Ty Cobb: His Tumultuous Life and Times

Rating:
Summary: An illustrated biography of the life and times of Ty Cobb
Review: In the foreword to "Ty Cobb: His Tumultuous Life and Times," Hall of Fame Detroit Tigers sportscaster Ernie Harwell points out that on the basis of a disparaging comment by the Shoeless Joe Jackson character in the movie "Field of Dreams," it is clear that three decades after his death Cobb needs a press agent. Mostly as the result of not only "Field of Dreams," but the PBS documentary "Baseball" by Ken Burns and the film "Cobb," the Georgia Peach is clearly seen as baseball's last angry man, an unredemptive figure who played baseball as if it was a war, more than willing to open up an opposing player's leg with his razor sharp spikes, and who ended up dying bitter and alone. In this book Richard Bak tries to provide a balanced look at Cobb, attempting to provide insights into the forces that helped shape the man's character on and off the baseball field.

However, even while pointing out that Cobb had virtues as well as faults, the central thesis remains the same in this biography as with all considerations of Cobb. The temperament that alienated Cobb from this teammates and admirers was what made him one of the greatest players in history. Ty Cobb was not only the antithesis of Babe Ruth because of his preference for the speed game, where a bunt hit, stolen base and long single produced a run rather than a blast into the right field bleachers, but because Cobb was a hard working student of the game compared to Ruth, who partied all night and was likely to play with a hang over or eat a bunch of hot dogs during the game. Baseball historians can only wonder what Ruth might have accomplished if he had stayed in shape and shown the discipline of a Lou Gehrig, let alone a Cobb. But a Cobb with the attitude of Ruth would probably have never made it out of Anniston, Alabama.

Ultimately, what ends up negating Bak's thesis is that this is an illustrated biography. Bak has collected more than 300 photographs, many of which have never before been published, to provide the first illustrated journey through the life and times of baseball's greatest hitter. There are so many choice examples contained within these pages, from a Detroit "Free Press" article announcing Cobb had been called up and predicting he would never hit .328 in the majors, to a photo of the hearse with Cobb's casket going by the sign declaring "Welcome to Royston, Home of Baseball Immortal Ty Cobb." In between you will find a photograph of Cobb in uniform for World War I, a cartoon suggesting Cobb wept because he had spiked an opponent, and an advertisement for a nickel candy bar named after him. However, I would like to have seen a better shot of the Cobb exhibit at the Hall of Fame. Consequently, you end up looking at the photographs and reading the captions does tend to distract from the text.

Bak does more than tell the story of Cobb's life. For example, there is a chart, courtesy of Larry Amman, that shows Cobb's lifetime batting averages against all American League pitchers against which he had at least 20 at bats. You can spend minutes just pouring over these statistics, learning that Cobb batted .366 against Walter Johnson, .328 against Babe Ruth, and .429 against Smokey Joe Wood, but only .265 against Waite Hoyt and .266 against Addie Joss. Then there is the story and box score from the game where Cobb hit 3 home runs. This is by no means a traditional biography, but that actually ends up working in favor of "Ty Cobb: His Tumultuous Life and Times." The thing you have to remember is not to get so caught up in the eye candy that you neglect the main course of Bak's biography of baseball's greatest hitter and most controversial figure.

The material for this volume is culled from scrapbooks of clippings and earlier biographies, including a long forgotten syndicated biography of Cobb written in 1924, as well as interviews with the few of Cobb's contemporaries who were still alive. Then there are the hundreds of rare photographs to go along with the ignored facts of Cobb's life. Bak is an expert on Detroit baseball, as shown in his previous Wayne State University Press publications, "Cobb Would Have Caught It: The Golden Age of Baseball in Detroit" (1991) and "Turkey Stearnes and the Detroit Stars: The Negro Leagues in Detroit, 1919-1933" (1994).

Rating:
Summary: The Georgia Peach in action.
Review: The best things about this book were the ease of reading, the excellent photos from various stages of Cobb's life, and the concise focus on the man and his career. It is a fine book for a quick overview of the "Georgia Peach" even if it lacks details on the many personal aspects of his life that can be found in Stump and Alexander's books. The focus is more on his baseball career and stats than on the man himself. The numerous photos of TY were reason enough for me to get the book.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful, brilliant biography
Review: This book is one of the best baseball biographies ever written. Bak's narrative is superb. He avoids the Cobb caricature that has become his legacy and replaces it with a thorough, insightful record of the life of one of baseball's all-time best players and most interesting characters. Combine that with extensive statistical data and an amazing collection of photographs spanning all of Cobb's life, and you have a biography that any baseball fan will enjoy.