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  #1  
Old 04-11-2017, 09:33 AM
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orly57 orly57 is offline
Orlando Rodriguez
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Default Ty Cobb revisited

As many of you know, I am an avid Cobb collector. As such, I read quite a bit about him. I am sure that many of you know about the new book that vindicates him, but I thought you would be interested in this condensed version written by the author:

He was Major League Baseball's first superstar. The first man ever inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. And he still has the game's highest career batting average – .366 – almost 90 years after he retired.
His name is Ty Cobb.
Yet, despite his historic achievements, he is often remembered for being the worst racist and the dirtiest player ever to take the field.
If you know baseball, you've heard the stories: Ty Cobb would pistol-whip black men he passed* on the street. He once stabbed to death a black waiter in Cleveland just because the young man was acting “uppity.”
On the field, he was said to sharpen his spikes to cut-up rival infielders. He supposedly had no friends.* In the movie Field of Dreams, Shoeless Joe Jackson says that Cobb wasn't invited to the ghostly cornfield reunion because, “No one liked the son of a bitch.”
A lifelong baseball fan, I believed these stories when I set out to write the first authoritative biography of Cobb in 20 years. I'd been hearing them all my life and, like a lot of people, I took the repetition as evidence.
But, to my astonishment, as I delved into the source material – newspapers, census reports and personal letters – I couldn't find any proof that they were true.
On the contrary, Cobb's teammates on the whole seemed to respect him, defending him on the field and off.
His opponents said he played the game hard, but clean! Wally Schang, a veteran catcher was typical. He once said, “Cobb never cut me up. He was too pretty a slider to hurt anyone who put the ball on him right.”
One famous photograph from 1912 shows Cobb flying foot-first into the crotch of St. Louis Browns catcher Paul Krichell. It looks bad. But pictures can be deceiving. In reality, Cobb is kicking the ball out of Krichell's glove. He didn't spike the catcher. Krichell later said, "In a way, it was really my fault. I was standing in front of the plate instead of on the side, where I could tag Ty as he slid in.” Indeed, in 1910, Cobb actually asked the league to require that players dull their spikes!
And what about the bigotry – how could a man born in Georgia in 1886 not be a racist?
Well, as it turns out, Ty Cobb descended from a long line of abolitionists. His great-grandfather was a minister who preached against slavery and was run out of town for his troubles. His grandfather refused to fight in the Confederate army because of the slavery issue. And his father, an educator, once broke up a lynch mob.
On the subject of blacks playing with whites, Cob said, “The Negro should be accepted wholeheartedly and not grudgingly… The Negro has the right to play professional baseball, and who's to say he has not?”
Cobb attended many Negro league games, sometimes throwing out the first pitch and sitting in the dugout with the players. He said Willie Mays was the only modern-day player he'd pay to see.
As for that black waiter he supposedly killed? Well, in reality he was a hotel night watchman. And Cobb didn't kill him, he just scuffled with him. And – oh, yeah – the guy was white!
Now, Ty Cobb was, like the rest of us, a highly imperfect being – *too quick to take offense, too intolerant of those who did not strive for excellence with the same almost crazy zeal that he did. But a racist? A dirty player? Not true.
What is true is that almost every accusation against Ty Cobb's character finds its roots in the same source – un-fact-checked articles and books published after his death by a bitter, opportunistic journalist named Al Stump whom Cobb had once threatened to sue for making up stories about him.
It didn't matter that Stump had spent little time with Cobb, or that all of Stump's sources were anonymous; that sportswriters who knew Cobb rushed to his defense; or that Stump himself had been banned from publications for writing lies. The scandal was titillating, and it stuck.
When the legend beats the facts, print the legend. Meanwhile, a good man's reputation lies in ruins.
There are lessons to be learned here:
First, it's all too easy to believe lies about people, especially successful ones. Lies take achievers down a few notches, and we like to hear that.
And second, if a lie is repeated often enough, it becomes accepted as fact.
This has consequences, because lies are the source of much of the world's evil – like the evil of destroying a man's legacy; in this case, a legacy that should be celebrated.
Ty Cobb was the most exciting baseball player of all time. He once stole second, third, and home on three consecutive pitches. He once turned a tap back to the pitcher into an inside-the-park home run. He was not a racist or a cheat.
It's time to tell the truth about Ty Cobb.
I'm Charles Leerhsen, author of Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty
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  #2  
Old 04-11-2017, 09:43 AM
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KMayUSA6060 KMayUSA6060 is offline
Kyle May
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Fantastic read. Fascinating that the smear campaign by Stump proved successful - from his point of view. Was there ever any evidence provided as to why Stump hated Cobb so much?

