Ty Cobb

In terms of baseball and its history defining the greatest hitter of all-time is an extremely difficult task. The reason for this is that there are two types of hitters: One is a contact hitter and the other is a power hitter.

For a contact hitter there goal is to get on base anyway possible whether it's taking a walk, using their speed to get on with a bunt, splitting the gaps for a double or triple, and occasionally a home run.

Anybody who knows anything about baseball—or sports in general—knows the baseball legends. They know Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Willie Mays, even Derek Jeter. But also, they know Ty Cobb. They know the tremendous player he was, but also—and perhaps unfortunately so—they know what kind of person he was off the field. Let's dive into what his life was like—on the diamond, in the clubhouse, and at home with his parents, and wife.

Early Life:

Several years ago my ex-girlfriend (who at that time wasn’t sporting the “ex” prefix) asked me who I thought was the greatest ballplayer of all time.

Do yourself a favor, and hit the single page link below.

This is the eighth installment of the Cooperstown’s Best Series.  We only have one more to go after this, and then the recap showing each position’s leader.

This position has more Negro League players than most of the others.  They are Cool Papa Bell, Willard Brown, Oscar Charleston, Pete Hill, Turkey Stearnes and Cristobal Torriente.  As has been my policy, I cannot rank them on this list.

In this day and age, more and more teams seem to live and die by the home run.

Speedy guys will always bunt and turn singles into doubles—which is exciting don't get me wrong—but the actual art of hitting seems like it has been lost in the ever-changing game of baseball.

Guys like Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, and Babe Ruth all had a gift. They were hitters who were masters of their craft. The question is, are we losing that craft?