bet mlb

Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was a Hall of Fame baseball player and is regarded by historians and journalists[2][3] as the best player of the dead-ball era and as one of the greatest players of all time. Cobb also received the most votes of any player on the 1936 inaugural Hall of Fame Ballot.[4]
Cobb is widely credited with setting 90 Major League Baseball records during his career.[5][6][7][8] He still holds several records as of 2007, including the highest career batting average (.367) and most career batting titles with 12 (or 11, depending on source).[9] He retained many other records for almost a half century or more, including most career hits until 1985 (4,191 or 4,189, depending on source),[10][11][unreliable source?] most career runs (2,245 or 2,246 depending on source) until 2001,[12] most career games played (3,035) and at bats (11,429 or 11,434 depending on source) until 1974,[13][14] and the modern record for most career stolen bases (892) until 1977.[15]
Cobb's legacy as an athlete has sometimes been overshadowed by his surly temperament, severe racism, and aggressive playing style,[16] which was described by the Detroit Free Press as "daring to the point of dementiaTy Cobb was born in Narrows, Georgia, in 1886 and was the first of three children to Amanda Chitwood Cobb and William Herschel Cobb.
Ty spent his first years in baseball as a member of the Royston Rompers, the semi-pro Royston Reds, and the Augusta Tourists of the Sally League. However, the Tourists cut Cobb two days into the season.[18] He then went to try out for the Anniston Steelers of the semi-pro Tennessee-Alabama League, with his father's stern admonition still ringing in his ears: "Don't come home a failure."[19][20] After joining the Steelers for a monthly salary of $50,[21] Cobb promoted himself by sending several postcards written under different aliases to Grantland Rice, the sports editor of the Atlanta Journal. Eventually, Rice wrote a small note in the Journal that a "young fellow named Cobb seems to be showing an unusual lot of talent."[22][unreliable source?][23] After about three months, Ty returned to the Tourists. He finished the season hitting .237 in 35 games.[24]
August 1905 was an eventful month for Ty. The Tourists' management sold Cobb to the American League's Detroit Tigers for US$500 and $750.[25][26][27] Additionally, on August 8, 1905, Ty's father was shot to death by Ty's mother. William Cobb suspected his wife of infidelity, and was sneaking past his own bedroom window to catch her in the act; she only saw the silhouette of what she presumed to be an intruder, and, acting in self-defense, shot and killed her husband.[28][unreliable source?] Mrs. Cobb was charged with murder and then released on a $10,000 recognizance bond.[29] She was acquitted on March 31, 1906.[30] Cobb later attributed his ferocious play to the death of his 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 downThree weeks after his mother killed his father, Cobb played center field for the Detroit Tigers. On August 30, 1905, in his first major league at-bat, Cobb doubled off the New York Highlanders's Jack Chesbro. That season, Cobb managed to bat only .240 in 41 games. Nevertheless, he showed enough promise as a rookie for the Tigers to give him a lucrative $1,500 contract for 1906.
Although rookie hazing was customary, Cobb could not endure it in good humor, and he soon became alienated from his teammates. He later attributed his hostile temperament to this experience: "These old-timers turned me into a snarling wildcat."[17]
The following year (1906) he became the Tigers' full-time center fielder and hit .316 in 98 games. He would never hit below that mark again. Cobb, firmly entrenched in center field, led the Tigers to three consecutive American League Pennants from 1907-1909. Detroit would lose each World Series, however, with Cobb's post-season numbers being much below his career standard.
In one notable 1907 game, Cobb reached first, stole second, stole third, and then stole home on consecutive attempts (He did this twice more in his career).[32][unreliable source?] He finished that season with a league high .350 batting average, 212 hits, 49 steals and 119 Runs batted in (RBI).[27] At age 20, Cobb became the youngest player to win a batting championship and held this record until 1955 when fellow Detroit Tiger Al Kaline won the batting title when he was one day younger than Cobb.[33][unreliable source?] Despite great success on the field, Cobb was no stranger to controversy off it. At Spring Training in 1907, he fought a black groundskeeper over the condition of the Tigers' field in Augusta, Georgia. Ty also ended up choking the man's wife when she intervened.[8]
I always find that a drink of Coca-Cola between the games refreshes me to such an extent that I can start the second game feeling as if I had not been exercising at all, in spite of my exertions in the first.Ty Cobb,1907 Coca-Cola newspaper ad [34] In September 1907, Cobb began a relationship with The Coca-Cola Company that would last the remainder of his life. By the time he died, he owned over 20,000 shares of stock and three bottling plants: one in Santa Maria, California; one in Twin Falls, Idaho; and one in Bend, Oregon. He was also a celebrity spokesman for the product.[34]
The following season, the Tigers defeated the Chicago White Sox for the pennant. Cobb again won the batting title with a .324 batting average. Despite another loss in the Series, Cobb had something to celebrate. In August 1908, he married Charlotte "Charlie" Marion Lombard, the daughter of prominent Augustan Roswell Lombard.[35] In the offseason, Cobb and his wife lived in his father-in-law's Augusta estate, The Oaks. In November of 1913, the couple moved into their own house on Williams Street.[36]
The Tigers won the American League pennant again in 1909. During the Series, Cobb stole home in the second game, igniting a three-run rally, but that was the high point for Cobb. He ended batting a lowly .231 in his last World Series, as the Tigers lost in seven games. Although he performed poorly in the post-season, Cobb won the Triple Crown by hitting .377 with 107 RBI and nine home runs – all inside-the-park. Cobb thus became the only player of the modern era to lead his league in home runs in a season without hitting a ball over the fence.[37]
Conlon's famous picture of Cobb stealing third during the 1909 season.It was also in 1909 that Charles M. Conlon snapped his famous photograph of a grimacing Ty Cobb sliding into third base amid a cloud of dirt, which visually captured the grit and ferocity of Cobb's playing styleGoing into the final days of the 1910 season, Cobb had a 4/10s of a percent lead on Nap Lajoie for the American League batting title. The prize for the winner of the title was a Chalmers Automobile. Cobb sat out the final games to preserve his average. Nap Lajoie hit safely eight times in his teams' doubleheader. However, six of those hits were bunt singles, and later came under scrutiny. Regardless, Cobb was credited with a higher batting average.
As a result of the incident, Ban Johnson was forced to arbitrate the situation. He declared Cobb the rightful owner of the title. However, the Chalmers company elected to award a car to both of the playersCobb regarded baseball as "something like a war," Charlie Gehringer said. "Every time at bat for him was a crusade."[39] The baseball historian John Thorn has said, "He is testament to how far you can get simply through will... Cobb was pursued by demons."
Cobb was having a typically fine year in 1911, which included a 40-game hitting streak. Still, ”Shoeless” Joe Jackson had a .009 point lead on him in batting average. What happened next is discussed in Cobb's autobiography. Near the end of the season, Cobb’s Tigers had a long series against Jackson and the Cleveland Naps. Fellow Southerners, Cobb and Jackson were personally friendly both on and off the field. Cobb used that friendship for his advantage. Whenever Jackson said anything to him, he ignored him. When Jackson persisted, Cobb snapped angrily at Jackson, making him wonder what he could have done to enrage Cobb. As soon as the series was over, Cobb unexpectedly greeted Jackson and wished him well. Cobb felt that it was these mind games that caused Jackson to "fall off" to a final average of .408, while Cobb himself finished with a .420 average