Glory of Their Times

[btcarfagno]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Your point about requiring evidence is well made, but not this part of it, in my opinion. It's not something that was ever addressed in either direction by the vast majority of ballplayers, I would guess, an extremely controversial topic and not something they would want to appear in print about. Have you heard Crawford on the "Glory" tapes? I don't see how his stories can be discounted entirely, but as I noted, I'm suspending all judgement on the matter and keeping an open mind. I will even go so far as to admit that I was wrong to call him that with just that one interview with a teammate to go on.

not sure if I am remembering correctly regarding the "Glory" tapes...definitely Davy Jones...not sure about Sam Crawford...but the supposed incident between Cobb and the groundskeeper's wife (and subsequently Boss Schmidt). The only two people who know whether that story is true or not are Schmidt and Cobb. Schmidt claimed that it happened. Cobb denied it. Press ran with Schmidt's story but did no follow up with the groundskeeper or his wife. So if teammates are retelling this story, they are doing so without firsthand knowledge based on what Schmidt said happened. It is worth noting that Hughie Jennings was about to begin his first year as manager of the Tigers at the time, and he was actively trying to get rid of Cobb due to his being a "disruption" for the team. Hugh Fullerton would later write that Jennings used Schnidt to engineer a "gentle frame up" of Cobb...to make Cobb look worse to Frank Navin who had no intention of trading Cobb.

Just some food for thought.