Ty Cobb’s dad never saw him play in the biggies. For those of you who don’t know the name Ty Cobb, he was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. In fact, in the list of the Top 100 in Baseball, he ranks number three. He was a pretty nifty outfielder who could hit like crazy.
He played a long time ago though. When the sport was in its early, rough, and tumble days. Cobb was born in 1886 in Narrows, Georgia. It was a little podunk town at best. More like a small farming community. Anyway, his dad and mom were William Herschel Cobb (1863–1905) and Amanda Chitwood Cobb (1871–1936). Cobb’s father was a state senator.
They moved to Royston, GA, when he was a baby. And early stories say that he became fascinated with baseball as a child. Yes. Little Ty-Ty said he wanted to be a baseball player when he grew up. As a side note, I made the same proclamation when I was seven or eight. I was going to be the first “girl” to play on the Cincinnati Reds. Of course, that dream is long past. Anyway, Ty Cobb. He told the world he would one day play professional baseball, but his father, that Senator, was strongly opposed.
By the time he was a teenager, he was trying out for local clubs and he played with several different semi-pro teams in the south. His father, told him sternly, “Don’t come home a failure!” So. He thrived in baseball, many taking notice of his big talent.
But here’s what was happening at home. His papa, Mr. Herschel Cobb suspected his wife, Amanda, was cheating on him. Yep. He really believed she had a “someone” on the side. Apparently, they slept in separate bedrooms. And one night, down there at their Royston home, Mr. Cobb was sneaking past his own bedroom window, outdoors, to get a glimpse into his wife’s bedroom window. She saw the silhouetted of someone creeping around the house. So she went to her underwear drawer — probably — and produced a pistol that Mr. Cobb had purchased for her. When the shadow passed the window, she fired and killed Mr. Cobb, stone-cold dead, on this date, August 8th, in 1905.
Of course, then, Amanda Cobb was charged with murder. After a trial of trials, she was acquitted on March 31, 1906. And it was three weeks following the shooting that Cobb started playing for the Detroit Tigers. He was a ferocious player. Cobb later attributed his highly aggressive play to his late father, saying, “I did it for my father. He never got to see me play … but I knew he was watching me, and I never let him down.”
I say ferocious, and highly aggressive because he was. Ty Cobb had a nasty reputation. A big meanie. A bully. A bit of a fighter, he was in several significant brawls, some ending with calls to the police. He seemed to take out his anger frequently in the way of a fistfight. He would climb up into the stands and beat up fans who may have been heckling during the game. All this, right alongside the fact that he was an amazing baseball player. To the core.
Early in his career, he partnered with Coca-Cola, and they became his sponsor. His nickname was “The Georgia Peach” and his dealings with Coke made him extremely rich. He was divorced a couple of times and had a couple of kids who described him as stern. He died, pretty lonely, in 1961, saying he had no regrets.
Who knows why he was such a bitter man. Perhaps it was his mother, killing his father. But whatever it was, I think it far outweighed his talents as a player. I was going to say that he wasn’t much of a peach. But. While some peaches are sweet and delicious, a gift to the world, other peaches are hard and sour.
It all depends on the peach.
Just like in the case of humans. It all depends on us.
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“If you’re betrayed, release disappointment at once.
By that way, the bitterness has no time to take root.”
― Toba Beta
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“Bitterness can be corrosive. It can rewrite your memories as if it were scrubbing a crime scene clean, until in the end you only remember what suits you of its causes.”
― Fredrik Backman, Beartown
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“There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.”
— Jane Austen
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Not corn on the Cobb, but a bad peach.
