Age: 24
7th season
with Tigers
Bats – Left,
Throws – Right
Height: 6’1” Weight: 175
Prior to 1911:
A native of
Georgia, thus leading to his being nicknamed “the Georgia Peach” despite his
combative nature, Cobb initially played semipro baseball before catching on
with the Augusta Tourists of the South Atlantic League. Drawing the attention
of major league teams due to his fine play, his contract was purchased by the
Tigers in 1905 for $700. The 18-year-old Cobb appeared in 41 games with Detroit
in ’05 and hit .240. He improved to .316 in 1906 and topped the AL with a .350
average in 1907, also leading the league in hits (212), RBIs (119), and
slugging percentage (.468) with the pennant-winning Tigers. A bat-control
artist with a split handed grip who could drive the ball, not with great power
during the “dead ball era”, the aggressive Cobb made the most of his intelligence
as well as speed on the base paths and in the outfield. A highly driven student
of the game and demanding of teammates as well as himself, he won three more
batting titles through 1910 (the last of which was disputed), as well as the
Triple Crown in 1909 with 9 home runs, 107 RBIs, and a .377 batting average.
1911 Season Summary
Appeared in 146
games
CF – 146
[Bracketed
numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]
Batting
Plate
Appearances – 656 [5]
At Bats – 591
[3]
Runs – 147 [1]
Hits – 248 [1]
Doubles – 47
[1]
Triples – 24
[1]
Home Runs – 8
[2, tied with Tris Speaker]
RBI – 127 [1]
Bases on Balls
– 44
Int. BB – N/A
Strikeouts – 42
Stolen Bases – 83
[1]
Caught Stealing
– N/A
Average - .420
[1]
OBP - .467 [2]
Slugging Pct. -
.621 [1]
Total Bases – 367
[1]
GDP – N/A
Hit by Pitches
– 8 [11, tied with four others]
Sac Hits – 11
Sac Flies – N/A
League-leading
runs scored were +21 ahead of runner-up Joe Jackson
League-leading hits
were +15 ahead of runner-up Joe Jackson
League-leading
doubles were +2 ahead of runner-up Joe Jackson
League-leading
triples were +2 ahead of runner-up Birdie Cree
League-leading
RBIs were +12 ahead of runners-up Frank Baker & Sam Crawford
League-leading stolen
bases were +25 ahead of runner-up Clyde Milan
League-leading
batting average was +.012 ahead of runner-up Joe Jackson
League-leading
slugging percentage was +.031 ahead of runner-up Joe Jackson
League-leading
total bases were +30 ahead of runner-up Joe Jackson
Midseason
snapshot: 2B – 25, 3B – 16, HR - 5, RBI - 34, AVG - .446, OBP - .494
---
Most hits, game
– 5 (in 6 AB) vs. Chi. White Sox 6/18
Longest hitting
streak – 40 games
HR at home – 5
HR on road – 3
Most home runs,
game – 1 on eight occasions
Multi-HR games
– 0
Most RBIs, game
– 5 vs. Boston Red Sox 5/13 – 10 innings, at Phila. A’s 8/1
Pinch-hitting –
N/A
Fielding
Chances – 418
Put Outs – 376
Assists – 24
Errors – 18
DP – 10
Pct. - .957
Awards & Honors:
AL MVP: Chalmers
Award
Top 5 in AL MVP
Voting:
Ty Cobb, Det.: 64
pts. - 8 of 8 first place votes, 100% share
Ed Walsh, ChiWS.:
35 pts. – 55% share
Eddie Collins,
PhilaA.: 32 pts. – 50% share
Joe Jackson,
Clev.: 28 pts. – 44% share
Walter Johnson, Wash.: 19 pts. – 30% share
---
Tigers went 89-65
to finish second in the AL, 13.5 games behind the pennant-winning Philadelphia
Athletics while leading the league in hits (1544) and stolen bases (276).
Aftermath of 1911:
Cobb followed
up with another strong season in 1912, despite a ten-game suspension due to his
beating of a disabled man who had been heckling him during a game in New York.
He ended up topping the AL with a .409 batting average and won three more
batting titles from 1913 through ’15, the same year that he stole a
league-record 96 bases. Cobb won three more batting titles from 1917 to ’19 for
a total of 12 in all, while also serving in the military at the close of World
War I following the 1918 season. In 1921 Cobb was named player/manager of the
Tigers (who had fallen on hard times since last winning a pennant in 1909) and
continued in that role until 1926, when he resigned amidst allegations of
having fixed a game in 1919 in collusion with Cleveland’s player/manager Tris
Speaker. Cleared by Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis, Cobb accepted an
offer to play for the Philadelphia Athletics, which he did in 1927 and ’28, his
final two seasons. At the time of his retirement he held lifetime major league
records for hits (4189), runs scored (2244), stolen bases (897), and batting
average (.366), among others. Cobb also remains among career leaders in doubles
(724) and triples (295). As a manager his teams went 479-444 over the course of
six seasons, during only one of which, 1924, the Tigers contended for the
pennant (they finished third in the AL with an 86-68 record). Highly paid for
his time (he earned $9000 in 1911), he received $20,000 annually from 1915 to
’20 and a total of $85,000 for his last two years with the A’s. A shrewd
investor, Cobb was a millionaire by the time of his retirement at the age of 41
and later became involved in philanthropic endeavors. The dominant player of
his era, although widely disliked, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
as a charter member in 1936. A difficult, complex, and abrasive man, upon Cobb’s death in
1961 at the age of 74, only three people with any connection to major league
baseball attended his funeral.
--
MVP Profiles feature players in the National or
American leagues who were winners of the Chalmers Award (1911-14), League Award
(1922-29), or Baseball Writers’ Association of America Award (1931 to present)
as Most Valuable Player.
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