Ty Cobb, a legend who is in the same league as Babe Ruth, was widely known for his short fuse. This especially came into public light when, on 15 May 1915 amidst a game at the Yankees’ Hilltop Park, Cobb attacked a disabled fan. The fan, Claude Lucker, said:
“He struck me with his fists on the forehead and over the left eye and knocked me down,” Lucker said. “Then he jumped on me and spiked me in the left leg, and kicked me in the side, after which he booted me behind the left ear. I was down and Cobb was kicking me when someone in the crowd shouted, ‘Don’t kick him. He has no hands.’ Cobb answered, ‘I don’t care if he has no feet!'”
Lucker shouted abusive language throughout the game. He was heard calling Ty Cobb a slur which implied that he was African by race.
Cobb is a first-class Hall of Famer who had a fiery temper, and he didn’t take the comment too well. He asserted to stop the game midway and started attacking the fan who was heckling him.
Even after realizing that the fan was disabled, Cobb kept on hitting him much to the horror of the audience. He only stopped when the cops and the umpire dragged him away.
Cobb was always in the newspaper for one violent incident or another. He was the preferred media villain of the time.
How true most of Cobb’s alleged controversies are, we can never be sure. Being the stoic and silent man he was, he never completely clarified his name. But one thing is for sure, this incident will forever be marked in MLB history as highly controversial.
Ty Cobb became a legend without winning a World Series
Ty Cobb is one of the people who made the game what it is today. He set record after record, and although his records are now broken, they’re still impressive.
#OTD in 1909 Ty Cobb became the first player in the modern era to win the major league Triple Crown, batting .377 with 9 home runs and 107 RBIs. The #Tigers set an American League record with their 98th win https://t.co/PXqwc1ztYJ
Despite being the Detroit Tigers’ center fielder, Ty Cobb was an icon. Cobb never once won a World Series, but he was known for his ferocious temper, which reflected his playing style.
Cobb’s stats speak for themselves. His winning percentage was .519, his batting average was .377, his runs batted 1,944, and his total number of home runs was 117.
#OTD in 1926 Heinie Manush goes 2-for-4 to raise his average to .378 and edge out Babe Ruth for the batting title. Ty Cobb plays what will be his last game as a Tiger https://t.co/3C249WdOdc
His total recorded hits were 4,189 and were only broken by Pete Rose in 1985. It used to take legends such as Babe Ruth to beat Ty Raymond Cobb. Even with Cobb’s many achievements, many will still remember him as the racist, violent man that the media portrayed him as.
Fans of MLB will never know what kind of man Ty Cobb was. Having his name and reputation tarnished by the media will forever mark the legend, Ty Raymond Cobb.
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