Ty Cobb’s Legacy

[raulus]

Part of the fun is that most of us weren't around at the time. And those of us that were actually around probably weren't personal social intimates with Tyrus. So we're left to sort through various 2nd or 3rd party accounts, which at times may be conflicting.

Certainly I've read one or more books (one of which I think you cited) that suggest that the prevailing historical narrative around Cobb was based on one journalist's sloppy/outright fake news reporting, in which the reporter fabricated a lot of the racism, both because he was too lazy to get the real story, and possibly also in an attempt to increase readership by injecting scandal. Once this story was out there, it seems to have gone viral, with basically every other journalistic source repeating it as gospel.

The author in the book that I read makes the point that although Cobb was from the south, his father was a university professor, which for a ballplayer at that time would be a unique and rather sophisticated background, perhaps therefore being less likely to be as prone to some of the prevalent and prevailing racial attitudes in the south. It's been a while since I read it, but I also recall the author spending some time to look into the details around how Cobb comported himself with minorities, as well as evaluating some of his written letters and correspondence to suggest that Cobb was not the raging racist that the press has labeled him to be.

My takeaway after reading the book was that, if the author's arguments were true, then Cobb had been mislabeled as a racial supervillain. But there's no question that history has not been kind to Cobb, and most people find it easier to just repeat what they've heard rather than considering the possibility that it might not be accurate.