Makes me want to buy a Cobb - my first Cobb.


Thank you for sharing!
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- Hall of Famers
Progress: 318/340 (93.53%)

- Grover Hartley PC
Needs: T207 Anonymous Factory 25 Back, 1914 New York Evening Sun Supplements, 1917 D328 Weil Baking Co., and (possibly) 1917 Merchant's Bakery

- Jim Thome PC

- Cleveland Indians Franchise Hall of Fame
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  #3  
Old 04-11-2017, 09:48 AM
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orly57 orly57 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KMayUSA6060 View Post
Fantastic read. Fascinating that the smear campaign by Stump proved successful - from his point of view. Was there ever any evidence provided as to why Stump hated Cobb so much?

Makes me want to buy a Cobb - my first Cobb.


Thank you for sharing!
Stump hated Cobb because he once sold him a card on the BST and left the sale price up for the world to see. Revenge was sweet and severe.

Last edited by orly57; 04-11-2017 at 09:50 AM.
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  #4  
Old 04-11-2017, 09:52 AM
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KMayUSA6060 KMayUSA6060 is offline
Kyle May
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Quote:
Originally Posted by orly57 View Post
Stump hated Cobb because he once sold him a card on the BST and left the sale price up for the world to see. Revenge was sweet and severe.
That bastard... How dare Cobb...
__________________
Need a spreadsheet to help track your set, player run, or collection? Check out Sheets4Collectors on Etsy.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Sheets4Collectors

- Hall of Famers
Progress: 318/340 (93.53%)

- Grover Hartley PC
Needs: T207 Anonymous Factory 25 Back, 1914 New York Evening Sun Supplements, 1917 D328 Weil Baking Co., and (possibly) 1917 Merchant's Bakery

- Jim Thome PC

- Cleveland Indians Franchise Hall of Fame
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  #5  
Old 04-11-2017, 10:24 AM
T_Hamilton T_Hamilton is offline
Taylor Hamilton
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Orlando - would love to see pics of your entire Cobb collection if you are so inclined to show... I also collect Cobb. Own his T206 off shoulder, T3 and D304 General Baking Company
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  #6  
Old 04-11-2017, 10:52 AM
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invest invest is offline
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I would love to see your Cobb collection too, Come on you already saw my entire Cobb collection, lol

Troy
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  #7  
Old 04-23-2017, 08:28 PM
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Enfuego Enfuego is offline
Anthony Rodriguez
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Cobb was definitely a unique personality off the field, but I think we can all agree that he was by far one of the greatest to step foot on a diamond


