Tyrus Raymond Cobb broke in with the Detroit Tigers in 1905 at the age of 18. Before reaching his 21st birthday, the Georgia native was a big league batting champion. His first batting crown came when he hit .350 in 1907. That season he also paced the American League in hits (212), RBI (119), steals (53), slugging percentage, OPS, and total bases. At age 20, Ty Cobb was a bonafide star.

Cobb was the batting leader for nine straight seasons, highlighted by his 1911 campaign. That season he put up career highs in average (.419), runs (148), hits (248), doubles (47), triples (24), RBI (127), slugging (.620), and total bases (367). Those were all league-leading numbers as were his 83 steals, and 196 OPS+. Cobb’s efforts earned him the Most Valuable Player Award.

In all, Cobb won 12 batting championships in a 13-year run spanning from 1905-1919. Twice he topped the .400 mark.

The Black Ink test shown in BaseballReference.com measures how often a player leads the league various offensive categories. League-leading totals are shown on the website in bold black ink. Cobb’s score is 154, second only to Babe Ruth’s 157. The Gray Ink test is gives points for top-ten finishes among league leaders. Cobb’s 417 ranks as the best in MLB history.

When the Hall of Fame voted on its inaugural class, it was Cobb who boasted the highest vote total. Along with Ruth, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, and Honus Wagner, Cobb was elected as the first Cooperstown class in 1936.

In the mid 1980’s a member of Cobb’s family flooded the autograph collectible market with his personal checks. Until the end of the decade, these beauties could be had for under $50.

This example is made out to a book store and is dated September 5, 1945. While Cobb was shopping for reading material, his Tigers were in New York dropping a 5-1 contest to the Yankees.

Tuxedo Tobacco pulled together the greatest baseball players of the day for this advertisement. Hailing itself as, “The Perfect Pipe Tobacco”, Tuxedo secured the services of “Tyrus R. Cobb, Famous Baseball Player”.

In to the advertisement Cobb says, “Tuxedo has been of great help to me as a means of conserving nervous energy. A pipe full of this tobacco and life is worth while”. Also featured in the ad are Hughie Jennings, Christy Mathewson, Joe Tinker, Wilbert Robinson, and G.C. Alexander.

Tyrus Raymond Cobb ranks among the greatest hitters in baseball history. As a fierce competitor, Cobb did everything to help his team win. This determination continued when he managed. Once he even pinch-hit for himself.

On May 5, 1922, against the St. Louis Browns, Cobb started the game 0-for-3. In the ninth inning, he saw his spot in the order come up. He scanned the Detroit bench and called on Bob Fothergill to pinch-hit.

Cobb had previously been pinch-hit for three times, all resulting in base hits. The last player to fill in for Cobb, Fothergill, flew out to Ken Williams in left field. The Browns won the game 5-1.

Shown here is a sheet signed in 1923 by seven Detroit Tigers, including Fothergill. On top of the sheet is the autograph of Del Pratt. The second baseman’s WAR is higher than Hall of Fame second sackers Red Schoendienst, Bill Mazeroski, and other Cooperstown men.

Directly below Pratt is the signature of Hall of Fame left fielder Heinie Manush who made his debut the same year he signed this sheet. As a rookie that season he slashed .334/.406/.471.

Under that is the autograph of Fothergill.

The signature of pitcher Ray Francis helps date the page to 1923, his only year with the Tigers. Francis is the rarest autograph on the page. A veteran of only three big league seasons, Francis last played in 1925 and died in 1934.

Ty Cobb was the Tigers’ skipper when Eddie Wells made his Major League debut just nine days after his 23rd birthday. It was Cobb’s first year as player-manager in Detroit and his 19th in the Major Leagues. Featured here is page one of a handwritten letter from Wells sharing his recollection of the Georgia Peach. Wells writes, “Ty Cobb was a good manager. He was such a good player himself; he tried to motivate others to do as good. A great hitter — .367 avg. during years in the Big League. Ty was a great hustler. Pete Rose puts me in mind of Ty.”

Wells pitched for Tigers from 1923-1926, the only four seasons Cobb managed. A veteran of 299 games in the majors, Wells continues the letter adding information about his career. “I was never a start pitcher, but I enjoyed my 10 yrs in the Big League. One time I had 33 scoreless innings at Detroit. Being a member of the Yankees was the real thing, and getting a World Series Ring in 1932”.

Wells continues on page 2 of his letters.

On page two of his letter, Eddie Wells writes about his baseball experiences. “Back in the twenties you had 54 minor leagues – AAA – AA – A – B – C and D. You had 400 Major League players. Now you have around 15 minor leagues and players do not spend much time in the minors. There is not enough minor leagues. Hurt caliber of Big Leagues I think. Back then pitchers were in far better shape. You were expected start an finish a ball game. If you were not a starter, you were a relief pitcher. Not good enough to start. Now your relief pitchers are the best in a clinch. I think night ball changed pitchers. It’s a day game. Take care. Your friend Eddie Wells”

The last two of Ty Cobb’s 24 big league seasons came with the Philadelphia Athletics. Though Cobb played until he was three-months shy of his 42nd birthday, he remained an effective player for the A’s.

