Who was Ty Cobb?
A: Tyrus Raymond Cobb was an American Major League Baseball center fielder.
Where was he born?
A: In rural Narrows, Georgia.
Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the last
six as the team's what?
A: Player-manager and finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics.
In 1936, Cobb received the most votes of any player on
what?
A: The inaugural Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, receiving 222 out of a
possible 226 votes (98.2%).
No other player received a higher percentage of votes
until whom?
A: Tom Seaver in 1992.
In 1999, the Sporting News ranked Ty Cobb third on
their list of what?
A: "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players."
What was his nickname?
A: The Georgia Peach.
Cobb is widely credited with setting how many MLB
records during his career?
A: 90.
His combined total of 4,065 runs scored and runs batted
in (after adjusting for home runs) is still what?
A: The highest ever produced by any major league player.
He still holds several records as of the end of the
2019 season, including what?
A: The highest career batting average (.366) and most career batting titles
with 11.
He still holds the career record for doing what?
A: Stealing home (54 times) and for stealing second base, third base, and
home in succession (4 times).
He was the youngest player ever to compile 4,000 hits
and score how many runs?
A: 2,000.
Cobb ranks fifth all-time in number of what?
A: Games played.
He committed 271 errors, the most by any what?
A: American League (AL) outfielder.
While he was known for often violent conflicts, he
spoke favorably about black players joining the Major Leagues and was a
well-known what?
A: Philanthropist.
When he was still an infant, his parents moved to
where?
A: The town of Royston, where he grew up.
By most accounts, he became fascinated with baseball as
a what?
A: A child, and decided he wanted to play professional ball one day.
His father was vehemently opposed to this idea, but by
his teen years what was he doing?
A: He was trying out for area teams.
He played his first years in organized baseball for
who?
A: The Royston Rompers, the semi-pro Royston Reds, and the Augusta Tourists
of the South Atlantic League, who released him after only two days.
He then tried out for what?
A: The Anniston Steelers of the semipro
Tennessee–Alabama League.
After joining the Steelers for a monthly salary of $50,
Cobb promoted himself by doing what?
A: By sending several postcards written about his talents under different
aliases to Grantland Rice, the Atlanta Journal sports editor.
Eventually, Rice wrote what?
A: A small note in the Journal that a "young fellow named Cobb seems to be
showing an unusual lot of talent."
After about three months, Cobb returned to the Tourists
and finished the season hitting what?
A: .237 in 35 games.
In August 1905, the management of the Tourists sold
Cobb to whom?
A: The American League's Detroit Tigers for $750 (equivalent to $22,619 in
2021).
On August 8, 1905, Cobb's mother fatally shot his
father with what?
A: A pistol that his father had purchased for her.
Court records indicate that Mr. Cobb had what?
A: Suspected his wife of infidelity and was sneaking past his own bedroom
window to catch her in the act.
She saw the silhouette of what she presumed to be an
intruder and did what?
A: Acting in self-defense, shot and killed her husband.
Mrs. Cobb was charged with murder and then released on
what?
A: A $7,000 recognizance bond.
When was she acquitted?
A: On March 31, 1906.