“He was the greatest man I ever saw in my time in baseball. And his record shows it. Some of them equaled him in some departments. But he could do everything. He was sensational!”
STENGEL DISCLOSED COBB AIDED HIM WITH YANKEES
He was the greatest man I ever saw in my time in baseball. And his record shows it. Some of them equaled him in some departments. But he could do everything. He was sensational. Baseball will certainly miss him.
He wrote me a number of letters — in longhand—and I want to tell you it started you thinking from the shoulders up. He gave me plenty of advice in a nice quiet way. He was for all baseball but he was an American League man and he’d pull for me in the All-Star game and the World Series. He gave me the old spur to keep going. He was a great guy to give you the big push.
He was a holdout that year, and he’d come out to our spring training camp. He showed me how to improve myself in the outfield and in running the bases. I had been a pitcher and I didn’t know much about fielding or base-running. He was a great man to give you inspiration on what you could do to read the pitcher and get a larger start off the bases.
Cobb was very ambitious and a great competitor. He could out-hit anyone I ever saw.
If you hit .410, before the year was out, he’d hit .411. He put all the pressure on the other team. Pitchers…he’d irritate in many ways. He was great in just getting up to bat and he was a streak of lightning on the bases. He’d make pitchers hurry their arm. On a slow hit ball, he’d go from first to third. They used to throw eight times over to first base to try to stop him from running.