Ty Cobb Redemption

[reggiecleveland]

My son and I were going on long road trip to play baseball, so I decided to get a baseball audiobook o listen to while I drove.
 
I ended up getting this book http://www.amazon.ca/Ty-Cobb-A-Terrible-Beauty/dp/1451645767
 
I was shocked to find out historians have completely debunked the Al stump book Cobb and the movie based on that piece of fantasy. This article is a good start is showing what piece of shit Al Stump was.
 
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/770355-ty-cobb-hall-of-famer-betrayed-by-writers-for-50-years-ruined-players-legacy
 

 
He was setting his sights on a fortune that he thought he could make by double crossing Cobb after his death. Double crossing came easy for the beguiling Stump, but the grand payday he sought never materialized with the first book.
Stump made up lies about Cobb and filched all that he could from a man who was dying of cancer and dying to tell his story before it was too late.
Stump couldn’t wait for Cobb to die remarking that if Cobb died before the book was finished he would write what he wanted. “I’m not going to die before the book is finished,” remarked Cobb. “I’ll write slow,” promised Stump!
It was Stump's destiny to deceive Cobb and he made no small efforts to purge all of Cobb’s belongings from his two prolific estates in Lake Tahoe, Nevada and Atherton, California.
Stump took all of Cobb’s letterheads, stationary and other personal effects and stored them where he could sell them off later for a handsome price.
To make matters more outrageous, he began to forge hundreds, if not thousands of letters, notes and other handwritings and signed Cobb’s name on them and sold them to anyone who would believe that they were authentic.

 
 
A few points I have learned:
 

• Cobb was not hated when he played. He was universally respected, countless contemporaries say he played fair, though extremely aggressively. Dozens of players said he never spiked anyone on purpose.
• Most of the resentment players has towards Cobb were because he was arrogant and given special status by the Tigers, he often was allowed to skip spring training, for example.
• Cobb was hazed for mopst of his first two years in the bigs, this often involved beatings and being sucker punched. The Tigers eventually got rid of a few players.
• He was especially close to Joe Jackson, even after Joe was banned, going out of his way to connect with, and possibly give money to Joe when the rest of baseball turned against him. So it is unlikely ghost Joe would not let Ty play.
• Cobb was in many fights, but there is no evidence any of them were racially motivated. In fact Stump and others have claimed some of his fights were with black people when documents from the time show the fights were with white people. It does seem Cobb was childish and prideful and to blame for many fights. He also tended to kick ass.
• Cobb's father was an outspoken anti segregationist, and what little mention of race relations survives concerning Cobb show s him being enlightened for the time and being heckled because his dad was a "N-lover."
• Fighting was common during the time, even churchboy Christy Matheson went into the stands to fight a fan.
• Cobb was insecure and often got on the bad side of writers by disputing things they wrote about him, many of them inconsequential.
• Cobb's antipathy towards Babe Ruth, and the home run, panted him as antiquated, and only recently was racism attached to this view.
• Those who saw him play are almost universally of the opinion he was the greatest player they ever saw.

 
Anyway I am ashamed a baseball fan I took the movie, and the general disinformation, about maybe the greatest player ever at face value.
 

 

[JoePoulson]

Fascinating stuff. I honestly had no idea about all of this,so thank you for the write-up and recommendation. Just ordered the book and I can't wait to dive in.

 

[LuckyBen]

My son and I were going on long road trip to play baseball, so I decided to get a baseball audiobook o listen to while I drove.
 
I ended up getting this book http://www.amazon.ca/Ty-Cobb-A-Terrible-Beauty/dp/1451645767
 
I was shocked to find out historians have completely debunked the Al stump book Cobb and the movie based on that piece of fantasy. This article is a good start is showing what piece of shit Al Stump was.
 
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/770355-ty-cobb-hall-of-famer-betrayed-by-writers-for-50-years-ruined-players-legacy
 
 
 
A few points I have learned:
 

• Cobb was not hated when he played. He was universally respected, countless contemporaries say he played fair, though extremely aggressively. Dozens of players said he never spiked anyone on purpose.
• Most of the resentment players has towards Cobb were because he was arrogant and given special status by the Tigers, he often was allowed to skip spring training, for example.
• Cobb was hazed for mopst of his first two years in the bigs, this often involved beatings and being sucker punched. The Tigers eventually got rid of a few players.
• He was especially close to Joe Jackson, even after Joe was banned, going out of his way to connect with, and possibly give money to Joe when the rest of baseball turned against him. So it is unlikely ghost Joe would not let Ty play.
• Cobb was in many fights, but there is no evidence any of them were racially motivated. In fact Stump and others have claimed some of his fights were with black people when documents from the time show the fights were with white people. It does seem Cobb was childish and prideful and to blame for many fights. He also tended to kick ass.
• Cobb's father was an outspoken anti segregationist, and what little mention of race relations survives concerning Cobb show s him being enlightened for the time and being heckled because his dad was a "N-lover."
• Fighting was common during the time, even churchboy Christy Matheson went into the stands to fight a fan.
• Cobb was insecure and often got on the bad side of writers by disputing things they wrote about him, many of them inconsequential.
• Cobb's antipathy towards Babe Ruth, and the home run, panted him as antiquated, and only recently was racism attached to this view.
• Those who saw him play are almost universally of the opinion he was the greatest player they ever saw.

 
Anyway I am ashamed a baseball fan I took the movie, and the general disinformation, about maybe the greatest player ever at face value.
 

I heard an interview on the radio with the author and Cobbs grandson and it was fascinating. The grandson said Stump would dig through Cobbs trash and even planted liquor bottles to make Cobb seem like an alcoholic. I believe Ty's grandfather was also an abolitionist and I think Ty set up a minority scholarship of some sort. Cobb was also an early investor in coca cola and tried to get others to invest as well.

 

[soxfan121]

NPR interview with the author a few months ago focused on Cobbs effort at desegregating baseball.

Al stump was a first class asshole.

 

[Seels]

I forget where I read it but I've read Cobb (not in his day, but in the 40s) was for desegregation of the league.
 
A guy at baseball-fever is possibly Cobb's best historian (unfortunately the guy died last year). He would frequently post to debunk the myths about Cobb. Personally I take anything we hear about players with a great grain of salt. There are few players we know anything about in their personal lives.