Today in History - July 18 - Ty Cobb, the Georgia Peach

On July 18, 1927, Ty Cobb recorded his 4,000th career hit. Cobb finished out his Major League Baseball career in 1928 with a grand total of 4,191 hits. Cobb stood as the all-time hit leader until his total was surpassed by Pete Rose in 1985. Cobb began his professional career at the age of eighteen with the Detroit Tigers, with which he played twenty-two of his twenty-four seasons. Like the careers of baseball greats Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, Cobb’s was marred by scandal. He was allowed to resign in 1926 in lieu of being banned for alleged gambling violations. However, Cobb was subsequently exonerated and reinstated by baseball’s first commissioner, Judge Kenesaw M. Landis. Cobb, born on December 18, 1886, in Narrows, Georgia, and nicknamed “The Georgia Peach,” was known for his temper as well as for his outstanding athletic ability. He stole home fifty-four times—fifty times with the Detroit Tigers and four times with the Philadelphia Athletics—won twelve batting average titles, and managed the Detroit Tigers for six seasons while also playing center field. His lifetime batting average was .367. Cobb made use of his reputation as an aggressive (often dirty) base runner to intimidate infielders, stealing 892 bases during his professional career. Ty Cobb was one of the first five players elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, in 1936, along with Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, and Honus Wagner.