Featuring Georgia Native, Ty Cobb's Batboy, Jimmy F. Lanier
"You Teach a Boy to Throw a Baseball and he won't throw a rock"
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Aug. 9, 2008 - Atlanta, Georgia
In 1914, after reaping stardom way up north in Detroit, Ty bought a large home at 2425 William St. near Augusta Medical School. It happened to be the same year that Jimmy Lanier was born in that same neighborhood.
“I grew up with one of Mr. Cobb’s boys. Herschel R. Cobb was my contemporary, and if the Lanier children were not in the Cobb home, the Cobb children were in the Lanier home. We grew up together. The Cobb children were as near being siblings to me as possible, without being blood relatives,” he continues.
“I don’t have the verbal fluency to describe my association with Mr. Cobb. As I grew up, I began to realize when I was about six or seven years old, what a famous man he was. But I always knew him as Herschel’s dad. He was just my buddy’s father."
Lanier explains the first big impression that Ty had made on him as a boy. "Mr. Cobb told me one day he said, 'You teach a boy to throw a baseball and he won't throw a rock' and that made a deep impression on me."
“When we grew older, Mrs. Cobb would drive Herschel and myself out to Warren Park to watch the Detroit Tigers train during the spring. Mr. Cobb would always let the little boys sit in the bleachers and watch if they behaved themselves.”
“Mr. Cobb had a heart for the smaller boys. If he was signing autographs in a crowd of young boys and the smaller boy could not get close, then Mr. Cobb would call him to the front. He would show him how to hold his bat or he would sign his ball," explains the former batboy. "But he made sure that the little boys got a chance too.”
“Mr. Cobb made stars out of mediocre ballplayers,” says Jimmy speaking of Ty managerial performance. Ty managed the Tigers from 1921-1926 and compiled a record of 479 wins and 444 losses, equaling a .519 winning percentage.
Fred Haney was the smallest man on the team at five feet six and weighed only 145 lbs. He was well liked by Mr. Cobb for the way he “kept trying.”
3 comments Last one added 11 months ago — Leave a Comment
corby anderson 11 months ago
Great story. Did this originally publish here, or for a publication? The history!
-C
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Wesley Fricks 11 months ago
Corby,
Part I was published here three days ago.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/44744-ty-cobb-through-the-eyes-of-an-atlanta-batboy-part-i
Thanks for the read and the comment!
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Patrick SJ Read 11 months ago
Bravo I say, Wes!
Great historical account of truth and not a revisionists re-write - too many revise the facts in order to raise eyebrows and increase circultation...great job shootin it straight, man.
R
PR
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