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1912: Ty Cobb’s Sets Another Record!

Sportswriter: “Ty, what do you think you’d hit against today’s pitching?”

Ty Cobb: “Only .300, but you’ve got to remember – I’m seventy-three!” 

One hundred nine years ago yesterday, July 31, 1912, Ty Cobb goes 1-for-4  in a Tigers’ victory over the Washington Senators at Navin Field. It’s Cobb’s 68th hit in 137 at-bats (.496) during July, the most ever collected in a single month by a major leaguer. It’s just one of many records set by Cobb over his career. Let’s take a look at some of those records. 

Ty Cobb’s Career

Over his 24-year career (1905-1938), Cobb played for the Tigers (1905-1926), and the Athletics (1927-28). He batted .366 (1^st all-time), with 4189 hits (2^nd all-time), 117 home runs, 1944 RBIs (8^th all-time), 897 stolen bases (4^th all-time),

2245 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), a four-time RBI leader, seven-time OBP leader, and eight-time slugging leader. 

One amazing record that is often overlooked and we can safely say will never be broken is his streak of hitting over .300 in 23 consecutive seasons (1906-1928). The only season in which he didn’t hit over .300 was his rookie year of 1905 when he hit .240 in only 41 games. The following year he became a regular and never finished below the .300 mark for the next 22 seasons. The streak includes three seasons of .400, and 22 seasons over .320. He still holds the career record for most seasons with 200 or more hits with nine, and most steals of home plate with 54. He 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 (3034). On the negative side, he committed 271 errors, the most by any American League outfielder.

Ty Cobb’s Fabulous 1911 Season

In 1911, Ty Cobb led the American League in virtually every offensive category, including a .419 batting average, 248 hits, 148 runs, 127 RBIs, 83 stolen bases, 47 doubles, 24 triples, a .620 slugging percentage, 367 total bases, 1.086 OPS, 196 OBP+. In addition, he had a 40-game hitting streak. Remarkably his .466 on-base percentage did not lead the league. 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.

Cobb Plays “Mind-Games” with Shoeless Joe Jackson

Joe Jackson led him by .009 points in the 1911 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. But the ever-scheming Cobb used that friendship to his advantage in the batting race. Here’s how:

Cobb ignored Jackson when Jackson tried to say anything to him during the series. One time, when Jackson persisted, Cobb snapped angrily back at him. Joe was left wondering what he could have done to enrage Cobb, not realizing Cobb was playing mind-games with him. The Georgia Peach later felt that it was these mind-games that caused Jackson to “fall off” to a final average of .408, a good eleven points lower than Cobb’s .419.  This set a twentieth-century record that stood until Rogers Hornsby surpassed it with the current record, .424 in 1924.

Will there ever be another like Ty Cobb? I tend to doubt it!

Gary Livacari 

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Information: All statistics from Baseball-Reference.com. and from article on Ty Cobb’s records, MLB News and Notes: https://metsmerizedonline.com/2012/01/a-look-at-unbreakable-records-ty-cobbs-consecutive-300-seasons.html/