War on the Basepaths

by Tim Hornbaker

  4 Atlanta Constitution, March 25, 1931, p. 14.

  5 Atlanta Constitution, June 30, 1941, p. 6.

  6 Artist Robert Ripley fashioned a drawing of Cobb standing with his hands behind his back, his head slightly bowed, watching the rush of players headed for spring training. It read, “For the first time in twenty-five years, Cobb is not going with them.” It appeared in Associated Newspapers and The Sporting News, February 7, 1929, p. 4.

  7 Ty Cobb: Safe at Home by Don Rhodes, 2008, p. 161.

  8 It was said that Cobb was paid a “considerable sum” of money to venture to overseas. San Francisco Chronicle, December 12, 1928, p. 27. The pay might’ve been as high as $15,000.

  9 Johnson had reservations for the ship departing Seattle on October 20. Seattle Daily Times, October 18, 1928, p. 30.

  10 Seattle Daily Times, October 20, 1928, p. 9. During his time in Seattle, Cobb posed for a publicity photograph wearing an Osaka baseball uniform.

  11 Hunter, based on his experience, was the tour manager, while Putnam did PR work and handled box office affairs.

  12 Four games were played in Osaka, four at Tokyo, and one at Kyoto. While in Japan, Cobb wore the uniforms of the Daimai and Tokyo teams.

  13 San Francisco Chronicle, December 13, 1928, p. 29.

  14 The St. Louis Browns were managed by Cobb’s friend Dan Howley and Ty made an appearance at West Palm Beach. The Sporting News, March 28, 1929, p. 1. The Orioles trained at Augusta. Augusta Chronicle, March 19, 1929, p. 8.

  15 Rockford Morning Star, June 16, 1929, p. 39.

  16 Rockford Morning Star, December 12, 1929, p. 16.

  17 New York Passenger Lists, ancestry.com and Dallas Morning News, September 12, 1929, p. 21.

  18 Detroit Free Press, October 11, 1908, p. 23.

  19 Boston Sunday Post, December 3, 1916, p. D1.

  20 Ty Cobb: Safe at Home by Don Rhodes, 2008, p. 66.

  21 Ibid.

  22 In 1912, Ty Jr. told a reporter that he didn’t plan to play baseball. Augusta Chronicle, October 29, 1912, p. 7.

  23 Baseball Magazine, April 1916, p. 47–58.

  24 Rockford Daily Register Gazette, August 1, 1928, p. 16.

  25 Atlanta Constitution, April 7, 1930, p. 16.

  26 Jimmy Cobb said that his father wanted either him or Herschel “to follow baseball as a profession.” Baton Rouge Advocate, June 20, 1943, p. 7B.

  27 The Sporting News, May 20, 1937, p. 13.

  28 Canton Repository, November 18, 1929, p. 17.

  29 Charlotte Observer, October 3, 1929, p. 17.

  30 McCallum claimed Cobb made a bid for the Cincinnati Reds prior to going to Europe in 1929. The Tiger Wore Spikes, John McCallum, 1956, p. 185. There was also talk of Cobb investing in the Philadelphia Phillies. Reynold H. Greenberg, a Philadelphia real estate magnate and Cobb’s partner in the deal, explained just how close they were to making the purchase in The Sporting News, October 4, 1950, p. 7. Also see Greensboro Record, December 4, 1930, p. 20.

  31 Cobb and Ruth also sat in close proximity during the 1930 World Series between Philadelphia and St. Louis.

  32 Greensboro Record, May 22, 1929, p. 10.

  33 Augusta Chronicle, April 2, 1930, p. 9.

  34 Chicago Defender, May 17, 1930, p. 9.

  35 Cobb wore a Philadelphia Athletics uniform during the game. Boston Herald, September 9, 1930, p. 30.

  36 Augusta Chronicle, April 16, 1931, p. 2.

  37 Ibid.

  38 Greensboro Daily News, April 18, 1931, p. 6.

  39 Macon Telegraph, April 26, 1931, p. 7.

  40 San Francisco Chronicle, April 30, 1931, p. 7.

  41 At least one article claimed that Cobb drove west with his “family” in June, however, the various reports of this trip are vague. Charlie and her children were present for her mother’s seventieth birthday barbeque in Augusta in early August, and unless the family drove with Ty to California, and then took a train or flew back prior to this gathering, they never left at all. See San Francisco Chronicle, June 19, 1931 and Augusta Chronicle, August 4, 1931.

