Examining the Legacy of Baseball Legend TY COBB

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Journey to the Present:

Examining the Legacy of Baseball Legend TY COBB

By Richard Curry

John Cougar Mellencamp was singing I was born in a small town on

the radio while I was looking for Royston, GA late at night. It is the

hometown of Tyrus Raymond Cobb, 'The Georgia peach', or often known as

'Tyrus the Terrible'.

Crossing Over

Ty only had three major league ballplayers show up for his funeral on July 17, 1961. Now I know why - the others couldn't find this place.

You go on I-85 northeast of Atlanta to exit 56 through winding roads and past deep ditches to Road #29 that takes you to the chicken-farming capitol of the South. There's more closed-down establishments than those open. The only three noteworthy buildings in the entire town are the Cobb Memorial Hospital, a coffee shop, and Cobb's small museum.

Upon checking into the Ramada Inn hotel, the desk clerk told me, "No one

comes here and I don't understand it. He was a legend." The clerk also

mentioned a father & son checked in earlier in the day. He told me the

father was there to show his son what made it possible for the son to

become a heart surgeon. The Cobb Foundation affords $670,000 a year in

scholarships and was responsible for his boy's college expenses.

The next day I journeyed to find anyone that could help locate Ty's home,

or anyone who could recall stories of the town's most famous son. Now,

you've got to remember this is 'back roads Georgia'. I had a brainstorm to

knock on the door of a house on Ty Cobb Street. A lady let me in and

invited me to sit upon a couch in a room with no lights. She then said, "We

don't use lights in this room because we don't get much company."

She then said I was company and turned on the lights. I asked if Ty Cobb

used to live in the area. She told me, "I think he's one or two blocks down

the street, but my husband knows for sure because he's lived here 30 years

longer than I have."

When her husband strolled into the room, she asked if he knew where Ty Cobb

used to reside. The gentleman, attired in a ball cap, a cutoff T-shirt, and

pants drooping below the crack of his butt said through his few teeth:

"Hell, Cobb dead. Everybody that knew him - dead. Hell, I ain't gotta clue

where that house is."

A Happening business in Royston

History as a Parking Lot

Time to move on, so I walked to the end of Ty Cobb Street to a

school and asked the assistant principal if she could help me find the home.

She explained that her husband worked at the Cobb Museum, but she's ashamed

to say she doesn't know where the house is. Another lady stepped up and

asked if I needed help. She got the same questions and replied with a blank

look in her eyes: "Who Cobb?"

Certain that I'd stepped into The Twilight Zone, finally one woman told me

to go to the Cunningham Furniture Store. Expecting to find Richie, there I

met Marjorie, the granddaughter of Joe Cunningham. He was a close friend of

Ty's and lived across the street from Cobb as a kid; which, by the way, was

directly behind the 1905 furniture store started by Joe Cunningham.

Ty's home location is now a parking lot between the church and the funeral

home. In this laid-back town, the passed-on church parishioners only need

to be walked across the asphalt parking lot to the funeral parlor.

Behind Joe's granddaughter's desk on a dimly lit wall is an 8x10 of Ty Cobb

in an A's uniform signed eloquently by Cobb: "To my friend Joe Cunningham."

The year was 1927. Marjorie told me, "Grandpa Joe always defended Ty to the

end when people were discussing Ty's ill-mannered behavior.  And no, I'm

not selling Grandpa Joe's picture," she added.

The shirt Ty was wearing in that photo sold in auction for $332,500. In the

same auction Ty's dentures went for $7,475. How's that for a great

collectable?

Next door at the coffee shop I met a man who said he was a friend of Ty

Cobb's grandson, Ty. He told me his own dad was mean and drank a lot, but

Ty's son Herschel was meaner and drank more.

Kenny Murdock also told me Ty's grandson owns and operates a 400-acre dairy

farm 90 minutes from Royston. It's located between Blue Ridge &

Blairsville. Kenny told me he used to drink a lot and smoked pot.

I met people in this town that gave me their life story in 10 minutes, but

there aren't many who knew Ty's life story. Most of the others chose to

forget.

Kenny's wife, who operates the coffee shop, chalks out scripture every day

on a board. The reading that day: "Don't forget to entertain strangers, for

by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."

Kenny's been listening.

All In the Family

The next day I visited the Cobb family mausoleum.

Looking throughthe glass door I noticed William Herschel

Cobb (Ty's dad) buried there. Hetaught math and was a

principal of High Schools in several towns. He also served

in the Georgia Senate and met an untimely death when he

climbed aladder one night to see if his wife, Amanda, was

cheating on him.

Unfortunately for William, Amanda had a shotgun and blew him off the ladder. 60-seconds later she pulled the trigger again which took off his head.

