Baseball legend Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers was the first player elected to the Hall of Fame. He played in Detroit from 1905 to 1926, and then two more seasons in Philadelphia. His career batting average of .367 produced 4,191 hits and 12 batting titles.
Cobb had a well-documented reputation as a tenacious competitor, as well as for being a nasty man. He was hot tempered, and a man who hated, in the words of ESPN’s Larry Schwartz, “northerners, Catholics, blacks, and apparently anybody else who was different from him.”
Ty Cobb was a terrible father, too, and his son Herschel became a violent drunk.
Now, Ty Cobb’s grandson, Herschel Cobb Junior, has written a book about his grandfather that shows a different side of the “Georgia Peach:” that of a man who recognized his shortcomings in time to become a doting, affectionate and protective grandfather. It’s called “Heart of a Tiger: Growing up with my Grandfather, Ty Cobb.”