  42 The Sporting News, July 6, 1939, p. 4.

  43 San Francisco Chronicle, August 17, 1931, p. 21.

  44 San Francisco Chronicle, February 15, 1937, p. 23.

  45 Augusta Chronicle, June 28, 1932, p. 3, Georgia Death Index, ancestry.com.

  46 San Diego Evening Tribune, July 11, 1932, p. 19. It was initially reported that Cobb had rented a property on Almendral Avenue. The paper indicated that his family still hadn’t arrived from Georgia. San Mateo Times and Daily News Leader, October 19, 1932, p. 5. The Cobbs ultimately moved to 48 Spencer Lane, not far from Almendral, into a “Spanish style” estate.

  47 Baton Rouge Advocate, October 14, 1930, p. 9.

  48 Charlotte Observer, August 18, 1924, p. 13.

  49 Philadelphia Inquirer, November 3, 1927, p. 24.

  50 The Sporting News, December 7, 1933 and December 28, 1933.

  51 Joseph Hauck Papers (1914–1965), Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California.

  52 San Francisco Chronicle, February 6, 1934, p. 15.

  53 The Sporting News, February 15, 1934, p. 4.

  54 The Sporting News, April 5, 1934, p. 4.

  55 The Sporting News, May 24, 1934, p. 4.

  56 Evening Star, Washington, D.C., August 19, 1934, p. 22. Amanda Cobb’s Royston property was sold in 1925 by the Oglesby Realty Auction Company. Atlanta Constitution, April 19, 1925, p. 15.

  57 Denver Post, June 27, 1912, p. 11.

  58 The inaugural class (1936) included Cobb, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson. See Chapter 1 for additional information.

  59 The Sporting News, February 20, 1936 and February 27, 1936.

  60 Boston Herald, June 12, 1939, p. 14.

  61 New York Post, June 13, 1939, p. 2.

  62 Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 13, 1939, p. 16. Also Otsego Farmer and Otsego Republican, June 16, 1939, p. 1.

  63 New York Post, June 13, 1939, p. 2.

  64 Dan Holmes offered another perspective on his tardiness: blog.detroitathletic.com/2013/01/16/the-story-behind-ty-cobbs-late-tardy-arrival-to-his-hall-of-fame-induction

  65 Ibid.

  66 Augusta Chronicle, June 14, 1939, p. 6.

  67 Omaha World Herald, June 15, 1939, p. 21.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE DEPRESSED PHILANTHROPIST

  1 Atlanta Constitution, January 21, 1923 and November 3, 1945.

  2 The Sporting News, February 14, 1946, p. 22.

  3 Cobb was shown around the vaults during his trip to the National Treasury in 1913 and the story gained widespread news after officials banned such tours by non-employees in the future. Detroit Free Press, September 24, 1913, p. 13.

  4 The Sporting News, February 17, 1938, p. 4.

  5 Joseph Hauck Papers (1914–1965), Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California.

  6 The Sporting News, November 11, 1937, p. 3.

  7 The Sporting News, March 25, 1937 and March 22, 1961.

  8 San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram, April 1, 1941, p. 5.

  9 Omaha World Herald, April 30, 1941, p. 27.

  10 Boston Herald, June 26, 1941, p. 16.

  11 The Sporting News, July 3, 1941, p. 10.

  12 New York Sun, June 28, 1941, p. 30 and Brooklyn Eagle, June 28, 1941, p. 10.

  13 Ruth turned down a cross-country golf tour with Cobb because “travelling gets me down,” he said. Boston Herald, June 25, 1941, p. 17. Cobb talked about his series with Ruth at length in his autobiography, Ty Cobb: My Life in Baseball by Ty Cobb with Al Stump, 1993, Bison Books edition, p. 218–222.

