fbpx

KidsKonnect

Ty Cobb Facts & Worksheets

Ty Cobb was a Major League Baseball athlete who played for Detroit Tigers on the Majority of his 22-season career

Search for Worksheets

Worksheets /People /Ty Cobb Facts & Worksheets

Premium
Not ready to purchase a subscription? Click to download the free sample version   Download sample

Ty Cobb was a Major League Baseball athlete who played for Detroit Tigers on the Majority of his 22-season career.

See the fact file below for more information on Ty Cobb or alternatively, you can download our 26-page Ty Cobb worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND CAREER

  • Tyrus Raymond Cobb was born on December 18, 1886, in Narrows, Georgia, United States. 
  • He was the eldest child of  William Herschel Cobb, an educator and politician, and Amanda Chitwood, a daughter of a banker. 
  • His most famous nickname was “The Georgia Peach,” a reference to his upbringing in Georgia.
  • Ty grew up fascinated with baseball so, at 14, he took up the sport and became a player of Royston Rompers and the semi-pro Royston Reds. During that time, he was a left-handed hitter and right-handed fielder.
  • In 1904, despite his father’s wishes for him to finish a college degree, Cobb tried out for the Augusta Tourists, a minor league club in South Atlantic League, and successfully got in.
  • However, he was released shortly so the young man tried out for Anniston Steelers and Tennessee -Alabama League.
  • As his father opposed the thought of him being a ball player, Cobb resolved to fulfill his father’s decree to return home from baseball, not as a “failure.”
  • He advertised himself by sending several postcards to Atlanta Journal under various aliases. He was eventually featured in a Journal stating about a “young fellow named Cobb appears to be showing an unusual lot of talent.”
  • After about three months, Cobb came back to the Augusta Tourists and finished the season hitting .237 in 35 games.
  • Before the end of the 1905 season, the Tourists’ sold Cobb to the American League’s Detroit Tigers. That same year, the latter signed a contract with the 18-year-old player.

MAJOR LEAGUE CAREER

  • On August 30, 1905, Cobb officially debuted as a player for the Detroit Tigers.
  • As a rookie, Cobb was severely hazed by his veteran teammates who were envious of the young prospect. 
  • Cobb became the Tigers’ full-time center fielder the subsequent year. He hit .316 in 98 games, setting a record for the highest batting average (BA) with minimum of 310 plate appearances for a 19-year-old.
  • In 1907, Cobb earned a .350 batting average, the youngest player in history to capture the batting crown at that time.
  • In the same year, he reached first and then stole second, third, and home. He accomplished the feat four times during his career, an MLB record as of 2020.
  • Despite Cobb’s great success on the field, he was known to be ill-tempered and violent. He later blamed his hostile demeanor on this experience, saying, “These old-timers (veteran teammates) turned me into a snarling wildcat.” 
  • Cobb’s reputation was fueled by his first biographer, Al Stump, whose stories about Cobb have been disclosed as sensationalized and proven to be fictional. While he was known for frequently violent conflicts, he was a philanthropist.

ACHIEVEMENTS

  • Ty Cobb’s lifetime batting average was (.366), remaining the best of all time.
  • He also led the major leagues with 96 stolen bases by 1915.
  • Cobb received the most votes of any player on the inaugural ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, receiving 98.2 percent votes.
  • Ty Cobb was ranked third on the Sporting News’ list of “Baseball’s 100 Greatest Players” in 1999 for being regarded as having set 90 MLB records during his career.
  • He is the fifth most-played outfielder in history, recording 271 errors, the most of any American League (AL) outfielder.
  • Cobb was the youngest player to win a batting title at the age of 20, a record he held until 1955.
  • Ty Cobb officially retired  on September 11, 1928, playing his last game for the Philadelphia Athletics (now Oakland Athletics)

LEGACY AND LATER YEARS

  • Cobb retired a wealthy man. He traveled Europe with his family, spent time in Scotland, and then returned to his farm in Georgia.
  • He also spent his retirement pursuing his hunting, golfing, polo, and fishing hobbies.
  • His other pastime was trading stocks and bonds, which increased his personal wealth.
  • He was also a major stockholder of Coca-Cola and General Motors.
  • Despite him being known as a violent man, he was generous with his wealth. He donated to Royston to establish a hospital (Ty Cobb Healthcare System) in his parents’ memory in 1945. 
  • In addition, Cobb established the Cobb Educational Fund in 1953 which grants scholarships to deserving Georgia residents who want to attend college.
  • He also commissioned biographies that would both restore his reputation and teach young players how to play baseball. 
  • Cobb spent his final days with the old movie comedian Joe E. Brown, talking about the decisions he had made in his life. According to Brown, Cobb felt he made mistakes and that he would do things differently if he could. 
  • He had worked and played hard his entire life, had no friends to show for it, and regretted it. In public, however, he stated that he had no regrets: “I’ve been fortunate; I have no right to be regretful of what I did.”
  • Cobb worked on an autobiography with sportswriter Al Stump before his death. The book, My Life in Baseball: The True Record, was published in 1961, months after Cobb’s death. Despite questions of authenticity, it is regarded as one of the greatest sports autobiographies.
  • Cobb became ill in December 1959, suffering from a degenerative kidney and a cancerous prostate. 
  • On July 17, 1961, Ty Cobb died at the age of 74.

Ty Cobb Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Ty Cobb across 26 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching about Ty Cobb who was a major league baseball athlete who began his career in 1905.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Ty Cobb Facts
  • Cobb’s Sport
  • Player Data
  • MVP Quality
  • Best Condition
  • The All-Stars
  • Cartoon Ty
  • The Tigers
  • Right Fielder
  • Being a Baseball Fan
  • Words to Live By

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Ty Cobb from?

Tyrus Raymond Cobb was born on December 18, 1886, in Narrows, Georgia, United States.

What was Ty Cobb famous for?

Ty Cobb’s lifetime batting average was (.366), remaining the best of all time. He also led the major leagues with 96 stolen bases by 1915. Cobb received the most votes of any player on the inaugural ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, receiving 98.2 percent votes. Ty Cobb was ranked third on the Sporting News’ list of “Baseball’s 100 Greatest Players” in 1999 for being regarded as having set 90 MLB records during his career.

What happened to Ty Cobb?

Cobb spent his final days with the old movie comedian Joe E. Brown, talking about the decisions he had made in his life. According to Brown, Cobb felt he made mistakes and that he would do things differently if he could. He had worked and played hard his entire life, had no friends to show for it, and regretted it. In public, however, he stated that he had no regrets: “I’ve been fortunate; I have no right to be regretful of what I did.” Cobb worked on an autobiography with sportswriter Al Stump before his death. The book, My Life in Baseball: The True Record, was published in 1961, months after Cobb’s death. Despite questions of authenticity, it is regarded as one of the greatest sports autobiographies. Cobb became ill in December 1959, suffering from a degenerative kidney and a cancerous prostate. On July 17, 1961, Ty Cobb died at the age of 74.

Link/cite this page

If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.

Link will appear as Ty Cobb Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, May 12, 2022

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

Related Resources