“Ty Cobb is the greatest ball player of all time and he gained his fame by studying his job!”
WHITE SOX TRAINER CLAIMS COBB BEST STUDENT IN GAME
Ty Cobb is the greatest ball player of all time and he gained his fame by studying his job.
Ty Cobb studied his job and there wasn’t a pitcher who ever fooled Ty a second time on a brand of pitching.
Here’s one little incident which attracted my attention to Ty, and coming, as it did, in the early part of his career, it warned me that Cobb was on the road to become the greatest ball player of all.
It was back in the days when G. Harris “Doc” White had lost his ‘swift’, and he never had very much speed and was depending mainly on his slow curve and change of pace, and being a left-hander and having absolute control, Doc was a tough man to face.
In 1905 Cobb broke into the American League, but it wasn’t until 1906, early in the season, that Ty faced White and his famous change of pace and slow southpaw curves.
It happened that Cobb was in a pinch when he faced Doc first. Two on and no out and a run needed and White’s slow ball fanned Ty easy. All day Cobb had trouble with White’s slow stuff, but he didn’t take his weakness easily.
The next day Cobb was out early and had taken a young left-handed pitcher out to the corner of the park. Cobb had the boy pitch slow curves and change-of-pace balls to him for an hour. The stunt continued for three days and G. Harris White never was a tough boy for Cobb to bat against after that.