The cruelty of Cobb's style fascinated the multitudes, but it also alienated them. He played in a climate of hostility, friendless by choice in a violent world he populated with enemies ... He was the strangest of all our national sports idols. But not even his disagreeable character could destroy the image of his greatness as a ballplayer. Ty Cobb was the best. That seemed to be all he wanted.
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Jimmy Cannon, as quoted in Cobb Would Have Caught It : The Golden Age Of Baseball In Detroit (1991) by Richard BakTy Cobb
Ty Cobb is one of the great natural forces of Baseball. He is testament to how far you can get simply through will. I don’t think Ty Cobb had tremendous, tremendous natural ability. I don’t think he would be a great athlete today. But his intensity, his drive, was unparalleled. Cobb was pursued by demons from his childhood, from his parentage, from his racial consciousness, and he took out all of his aggressions on the playing fields. Everyone was his enemy. It was easy for Cobb to play the game of Baseball as if it were the game of Life and it was a violent struggle, every day: 154 games a year.
Ty Cobb
The greatest ballplayer of all time? ... I pick the Detroit man because he is, in my judgement, the most expert man in his profession and is able to respond better than any other ballplayer, to any demand made on him. I pick him because he plays ball with his whole anatomy — his head, his arms, his hands, his legs, his feet — and because he plays ball all the time for all that is in him. ... he loves the game. I have never seen a man who had his heart more centered in a sport than Cobb has when he’s playing. There never was a really good ball player who didn't think more of the game than he did of his salary or the applause of fans. ... I believe Cobb would continue to play ball if he were charged something for the privilege, and if the only spectator were the groundskeeper.
Ty Cobb
For my money, Ted Williams is the greatest hitter of all-time. I'd take him over Ruth, I'd take him over Cobb. I'd take him over Cobb because of the combination of power and average. I'd take him over Ruth because with Ruth, you can only speculate about what he would have done in the modern era. Ted Williams hit .388 at the age of 39 in 1957. He was what few of us ever become; he was exactly what he set out to be. He said he wanted to be able to walk down the street some day and have people say "There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived". And if they don't say that, it's only because they don't know what they're talking about.
Ted Williams
The greatness of Ty Cobb was something that had to be seen, and to see him was to remember him forever.
Ty Cobb
Cobb, Ty
Cobbett, William
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