Ty Cobb signing habits

[calvindog]

Besides lying about Cobb in his book, Stump stole items from Cobb and forged his diaries and some autographs.

The best two Cobb bios are:

Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leerhsen

War on the Basepaths, by Tim Hornbaker

[Shoelessseb]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Besides lying about Cobb in his book, Stump stole items from Cobb and forged his diaries and some autographs.

The best two Cobb bios are:

Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leerhsen

War on the Basepaths, by Tim Hornbaker

Herschel also mention in his book that he met Stump on one occasion. Stump only asked him negative stuff about his grandfather (his drinking, if he ever lost his temper or hit somebody in front of him). Obviously he never witnessed any of that, but that was the kind of stories Stump was looking for and he was insistent about it. On that same occasion he tried to steal a photo signed by Cobb, Ruth and someone else I can't recall.

I would recommend Herschel's book (Heart of a tiger). It's not your typical biography but we learn a lot about the person that was Ty Cobb in his latter years, and his soft side.

Thanks for all your replies !

[mr2686]

I will watch just about any sports movie, even the Babe Ruth movies, but I just cannot watch that damn Cobb movie with Tommy Lee Jones based on Stumps book. I just want to kick a hole in the TV. LOL

[brunswickreeves]

Does anyone know why Ty signed so many examples with the date as well? I’ve observed this like no other ball player of his time or caliber (takes extra time and effort to add a date).

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Just part of his specific and deliberate nature, to be sure. Lajoie did the same thing.

Hornsby was big on adding the year in later life. Randy Myers has been including the month and year for ages, but never the day. There are others.

[Kaneen]

This Ty Cobb letter from 1954 is one of my favorite items in my collection. I think it sheds light on just how accommodating Cobb was to fans requesting autographs in the mail. From his reply, it's pretty obvious he often got hammered with requests. But it appears that he cordially replied to people even when he sensed he was being taken advantage of.

As an autograph "hound" who has written to hundreds of athletes asking for signatures, I could definitely appreciate this letter. When I first saw it, I immediately loved its content and knew I needed it in my collection...it could have easily been addressed, "Dear Kevin" lol. (Not that I would have been someone taking advantage of him, but the fact that it was a reply to a TTM request.)

Like the one posted above, this letter was also penned on hoteI stationery. Based on this, I would suspect that Cobb often carried his fan mail with him while traveling and responded to requests in his spare time during trips. Just a theory.

In case you can't easily make out his handwriting, here is the text of his letter replying to a "collector" who had obviously sent him a stack of photos to sign. (Apparently, this is not just a modern eBay era trend that today's athletes deal with!):

"Dear Pat,
I do not like to sign so many pictures to one person, sometimes they are used to trade with. Also we have so many of such to sign from different ones. Also I have always felt honored anyone would want my autograph and try to comply.
Yours, Sincerely
Ty Cobb"

I love that humble line that he felt honored anyone would want his autograph and always tried to comply! Doesn't sound like a crusty SOB who threw everything in the trash to me!