  14 San Francisco Chronicle, July 30, 1941, p. 19 and The Sporting News, August 7, 1941, p. 12.

  15 The Sporting News, April 2, 1942, p. 1.

  16 The Sporting News, April 16, 1942, p. 8.

  17 Letter from N.J.L. Pieper to Director, FBI, Washington, D.C., dated March 28, 1942, FBI Case File 94-4-5663 on Tyrus R. Cobb, National Archives and Reco
rds Administration, College Park, Maryland.

  18 Letter from J. Edgar Hoover to N.J.L. Pieper, dated April 10, 1942, FBI Case File 94-4-5663 on Tyrus R. Cobb, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.

  19 Letter from J. Edgar Hoover to Tyrus Raymond Cobb, dated April 10, 1942, FBI Case File 94-4-5663 on Tyrus R. Cobb, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.

  20 Letter from N.J.L. Pieper to Director, FBI, Washington, D.C., dated June 25, 1942, FBI Case File 94-4-5663 on Tyrus R. Cobb, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.

  21 Office Memorandum, United States Government, dated January 27, 1954, FBI Case File 94-4-5663 on Tyrus R. Cobb, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.

  22 El Paso Herald Post, August 30, 1943, p. 10.

  23 Augusta Chronicle, September 27, 1944, p. 5 and The Sporting News, January 25, 1945, p. 4.

  24 The Sporting News, July 15, 1943, p. 16.

  25 The Sporting News, February 10, 1944, p. 14.

  26 The Sporting News, January 18, 1945, p. 12.

  27 The Sporting News, February 15, 1945, February 22, 1945, May 10, 1945.

  28 The Sporting News, April 5, 1945, p. 4.

  29 The Sporting News, April 30, 1936, p. 2.

  30 The Sporting News, July 22, 1943, p. 9.

  31 The Sporting News, September 21, 1944, p. 13.

  32 The Sporting News, August 30, 1945, p. 14.

  33 Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 29, 1945, p. 17.

  34 Letter from Cobb to Joe Hauck, dated May 20, 1947, Joseph Hauck Papers (1914–1965), Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California. Also see The Sporting News, April 7, 1948, p. 25.

  35 Charlie later moved to 1210 Bay Laurel Road in Menlo Park, where she lived in 1947.

  36 San Mateo Times, March 7, 1947, p. 1. Charlie Cobb signed the court documents, “Mrs. Tyrus Raymond Cobb.” Mrs. Tyrus Raymond Cobb v. Tyrus Raymond Cobb, et al., Case No. 42755, Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of San Mateo, Filed March 7, 1947.

  37 Letter from Cobb to Joe Hauck, dated May 20, 1947, Joseph Hauck Papers (1914–1965), Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California.

  38 Ty filed the second suit in June 1947 in Nevada. A copy of their agreement was located in Tyrus Raymond Cobb v. Charlie Lombard Cobb, Case No. 46003, Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of San Mateo, Filed June 9, 1948.

  39 The physical address of his home was 1476 Highway 50, Cave Rock Cove, according to the Douglas County, NV Assessor’s Office online records. The total acreage was 2.250 and the property was built in 1938. Some websites claim this address is in Zephyr Cove, Nevada. Cobb’s post office was at Glenbrook, NV and that is what appeared on his personal stationery. Nevada was also his legal state of residence.

  40 Letter from Cobb to Joe Hauck, dated September 27, 1949, Joseph Hauck Papers (1914–1965), Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California. Frances was the daughter of a prominent Buffalo doctor, and despite reports, Cobb was not a friend of her father, John Fairbairn, prior to their marriage. Correspondence with Geraldine Eastler, September–December 2014.

