Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedInPin on PinterestEmail to someone

On December 18, 1886, Ty Cobb was born in Narrows, Georgia, to William Herschel Cobb, a state senator, and his wife Amanda Chitwood. Cobb, along with Babe Ruth and Willie Mays, is almost universally recognized as one of the top three players to ever play baseball.

Today in Sports History presented by Starr Cards

A fierce competitor, Cobb set 90 MLB records during his 24 years playing pro ball, all of which the last two were spent with the Detroit Tigers.

TY COBB THE GEORGIA PEACH

While he was still an infant, Cobb’s family moved to Royston, Georgia, and it was here that he would fall in love with the then still relatively young sport of baseball. A teenaged Cobb played for several semi-pro teams before being sold to the Detroit Tigers in August of 2005 for 750 dollars

Embed from Getty Images

Ruthlessly hazed by the Tigers’ veteran players, Cobb developed a hostile temperament which would stay with him all his playing days. In 1906, as a 19-year-old, Cobb finished the season with a .316 batting average, and never hit below that mark thereafter.

RECORD BREAKER EXTRAORDINAIRE

Cobb rewrote baseball’s record books like no one before or since, setting 90 MLB records of which several still stand to this day, including highest career batting average (.366 or .367, depending on source), most career batting titles (11 or 12, depending on source) and most times stealing home (54). His record for most career hits stood for more than half a century before Pete Rose eclipsed the mark in 1985.