Tyrus Raymond (Ty) Cobb

Tyrus Raymond (Ty) Cobb
“The Georgia Peach”

Detroit Tigers Player (1905 – 1926)
Detroit Tigers Manager (1921 – 1926)

Ty Cobb was born in Narrows, Georgia growing up in nearby Royston, Georgia. Cobb was interested in baseball from an early age playing semi-pro ball with the Royston Reds and the Augusta Tourists. In 1905, the Tourists sold Cobb to the Detroit Tigers. Debuting in 1905 as an 18-year-old he was the youngest player in the league by over a year but played well enough to warrant a contract for 1906. Cobb established himself as the top player in the league and would go on to play with the Tigers through the 1926 season, spending his final two seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics. With Cobb leading the way, the Tigers won three consecutive A.L. pennants (1907 – 1909) losing in the World Series each year. As the seasons went by Cobb’s play became more incredible as he would go on to lead the league in numerous statistical categories. During his career, Cobb was a twelve-time batting champion, four-time RBI leader, six-time stolen base leader, the A.L. home run leader and triple crown winner in 1909 and the A.L. MVP in 1911. He is second all-time in total hits (4,191) and the all-time career batting average leader (.367). Cobb was named player-manager at the beginning of the 1921 season through the end of the 1926 season, his final season with the Tigers. Ty Cobb was inducted into the inaugural class of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939 and was inducted into the inaugural class of the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1955. He passed away on July 17, 1961 at 74 years of age.