  41 The Sporting News, October 12, 1949, p. 18.

  42 The Sporting News, April 5, 1950, p. 1.

  43 The Sporting News, April 19, 1950, p. 21–22.

  44 Portland Oregonian, July 5, 1940, p. 23.

  45 San Francisco Chronicle, March 22, 1935, p. 1.

  46 Idaho Statesman, December 22, 1949, p. 13.

  47 San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram, February 10, 1950, p. 1. The Cobb Family was also tied to the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Bend, Oregon, from the late 1940s until 1955. Bend Bulletin, April 29, 1955, p. 1.

  48 Heart of a Tiger by Herschel Cobb, 2013.

  49 Salt Lake Telegram, April 12, 1915, p. 6.

  50 The Sporting News, September 17, 1952, p. 29.

  51 Letter to Ty Cobb Jr., dated March 15, 1948, Joseph Hauck Papers (1914–1965), Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California.

  52 Cobb’s drinking was corroborated by his friend Pope Welborn, in his interview in Ty Cobb: Safe at Home by Don Rhodes, 2008, p. 171–179. Also by Stump in his article, plus in the court documentation for Elbert D. Felts v. Tyrus R. Cobb, Case No. 29889, Superior Court of the State of California, County of Butte, 1954–56.

  53 New York Times, July 31, 1951, p. 1.

  54 Life, March 17, 1952 and March 24, 1952.

  55 The Sporting News, March 26, 1952, p. 8, 12.

  56 Atlanta Constitution, January 8, 1929, p. 19 and The Sporting News, May 7, 1952, p. 2.

  57 The Sporting News, February 11, 1953, p. 18.

  58 The Sporting News, December 2, 1953, p. 30. For a detailed look at the entire program, read The Ty Cobb Educational Foundation by Jerry Atkins, 2007.

  59 The Sporting News, February 1, 1950, p. 16.

  60 San Diego Evening Tribune, August 30, 1935, p. 18.

  61 Sacramento Bee, July 14, 1947, p. 1 and The Sporting News, September 3, 1947, p. 31. Cobb denied he was under the influence during the Placerville episode. Letter from Cobb to Dr. Daniel C. Elkin dated August 21, 1954, The Ty Cobb Educational Foundation by Jerry Atkins, 2007, p. 58.

  62 The incident was said to have taken place originally on April 15, 1954 and the case was filed in October. The decision came on November 16, 1955. Elbert D. Felts v. Tyrus R. Cobb, Case No. 29889, Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Butts.

  63 The divorce was made final on May 11, 1956. Frances F. Cobb v. Tyrus R. Cobb, Case No. 1807, First Judicial District of the State of Nevada in and for the County of Douglas.

  64 Frances F. Cobb v. Tyrus R. Cobb, Bill of Particulars, dated October 6, 1955.

  65 Letter from Cobb to Dr. Daniel C. Elkin dated August 21, 1954, The Ty Cobb Educational Foundation by Jerry Atkins, 2007, p. 58.

  66 The Sporting News, April 3, 1957, p. 3, 4.

  67 The Sporting News, June 12, 1957, p. 28.

  68 The size of Cobb’s property was said to be anywhere from 40 to 75 acres. He described the land in a letter to Joe Hauck, dated October 26, 1957, Joseph Hauck Papers (1914–1965), Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California.

  69 The Sporting News, September 11, 1957, p. 9.

  70 The Sporting News, November 26, 1942 and October 5, 1955, p. 28.

  71 Augusta Chronicle, August 28, 1957, p. 6.

  72 The Sporting News, August 5, 1959, p. 20.

  73 Tyrus R. Cobb v. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Case No. 89689, dated May 28, 1960, Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of San Mateo. This case was dismissed in January 1970 for failure to bring the action to trial.

