the season. Near the end of the campaign, Cobb’s Tigers had a long series against Jackson’s Cleveland Naps. Fellow Southerners Cobb and Jackson were personally friendly both on and off the field.

Cobb used that friendship to his advantage. Cobb ignored Jackson when Jackson tried to say anything to him. When Jackson persisted, Cobb snapped angrily back at him, making him wonder what he could have done to enrage Cobb, who felt that it was these mind games that caused Jackson to “fall off” to a final average of .408, twelve points lower than Cobb’s .420, a twentieth-century record which stood until Rogers Hornsby surpassed it with .424, which is the record since then.

Gary Livacari

 Photo Credit: Colorization by Graig Kreindler: www.graigkreindler.com/; Other photos from Google search

 Statistics from Baseball Reference.

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