Ty Cobb

Ty Cobb was a fierce, brilliant hitter and baserunner for the Detroit Tigers, holding MLB's career batting average record.

Tyrus Raymond Cobb was born on December 18, 1886, in Narrows, Georgia, the oldest of three children of William Herschel Cobb, a schoolteacher, newspaper editor, and state senator, and his wife Amanda. Cobb idolized his father and was devastated when, just weeks after he left home to pursue professional baseball in 1904, his mother fatally shot his father, later claiming she mistook him for an intruder outside her bedroom window — she was tried for murder and acquitted. Cobb debuted with the Detroit Tigers just 22 days after his father's death. Cobb went on to become one of the most ferociously competitive and statistically dominant players in baseball history, renowned for his aggressive baserunning, sharpened spikes, and volatile temperament that made him widely feared and often disliked by opponents. Nicknamed "the Georgia Peach" by a sportswriter, he won an unprecedented 12 American League batting titles and the 1911 Triple Crown. Cobb played 22 seasons with Detroit, serving as player-manager for his final six, before finishing his career with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1928. He retired with a career batting average of .366, a record that stood as the highest in MLB history for nearly a century until 2024, along with 4,189 hits and 897 stolen bases — a mark that stood for nearly 50 years. Cobb received the highest vote percentage of any player in the inaugural 1936 Baseball Hall of Fame class, with 98.2% of the vote — a record that stood until 1992. He died on July 17, 1961, at age 74, still widely regarded as one of the fiercest competitors the sport has ever produced.

Aggressive, fiery competitor known for sliding spikes-up and intimidating opponents

Greatest hitter in baseball history with numerous batting records

• MLB career batting average record (.366)
• 11-12x AL batting champion
• part of inaugural Hall of Fame class 1936