Why Ty Cobb is the Greatest Ballplayer─Ever

I went on to tell her that Cobb once scored from second base on a sacrifice bunt and from first base on a routine single to right field.

Cobb was a field general, endeavoring to force the opposition to make a play by doing the unexpected. He once stole home while the third baseman and pitcher were discussing a defensive alignment. This was before timeouts were called between pitches.

In 1909 he led the league with nine homeruns (remember, Cobb played in the dead ball era)─all inside the park, becoming the only player to lead his league in homeruns for a season without hitting a ball over the fence.

He revolutionized base stealing as an offensive weapon, perfecting the hook slide and, yes, sharpening his spikes before games; he was as apt to hook slide as put a defender in the hospital.

He reviled Ruth and the homerun, saying his sister could hit homeruns in Yankee Stadium, with its 297-foot right field fence. The Babe may have called his shot, but Cobb once announced that for the next two games he would hit only for power. In the first game he went six for six, hitting three homeruns, driving in seven runs, scoring four and amassing sixteen total bases. In the next game Cobb went three for four and hit two more homeruns.

In 1936 he was the first player elected to the Hall of Fame, amassing 98.2 percent of the votes. That, too, was a record, until Tom Seaver received 98.8 percent of the vote in 1992.

The Sporting News in 1998 ranked Cobb as the third greatest ballplayer of all time, behind Ruth and Mays respectively, which in my mind is a sham. Ruth may have been more popular with the fans and Mays’ skills better than Cobb’s, but no one has had a greater impact on the game than Cobb. He forever changed the way the game is played and could win a game by himself, coaxing a walk, stealing first, second and home, to beat a team 1-0.

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