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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  #8  
Old 04-23-2017, 09:35 PM
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pete ullman
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I had this piece commissioned by a local artist.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg IMG_6928.jpg (74.5 KB, 571 views)
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  #9  
Old 04-23-2017, 09:41 PM
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orly57 orly57 is offline
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I love it Pete, but did he have to make the spikes so damn sharp? It's propelling the myth!!!😉 I love the two works of art side-by-side.
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  #10  
Old 04-23-2017, 10:18 PM
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orly57 orly57 is offline
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Some of you wanted to see my Cobb's. I went pre-war just over a year ago, and have been focused on Cobb for the past year. More specifically, I fell in love with these beautiful and often ULTRA-rare early Postcards. It was no easy task gathering these postcards in such a short while. In fact, I am pretty sure Jeff Lichtmann, Kevin Struss, and JC Clarke all considered getting restraining orders against me at some point. But they were all amazing with helping me gather them, and teaching me a great deal about these rare treasures.
The only way I can get anything to upload here is by using a collage app. I did what I could. This is what I have put together thus far:
Attached Images
File Type: jpg C0F25DD1-DD39-48D9-A2B6-4CA156899C3A.jpg (73.8 KB, 553 views)
File Type: jpg 6A2F6DE0-172B-475A-AF77-4DC70856245F.jpg (72.3 KB, 560 views)
File Type: jpg 31689B8B-260F-4578-88AC-117A9BFB2943.jpg (74.4 KB, 555 views)
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  #11  
Old 04-23-2017, 10:37 PM
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BeanTown BeanTown is offline
Jay Cee
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Love the collage app and what a great Cobby collection you have amassed in such a short time. No restraining order nessesary as your "current market" offers are very nice and tempting to entertain. I have to stop selling/trading as I'm a collector and not a dealer! I'm glad I don't have to pick my favorite, but it would be one of the Christmas colors! (Rose PC or the Cracker Jack 14)
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  #12  
Old 04-24-2017, 11:28 PM
nrm1977 nrm1977 is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by orly57 View Post
As many of you know, I am an avid Cobb collector. As such, I read quite a bit about him. I am sure that many of you know about the new book that vindicates him, but I thought you would be interested in this condensed version written by the author:

He was Major League Baseball's first superstar. The first man ever inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. And he still has the game's highest career batting average – .366 – almost 90 years after he retired.
His name is Ty Cobb.
Yet, despite his historic achievements, he is often remembered for being the worst racist and the dirtiest player ever to take the field.
If you know baseball, you've heard the stories: Ty Cobb would pistol-whip black men he passed* on the street. He once stabbed to death a black waiter in Cleveland just because the young man was acting “uppity.”
On the field, he was said to sharpen his spikes to cut-up rival infielders. He supposedly had no friends.* In the movie Field of Dreams, Shoeless Joe Jackson says that Cobb wasn't invited to the ghostly cornfield reunion because, “No one liked the son of a bitch.”
A lifelong baseball fan, I believed these stories when I set out to write the first authoritative biography of Cobb in 20 years. I'd been hearing them all my life and, like a lot of people, I took the repetition as evidence.
But, to my astonishment, as I delved into the source material – newspapers, census reports and personal letters – I couldn't find any proof that they were true.
On the contrary, Cobb's teammates on the whole seemed to respect him, defending him on the field and off.
His opponents said he played the game hard, but clean! Wally Schang, a veteran catcher was typical. He once said, “Cobb never cut me up. He was too pretty a slider to hurt anyone who put the ball on him right.”
One famous photograph from 1912 shows Cobb flying foot-first into the crotch of St. Louis Browns catcher Paul Krichell. It looks bad. But pictures can be deceiving. In reality, Cobb is kicking the ball out of Krichell's glove. He didn't spike the catcher. Krichell later said, "In a way, it was really my fault. I was standing in front of the plate instead of on the side, where I could tag Ty as he slid in.” Indeed, in 1910, Cobb actually asked the league to require that players dull their spikes!
And what about the bigotry – how could a man born in Georgia in 1886 not be a racist?
Well, as it turns out, Ty Cobb descended from a long line of abolitionists. His great-grandfather was a minister who preached against slavery and was run out of town for his troubles. His grandfather refused to fight in the Confederate army because of the slavery issue. And his father, an educator, once broke up a lynch mob.
On the subject of blacks playing with whites, Cob said, “The Negro should be accepted wholeheartedly and not grudgingly… The Negro has the right to play professional baseball, and who's to say he has not?”
Cobb attended many Negro league games, sometimes throwing out the first pitch and sitting in the dugout with the players. He said Willie Mays was the only modern-day player he'd pay to see.
As for that black waiter he supposedly killed? Well, in reality he was a hotel night watchman. And Cobb didn't kill him, he just scuffled with him. And – oh, yeah – the guy was white!
Now, Ty Cobb was, like the rest of us, a highly imperfect being – *too quick to take offense, too intolerant of those who did not strive for excellence with the same almost crazy zeal that he did. But a racist? A dirty player? Not true.
What is true is that almost every accusation against Ty Cobb's character finds its roots in the same source – un-fact-checked articles and books published after his death by a bitter, opportunistic journalist named Al Stump whom Cobb had once threatened to sue for making up stories about him.
It didn't matter that Stump had spent little time with Cobb, or that all of Stump's sources were anonymous; that sportswriters who knew Cobb rushed to his defense; or that Stump himself had been banned from publications for writing lies. The scandal was titillating, and it stuck.
When the legend beats the facts, print the legend. Meanwhile, a good man's reputation lies in ruins.
There are lessons to be learned here:
First, it's all too easy to believe lies about people, especially successful ones. Lies take achievers down a few notches, and we like to hear that.
And second, if a lie is repeated often enough, it becomes accepted as fact.
This has consequences, because lies are the source of much of the world's evil – like the evil of destroying a man's legacy; in this case, a legacy that should be celebrated.
Ty Cobb was the most exciting baseball player of all time. He once stole second, third, and home on three consecutive pitches. He once turned a tap back to the pitcher into an inside-the-park home run. He was not a racist or a cheat.
It's time to tell the truth about Ty Cobb.
I'm Charles Leerhsen, author of Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty
Great read!
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  #13  
Old 04-25-2017, 09:03 AM
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Kawika Kawika is offline
David McDonald
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I read Leerhsen's book last year. Prior I had bought into the Cobb racist psycho caricature. My opinion was revised. That is a terrific assemblage of cards. I admire your scorched earth approach to collecting, reminds me of myself in earlier times. Here's one you'll need to pick up when the opportunity presents itself. (Mine is not for sale unfortunately; it's part of a set).

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  #14  
Old 04-25-2017, 09:28 AM
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BeanTown BeanTown is offline
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Whoa!!! David, that is a great Cabinet! How much more rare are the M110s compared to the T3? Orlando, stand in line if one of those pops up!
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  #15  
Old 04-25-2017, 09:48 AM
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Kawika Kawika is offline
David McDonald
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BeanTown View Post
How much more rare are the M110s compared to the T3?
I don't have access to VCP nor the TPG pop reports so can only offer an anecdotal opinion. I have seen M110 Cobbs for sale maybe three or four times (and they might be the same couple of cards being re-sold) in the decade since I collected the set. Have seen a whole lot more T3s.

Here's my two together just for fun (two jpegs mashed together - scale may be off a wee bit).
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File Type: jpg T3 & M110 Cobb.jpg (74.1 KB, 490 views)
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  #16  
Old 04-25-2017, 10:07 AM
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orly57 orly57 is offline
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That is gorgeous Dave. I owned one for all of 24 hours. I traded it for my 1907 Wolverine "Batting." The wolverine has only a population of 9, so I had to make the deal since it is part of my 1907 Cobb post card run, and who knows when another will pop up again.
As for the sporting life cabinets, there are more Ty Cobb T3's graded than there are sporting life cabinets combined (all six players). It is a tougher card, and I want one (for more than one day).

Last edited by orly57; 04-25-2017 at 10:10 AM.
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  #17  
Old 09-03-2017, 02:32 PM
RealToppsaholic RealToppsaholic is offline
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Sweet Reading --thanks for this Cobb piece !

TPHLC
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