Connie Mack penciled Cobb’s name into the lineup for 133 games in 1927 and watched in awe as the Georgia Peach hit .357 with a .432 on-base percentage. The next year was Cobb’s final big league campaign. He hit a respectable .323 in 99 games. It was his lowest mark since 1906 when he was a fresh-faced teenager learning his way around the big leagues.

Shown here is a letter handwritten by Connie Mack dated March 20, 1944. On Philadelphia Athletics letterhead the grand old man of baseball writes about Ty Cobb.

“Ty Cobb has given our club so many thrills that it’s hard to remember even one. Have often told my players not to throw the ball to the base that Cobb was trying for but to throw to the next base in order to head him off. For instance, if he was stealing second base, to have the catcher throw to third instead of second. This will give you some idea of what we all thought of Cobb.”

Mack then signs the bottom of the letter.

“Bad Bill” Dahlen played from 1891-1911 and retired as baseball’s all-time leader in games played. He also ranked in the top ten in most offensive categories. In the collection is this autograph of Dahlen, not only an exceedingly rare signature to attain but also one of the finest known examples. Handwritten on Sporting News letterhead is Dahlen’s reply “Who do you consider the greatest ball player of all-time? Why?” The response reads:

“Honus Wagner & Ty Cobb

Honus’s long time service in baseball and his ability to do anything a little better than anyone else gives him the call with me. As to Cobb I never seen him play but few games but his records speak for him.

Williams J. Dahlen”

Dahlen would have great insight into the career of Wagner. He and Honus were contemporaries as their careers overlapped for 15 seasons from 1897-1911 when they were both National Leaguers. Bad Bill relays that he only saw Cobb play a few games. During the 7 seasons they were both active players from 1905-1911 they played in different leagues.

In an interesting footnote to Dahlen’s association to baseball in its infancy, Willie Keeler was the best man at the ceremony for Dahlen’s second marriage on December 22, 1903. Keeler and Dahlen were teammates for three seasons from 1899-1902. With the scarcity of Dahlen’s signature, it’s difficult to imagine a better more desirable format of the shortstop’s autograph.

While active, Ty Cobb was considered the greatest player in the game’s history. The Georgia Peach won 12 batting titles in 13 years from 1907-1919. His .367 lifetime average is the highest in baseball history. Cobb finished his career with 4,189 hits.

The Sporting News asked standout players to identify who they felt was the greatest player of all time. In the collection is this response from Hall of Fame pitcher Stan Coveleski.

The 215-game winner chooses Cobb and writes, “He can hit, run, field, and throw.” Cobb totaled 114 career plate appearances against the right-hander, and hit .355 with a .389 on-base percentage.

Notice the bottom left corner of this sheet. It shows The Sporting News Record Book with Cleveland Indians star Bob Feller on the cover. This dates it to 1941.

Ty Cobb’s baseball accomplishments are undeniable. His overall legacy, however, is muddled in large part because of questionable work by an influential writer.

Al Stump was Cobb’s ghost writer of his autobiography, My Life in Baseball. When Cobb read Stump’s work, he was incensed. The Tiger star pointed to factual errors that painted him in an inaccurate and negative light. Cobb threatened to sue the publisher and demanded the book be rewritten. The Hall of Famer went to the grave fighting the content of the autobiography.

After Cobb passed, Stump sold a series of articles to a magazine. According to MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince, The articles referred to Cobb as “Tyrus the Terrible,” and as a “grumpy malcontent who drank whiskey like it was water, fired his pistol outside a motel window to scare passersby, bickered with people over money and, yes, bragged about killing a guy on the streets of Detroit.”

Stump’s depiction of Cobb gained traction.

Thirty years after Cobb’s death, Stump wrote another book, Cobb: The Life and Times of the Meanest Man in Baseball. It further disparaged Cobb through fictionalized accounts. The work later became the basis for the Hollywood production Cobb that starred Tommy Lee Jones as the Hall of Fame player and Robert Wuhl as Stump.

The narrative as Cobb as a mean drunk who was universally hated by all became truth in the minds of many.

The above letter is from 11-year big league veteran Bill Werber. The first Duke University athlete to be All-American in both baseball and basketball, Werber led the American League in stolen bases three times.

He rebukes Stump’s depiction of Cobb. “I completed the reading of Al Stump’s retaliation on Cobb about a month ago and discounted about half of it. I suspect that Stump had some malice in his craw as a consequence of Cobb’s refusal to sanction his first effort.

“Prior to his death, I shot duck and geese…with Home Run Baker and did so for about 8 years…He thought Cobb was the greatest and never spoke of him in a derogatory manner.

“Cobb was a bad book!”

Since then, the false narrative on Cobb has been refuted by author Charles Leerhsen who did a deep dive into the life of Cobb. In his 2016 book Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, Leerhsen starts with Cobb’s upbringing as the son of a professor and state senator progressive on race for his time. From there he details Cobb’s career and personal life through the lens of the era he existed.

Well-researched in stunning detail, Leerhsen’s book rectifies Stump’s inaccuracies and lies. Anyone wanting to understand the real Ty Cobb would do well to read the book.