The Journey of Ty Cobb in Cobb by Al Stump

The book Cobb by Al Stump is a look into the late 19th century and early into the 20th through the eyes of Ty Cobb. The historical biography of Tyrus Raymond Cobb follows his path from classroom screwaraound and fighter to the greatest hitter to ever grace the major leagues. Ty Cobb. Growing up in Royston, GA, Cobb was the oldest of 3 siblings and the son of a schoolteacher, principal, newspaper publisher, state senator, and county school commissioner who wanted him to do nothing but study. Cobb didn’t listen, he practiced his way to making the bigs, shortly before leaving his dad told him {italicize} don’t return a failure. There was no looking back for the future Hall of Famer though.

Ty Cobb was raised in a world very different from our own, in the late 19th century. He was raised by his extremely strict and overbearing father and his mother who was 15 at the time of Ty’s birth (ew). His father, W.H. Cobb was an honorable man who wanted him to pursue law or medicine, but Ty always had a knack for baseball, and stuck with it for the remainder of his life. Cobb fought his power but still loved, idolized, and respected his father. This was insane reading about, learning that his father had punished him time in and time out for ducking out of his studies even to the point of modern day child abuse, but Cobb keeped pushing through to his ultimate goal, being the greatest of all time in the sport he loved. The story very clearly follows Tyrus through his retellings to the author a few years before his death due to abuse of his poor mortal shell. The novel very clearly grasps his trials and tribulations on his path to greatness, which is why it is the only truly widely accepted book on Cobb.

Ty Cobb’s time was brutal to say the l...

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...dly though, as it is really daunting in size and subject matter, but I found myself turning page after page just to find out what ludicrous thing Cobb would do or say next on his path to glory. I would recommend this book the anybody, baseball fan or not as it is a moving, beautiful piece of literature about one of America’s early sports heroes, and it gives great insight into the time period as well.

Captain Tyrus Raymond Cobb was but a schoolboy in a small town in Georgia. He changed his status to a teenager with no past to return to and no future in sight. Through hard work and the ability to block out the non believers he made it into immortality. No baseball player can honestly say allof their play hasn’t been inspired by him, but none can say he hasn’t changed the game into what it is today, this is why he is a paragon of devotion and an American hero.