Cobb - not a World Series thread
 

Ty won the MVP in 1911, and received MVP votes annually until 1915.
He averaged less than 70 walks per year for his career.

My question is "What happened in 1915?"

He didn't have any MVP votes in 1915.
1915 wasn't an outstanding year for him by his standards.
His 8 prime years preceded 1915.
The most walks he received in a season before 1915 was 64.
In 1915 he was walked 118 times, 54 more than his previous high during his prime.
His second best year for walking was 1924 with 85 free passes.

What am I missing? Is there an explanation for 1915, Cobb's year of walks?

I don't even understand why you or the MVP voters in 1915 think/thought that 1915 wasn't such a good year for Ty Cobb:

A year in which a player was both the batting champion and set a stolen base record that would last for 47 years sure sounds like a great year to me!

:confused:

There was no MVP award 1915 through 1921 .
Cobb was pretty smart and Surely constantly experimenting ,
Appears 1915 he decided to get on base as often as possible , thus the walks ,
The result was his highest on base percentage , highest stolen base amount and Second most runs scored in a year .

I bet he had someone to prove wrong that year who said he couldn’t take a walk. Seems like something Cobb would do to show his domination of the game.

To make this into a World Series thread, maybe Cobb was pulling an Ohtani move before the 1915 season, in deciding on upping his stolen base game. Getting on base as much as possible allows for more stolen base opportunities.

In 1915 Cobb hit .369, just barely above his career average of .366, but his on base percentage was .486, the best of his career, including the three years his batting average was over .400. The more times he was on base, the more opportunities Ty had to sink his spikes into flesh.

Brian