#tw for ty cobb

[principiumindividuationis777]

Above is Tyrus Raymond Cobb spiking a catcher where it hurts most, in 1912. Back then, baseball was typically played like this, but Cobb was the best at it.

Cobb was a rough customer, but his villainy has been exaggerated, and was exaggerated in his own time, by sensationalistic journalism. He grew up in a place and time of tragic prejudice, but later in life, he had nothing but positive things to say about such brave pioneers of integration as Jackie Robinson and a young Hank Aaron.

Ty Cobb may indeed have factored in an early attempt to integrate baseball. Having become the Detroit Tigers' player-manager in the 1920's, reportedly, he was thrown out in five consecutive attempts to steal a base by a Negro League catcher, in one of many Major League versus Negro League exhibition games, and as the story goes, he wanted to sign the catcher, breaking the color barrier, but the owners nixed the idea.

There is no proof of this anecdote, but it is closer to who the real Ty Cobb was then the bogeyman narrative... just don't get between him and scoring a run!