Ty Cobb and the hobby

[jsfriedm]

Originally Posted by robw1959

Don't forget that Cobb was a terrific outfielder as well.

What's the evidence for Cobb having been a terrific outfielder? I don't necessarily love WAR's defensive metrics, especially going that far back, but Baseball Reference has Cobb as being worth negative defensive WAR almost every year of his career, and -10.8 total.

[robw1959]

Originally Posted by jsfriedm

What's the evidence for Cobb having been a terrific outfielder? I don't necessarily love WAR's defensive metrics, especially going that far back, but Baseball Reference has Cobb as being worth negative defensive WAR almost every year of his career, and -10.8 total.

I believe in Charles Leerhsen's thorough research on Cobb, whom he credits as being an excellent fielder. He details Cobb as having had a tremendous arm, a good glove, and of course outstanding speed in tracking a baseball. Those WAR numbers don't always tell the correct story. Oddball rules and misinterpretations of errors could have accounted for those.