Posted By:
BrettI think Ty Cobb had the most votes in getting into the Hall of Fame for a reason. To get more votes than Babe Ruth.. now THATS SAYING SOMETHING !
You also can't blame Cobb for not having the power. He played most of his career in the dead ball era. You make it sound like its Cobbs fault for hitting 40 HRs a year. I think this has something to do with it:
"Before 1920, it was very common for a baseball to be in play for over 100 pitches, as in cricket. A ball would be used until it started to unravel. The early baseball leagues were very cost-conscious, so fans would have to throw back balls that had been hit in the stands. The longer the ball was in use the softer it would become, and hitting a heavily-used, softer ball for distance is much more difficult than hitting a new, harder one. There is also the argument that the ball itself was softer to begin with making home runs less likely."
I don't hold having "no power" against Cobb. From 1907 - 1918 Cobb finished in the top 10 in HRs every year except for 2 years and 5 times in the top 5. In his younger days, I guess you could call him a homerun hitter back then. Sure some of those were inside the park homeruns, but those old time ball parks had huge outfields...
Also, you can't say that Willie Mays was a better fielder, unless you were alive during 1905-1928... so I don't think you can make that assumption. I wasn't alive when they both played, but I think Cobbs hitting stats speak for themself. I've read that Cobb was also a great fielder in his day, so I don't know what else to say...