  74 Boston Daily Record, September 22, 1959, p. 38.

  75 The best account of Cobb’s Olympic journey appeared in Ty Cobb by Charles C. Alexander, 1984, p. 232–233.

  76 The Sporting News, May 10, 1961 and December 13, 1961. The April 27 contest in Los Angeles was the final game Cobb attended.

  77 New York Times, December 21, 1981, p. C8.

  78 Atlanta Constitution, July 6, 2001 and Tribune Business News, August 9, 2010.

  79 Sports Illustrated, October 27, 1992.

  80 Augusta Chronicle, November 24, 1982, p. 2.

  81 Northeast Georgian, July 20, 1961, p. 1 and The Sporting News, July 26, 1961, p. 11.

  82 Northeast Georgian, July 20, 1961, p. 5.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN: “I LOVED THE GUY”

  1 Detroit Free Press, January 3, 1921, p. 10.

  2 Not much was written about it, but the alleged Cobb-Crawford fight reportedly happened during spring training in 1906. Omaha World Herald, February 5, 1957, p. 17.

  3 The Sporting News, March 28, 1946, p. 2.

  4 Salt Lake Telegram, July 9, 1916, p. 9.

  5 Detroit Free Press, July 29, 1913, p. 10. Cobb said that he felt his life had been endangered as
a result of his baseball success. St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 2, 1914, p. 18.

  6 The Sporting News, May 3, 1950, p. 3.

  7 The Sporting News, December 26, 1935, p. 2.

  8 Evening Star, Washington, D.C., June 4, 1916, p. 30.

  9 Oxnard Daily Courier, July 14, 1939, p. 2.

  10 Boston Daily Globe, June 13, 1915, p. 53.

  11 Aberdeen Daily News, April 10, 1911, p. 7.

  12 The Sporting News, May 13, 1953 and February 21, 1962.

  13 Following Cobb’s death in 1961, Crawford and Jones formed the “Ty Cobb Memorial Association,” a non-profit organization “formed to perpetuate Cobb’s ideals of clean, hard baseball through awards” to athletes in the American Legion junior baseball league. Bakersfield Californian, March 5, 1962, p. 28.

  14 The Sporting News, August 15, 1935, p. 4.

  15 New York Evening World, August 9, 1911, p. 6.

  16 The Sporting News, February 9, 1955, p. 17.

  17 New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 4, 1945, p. 21.

  18 Life, March 24, 1952, p. 73.

  19 The Sporting News, October 29, 1952, p. 7 and Sacramento Bee, October 14, 1952, p. 34.

  20 Detroit Free Press, January 14, 1910, p. 12.

  21 The Sporting News, January 4, 1945, p. 11.

  22 The Sporting News, January 24, 1951, p. 20.

  23 The Sporting News, April 10, 1957, p. 5.

  24 Detroit Free Press, June 10, 1908, p. 4.

  25 Norwich Bulletin, October 9, 1916, p. 3.

  26 Denver Post, November 2, 1916, p. 12.

  27 Chicago Defender, July 11, 1936, p. 14.

  28 Chicago Defender, October 15, 1949, p. 7.

  29 Detroit Free Press, March 22, 1915, p. 9.

  30 The Sporting News, May 3, 1945, p. 16.

  31 Pittsburgh Courier, January 30, 1954, p. 4.

  32 Baseball As I Have Known It, Fred Lieb, 1977, p. 54.

  33 The Sporting News, January 17, 1962, p. 40.

  34 The Sporting News, April 18, 1981, p. 3.

  35 Official records on Mlb.com.

  36 Article by Michael Bradley, March 25, 2013, sportingnews.com.

  37 baseball-reference.com.

  38 New York Times, December 18, 1995.

  39 The National Pastime, 1996.

  40 The National Pastime, 2010.

  41 True—The Man’s Magazine, December 1961, p. 38–41, 106–115.

  42 Baseball Magazine, April 1916, p. 47–58.