Known as the Georgia Peach, Ty Cobb was a major league baseball player in the United States. He was born Tyrus Raymond Cobb on December 18, 1886 in Narrows, Georgia. Ty Cobb died on July 17, 1961 at the age of 75. When Cobb decided to go off and play professional baseball, his domineering father warned him not to return home unless he was a success. Perhaps this is what drove Ty Cobb to play the game of baseball with such perfection -- a quality admired by many opponents.
The Hitter
Ty Cobb batted left-handed and was the best hitter of his generation -- if not of all time -- with a lifetime batting average of .367 -- the highest ever in baseball's history. Throughout Cobb's 24-year career in professional baseball, his season batting average dipped below .320 only once. However, he exceeded a .400 season batting average three times. Ty Cobb won a combined 12 batting titles, including nine years in a row stretching from 1907 to 1915. At the age of 24, he was the youngest player in the American League to hit reach 1,000 hits.
The Base Stealer
At time of publication, no other baseball player has stolen more bases than Ty Cobb; with an on-base percentage of .433, he had plenty of opportunities. Cobb, in 1915, stole 96 bases in a single season. With 892 total bases stolen throughout his career -- averaging 37.2 per season -- he ranks third among players. He stole home plate more than any other player in history did: 54 times.
The Run Producer
Ty Cobb led the American League in slugging eight times. He scored 100 runs 11-times. Seven times in his career, he drove in more than 100 runs-batted-in. Ty Cobb also led the American League for hits in a single season eight times. He is also second all-time in total career hits with 4,191, including 297 triples. He led the American League in runs for a single season five times, having amassed 2,245 runs scored, second on the all-time list.
Other Career Highlights
Ty Cobb was an outfielder, spending his professional baseball career with only two teams; first as a Detroit Tiger, from 1905 to 1926, and then with the Philadelphia Athletics, from 1927 to 1928. He played in the World Series three times, each with the Detroit Tigers. When the National Baseball Hall of Fame opened in 1936, it enshrined Ty Cobb as the first of five players -- he received slightly more than 98 percent of the total votes.
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