Also lying in the tomb is Amanda Chitwood Cobb, who was married to 20-year old William at age 12. I found this to be very strange, but after visiting the town for awhile decided this might still be the 'norm'.

Amanda was acquitted a year later because a jury found her not at fault for shooting at an intruder through a window late at night. Also in state is sister, Florence Leslie Cobb.

On the other side lying by himself is Ty.

Ty's dad - with his head still intact.

It's now 41 years after his death and Cobb still holds 35 major league

records. When he died he held 90 records. He was an excellent

playing-manager and was the very first person inducted into the Baseball

Hall of Fame.

Ty Cobb at 33

The Cobb Legacy.

Here's what my research has revealed about this man - a man who is

forgotten in his own hometown.

- Ty was born in a log cabin in Cornelia, Georgia. The town was near the

site where Confederates fought and defeated Union Calvary during the Civil

War.

- Ty was 6'1", 190 pounds as a player and suffered a nervous breakdown

during his Mom's trial, but came back and played for 22 years in Detroit.

- When Ty left home for baseball his Dad, while not happy about his career

choice, gave young Ty six $15.00 checks when he departed, telling his son:

"Don't come home a failure."

-In 1905 Tiger Manager, Bill Armour, bought Cobb for $750.00 from the

Augusta Baseball Club and brought him to Detroit.

-Ty Cobb never played for a World Series winner. (The Tigers lost three

consecutive World Series in 1907-08-09 - still an AL record, but they did

win three straight pennants).

- Ty was a self-proclaimed bigot. He once punched a black female fan. He

choked a black waiter because he didn't say 'No, Sir'. Cobb was so fearful

that his own teammates would try to kill him that he slept with a loaded

gun under his pillow. His teammates used to torment him because he was a

Southern boy. They also were unmerciful to Ty about the unfortunate death

of his father. In the 1920s it was rumored that Ty, Tris Speaker, and

Rogers Hornsby were card-carrying members of the Ku Klux Klan. I'm not sure

there were more during that time in America.

- Ty Cobb was cheap, jealous and aloof. But Ty was never one to be accused

of a lack of courage. He hit 47 inside the park HR's in his career and won

nine straight batting titles from 1907-1015 and 12 altogether.  He later

went on to become a multi-millionaire in the stock market. He owned a lot

of stock in Coca-Cola and General Motors. His first ad as a player was with

Coke. Ty was big in real estate and was the first million-dollar athlete

while still playing.

I have a cancelled Ty Cobb internal revenue check dated 3/14/47 for the

amount of $37.19. (How's that for bookkeeping?)

Upon his death Ty owned 20,000 shares of Coca-Cola and 7,500 shares of

General Motors stocks. This is the same man who would kneel to look for a

penny that fell under his carseat.

- Ty Cobb: "A ball bat is a wondrous weapon."

- Ty taught a young Casey Stengel how to hit. Casey is in the Hall of Fame

as a manager, but he was also a very solid ball player. He hit the first

two World Series HR's in Yankee Stadium. Both were inside the park HR's.

- When Tyrus Cobb, Jr. failed his first semester at Princeton, father Ty

found out, boarded a train, ascended on his son, and pummeled him with a

whip. The boy went on to become an MD in obstetrics. Sadly, Ty Jr died of a

brain tumor at the age of 42. Another son, Herschel, died from a heart

attack at age 34. Herschel drank more than he should have.

- In 1904 Ty Cobb as a rookie said, "Baseball is a red-blooded game for

red-blooded men. Baseball is like war. It's no pink tea. Molly coddlers had

better stay out. It's a struggle for supremacy - a survival of the

fittest." Ty then went out in his first season and hit a whopping .240 -

his only bad batting average for a season.

- Ty circumvented the globe to kill every trophy animal he could find. He

also reeled in a 1,266-pound Pacific Blue Marlin. When he hunted, Ty wore

weighted boots to stay in shape for baseball.

- As a player/manager Ty improved the Tigers in his first four years on the

job, but not without angering a few people along the way. In 1924 fifteen

Detroit players asked for Cobb's dismissal or to be traded. Ty was

instrumental in making great hitters out of three Hall of Famers: Charlie

Gehringer, Heinie Manush, and Harry Heilman.

- For luck Cobb would frequently rub the head of a young black boy before a

game.

- Casey Stengel on Cobb: "I never saw anyone like Cobb - no one even close

to him. When he wiggled those wild eyes at a pitcher, you knew you were

looking at one bird nobody could beat. That guy was superhuman amazing."

- Ty's favorite historical figures were Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte.

No surprise here.

Concluded Next Issue.

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