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Ty Cobb Re-signs with the Tigers for $4,000!

“I often tried plays that looked recklessly daring, maybe even silly. But I never tried anything foolish when a game was at stake, only when we were far ahead or far behind. I did it to study how the other team reacted, filing away in my mind any observations for future use.” —Ty Cobb

One hundred twelve years ago this year, on March 21, 1908, Ty Cobb re-signed with the Tigers for $4000, with an $800 bonus if he hits over .300. With today’s astronomical salaries, that sounds a lot like tip money! And yet, they got quite a player for their meager investment. I’d say this turned out to be quite a bargain for the Tigers, considering he was coming off a pretty good year in 1907. All he did in ’07 is lead the league in the following categories: batting average (.350), RBIs (119), hits (212), stolen bases (53), slugging average (.468), and total bases (283). Not a bad year…

Here are a few words about the Georgia Peach’s Hall-of-Fame career and his great season of 1911:

 Over his 24-year career (1905-1938), Cobb played for the Tigers (1905-1926), and the Athletics (1927-28). He batted .367 (1^st all-time), with 4191 hits (2^nd all-time), 117 home runs, 1938 RBIs (8^th all-time), 892 stolen bases (4^th all-time), 2244 runs (2^nd all-time), 724 doubles (4^th all-time), a .433 on-base percentage (8^th all-time), .512 slugging average, and 5854 total bases (5^th all-time). His 163 OPS+ is 10^th all-time and well above the major league average of 100. He was the American League MVP in 1911, the American League Triple Crown winner in 1909, a 12-time American League batting champion (1^st all-time), and a four-time RBI leader.

 He still holds the career record for stealing home (54 times), and was the youngest player to compile 4,000 hits and score 2,000 runs. Cobb ranks fifth all-time in the number of games played and committed 271 errors, the most by any American League outfielder.

 Ty Cobb’s Great 1911 Season

Ty Cobb led the American League in 1911 in numerous categories, including 248 hits, 147 runs scored, 127 RBI, 83 stolen bases, 47 doubles, 24 triples, a .621 slugging percentage, and a 40-game hitting streak. Cobb hit eight home runs but finished second in that category to Frank Baker, who hit eleven. He was awarded a second Chalmers car, this time for being voted the American League MVP by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Shoeless Joe Jackson led him by .009 points in the batting race late in the season. Near the end of the campaign, Cobb’s Tigers had a long series against Jackson’s Cleveland Naps. Fellow Southerners Cobb and Jackson were personally friendly both on and off the field. Cobb used that friendship to his advantage. Cobb ignored Jackson when Jackson tried to say anything to him. When Jackson persisted, Cobb snapped angrily back at him, making him wonder what he could have done to enrage Cobb, who felt that it was these mind games that caused Jackson to “fall off” to a final average of .408, twelve points lower than Cobb’s .420, a twentieth-century record which stood until Rogers Hornsby surpassed it with .424, which is the record since then.

Who Won the 1910 Batting Title, Ty Cobb or Nap Lajoie?

With two games left in the 1910 season, Ty Cobb was leading Nap Lajoie in the batting race .385 to .376. At stake was a new Chalmers Model 30 awarded to the winner. Lajoie and the Indians were at Sportsman’s Park for a double-header against the Browns to close out the season. Meanwhile, Cobb skipped the Tigers’ final two contests to protect his average, claiming an eye ailment.

Before the doubleheader began, Browns’ manager Jack O’Connor ordered rookie third baseman Red Corriden to play in shallow left field, telling Corriden that “one of Lajoie’s line drives might kill you.” Seeing a chance to fatten his average, Lajoie bunted six times down the third-base line for six hits. He also added a triple and an infield single, giving him eight hits in nine trips. His lone blemish was reaching base on an error by shortstop Bobby Wallace on his last at-bat.

Doing whatever they could to help Lajoie defeat Cobb, O’Connor and Coach Harry Howell then tried to bribe the official scorer, E.V. Parrish, with a suit of clothes if he changed his call to a hit. Upholding baseball honor, Parrish declined. In spite of all this, Cobb was still the apparent winner by less than one percentage point, .385069 to .384095.

But wait…

The next day, unofficial final batting averages in different papers, including The Sporting News, declared Lajoie the winner by anywhere from one to three points. Cobb’s fans howled, led by Tiger president Frank Navin. But many in baseball who detested Cobb were delighted with Lajoie’s apparent victory. Eight of Cobb’s Detroit teammates even sent a telegram to Lajoie, congratulating him on the batting title.

The resulting outcry triggered an investigation by American League president Ban Johnson, who declared Cobb the winner. In a great public relations move, Chalmers made both Cobb and Lajoie fans happy by awarding each player a car. At Johnson’s insistence, the Browns fired O’Connor and Howell and both were informally banned from baseball for life.

The story doesn’t end there. More than 70 years later, in 1981, The Sporting News historian Paul MacFarlane discovered Cobb was mistakenly credited with two extra hits during the season. Take those away and the tile goes to Lajoie with a .384 average to Cobb’s .383. However, then-Commissioner Bowie Kuhn refused to take Cobb’s 1910 batting title away, thereby preserving his string of nine consecutive American League batting titles.

So who won the 1910 batting title? Baseball Reference says Lajoie, Wikipedia says Cobb.  So you tell me!