Customer Reviews

Ty Cobb

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Alexander approaches baseball history as a historian; not a mere storyteller. This book reflects that approach. Alexander reports the feats and faults of Cobb, but doesn't try to pass judgement. Cobb's career speaks for itself (men are still chasing some of his records). However, in our age of political correctness Cobb's misbehavior speaks louder.

Alexander details a complete Cobb. For all his faults Cobb was mannered and gracious in public (most of the time), a perfect host (if he liked you) and a generous philanthropist. This is the side most other Cobb bio's whitewash.

This book proves useful as a resource about Cobb. It details the facts about his life season by season. The only way to improve the book would be to add more detail and color to some of Cobb's exploits-- but then the book would have to be about 500 pages.

I consider this to be the primere biography of Ty Cobb. However, those looking mostly for anidotes, stories and that harsh personality brought to life might want to check out Al Stumps' "Cobb". I suggest reading both to develop the full image of the Greatest innovator baseball has ever seen.

Perfect companion to Al Stump's bio of Cobb. Alexander is more factual; Stump gives the reader a more thorough understanding of Cobb and his peculiarly ferocious personality. (The Alexander and Stump biographies portray a man who is one part Bedford Forest, one part Patton, one part Perot and one part Michael Jordan). For instance, Alexander devotes little more than one paragraph to Cobb's nervous breakdown in August, 1906. On the other hand, Stump details the inhumane hazing Cobb received from his yankee teammates in 1906 due to southern upbringing which led to Cobb's breakdown and fed his massive paranoia. Stump does a much better job on detailing Cobb's rivalry with Babe Ruth. Alexander briefly mentions the rivalry; Stump details the intense hatred Cobb felt for Ruth. For example, as player-manager of the Tigers, Cobb would often scream at the thick-lipped Ruth from the dugout, "You Nigga', Nigga' etc., etc.." However, where Stump takes many of Cobb's stories and yarns at face value, Alexander sifts through the clouds and tells the reader what is definitely true and leaves out what might be lies. Ty Cobb is the most interesting baseball player of all time though not the most important (Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Roberto Clemente and, because of his role in free agency, Catfish Hunter were more important than Cobb). To get a real good feel of Ty Cobb, you need to read two books. Mr. Alexander's book is one of the two.

TY COBB BY CHARLES C. ALEXANDER (1984)

Audio book review

Charles C. Alexander's Ty Cobb is an illuminating review of the legendary early Twentieth Century baseball superstar. This audio book, read by Walter Zimmerman, is written more like historical biography than a baseball book
Alexander dispels many long-held Cobb myths. Cobb was mean and nasty, but not nearly the ogre of legend. In fact, Cobb was a devout Christian (Baptist), very well spoken, a man who cared about his public image, and engaged himself in many acts of on and off-field kindness. Caricatured as a savage racist by revisionist history, Cobb actually was kindly in his relations with the many black people he grew up with in Georgia, some of whom worked for his family. He had no patience for blacks he considered uppity. He was not Branch Rickey, but he was not the Grand Dragon of the K.K.K., either. Miserly? Sometimes, but without fanfare he took care of players who had hit the skids. A spikes-sharpened demon? You bet, but Ty also shook hands with his combatants after the dust settled, and performed various acts of dovish peacemaking for the benefit of hostile fans.
Alexander is not a psychiatrist, but it is obvious that the fact that Cobb's mother killed his father in what may not have been an accident, during an incident that occurred because Mr. Cobb suspected Mrs. Cobb of having an affair, shaped Ty's combative nature. What has been lost over the years is that Cobb became friendly with Babe Ruth (common legend holding that he always hated him). Cobb was a shrewd millionaire investor who never needed to work after baseball, therefore separating himself from regular contact with people while living in huge mansions that were too big for him, after his wife left. Most telling is the relationship Cobb had with his two male children. He raised them strictly, and because of baseball travel left much of the child rearing to his wife. When he retired, they were grown up and on their own, and Cobb had genuine regrets for "missing" their childhood's. He wished he had been a doctor, so he could have been home for his kids, and when one of his sons went into medicine, Cobb lamented that if he, too, were a doctor they would have something in common. With all that baggage in tow, Cobb had to endure the premature deaths of both of the boys from untimely illnesses, living the last 20-odd bitter years of his life blaming himself.
Cobb may have been hard to live with, but this book empathetically explains some of the demons that drove the man into becoming a brilliant stock manipulator, a taskmaster father, an unfeeling husband, a reviled teammate, a hated opponent, and in the opinion of those who saw him, perhaps the greatest baseball player who ever lived!

I have read several Cobb biographies-this is the best. Alexander is thorough, accurate and entertaining. If you're interested in Ty Cobb and are only going to read one biography, read this one. Highly recommended.

What the average baseball fan hears or knows about Ty Cobb are his many records (stolen bases, hits, batting average)that he holds or has held at one time. What Charles Alexander's book reveals are the tumultuous circumstances that surrounded this simultaneous boyhood idol of many and despised bigot to others. No one would ever rightly dispute Ty's greatness as a baseball player. It was his behavior (or should I say misbehavior)on and off the field as a man that permeates the soul through Alexander's chronicles and leaves me with definite feelings of ambivalence toward "the Georgia Peach." While I wish that I could have seen him play ball during the dead-ball era (I am not nearly that old), I don't know if I would ever have wanted to cross paths with Ty in a dark lonely alley since he would probably view me as "another damn yankee."

What fact isn't missing! Charles Alexander pinpoints the essential Ty Cobb. The research involved must have been painstaking, but thorough. I have never come across a book that kept the pace going from beginning to end like this one. The only noticeable flaw is the size of the text font. It is a little too small for comfort and forces you to concentrate a little more than the content should allow. It is an excellent book! Anthony DeMedeiros, Toronto, Ontario

I received this book as a gift from a friend in 1985. Each year, at the start of the baseball season, I ritually read the Ty Cobb biography by professor Charles C. Alexander. This is ***HANDS DOWN*** the greatest biography written on the driven and complex "Georgia Peach."Alexander,a (recently retired) history professor from Ohio University, is both a skilled researcher and a gifted story teller.He tells the tragic story of Cobb's early life in Georgia and then places the reader in Cobb's era of baseball (1905-1929).Alexander intertwines absorbing baseball anecdotes,
with solid examples of Cobb's fiery personality (on and off the field)and his relationship with the the fans, who either loved or passionately hated the Detroit Tiger outfielder.Despite his nasty and violent nature and amidst the likes of players such as Honus Wagner, Joe Jackson, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson, Cobb became the greatest player of his day.He remained at the apex of Major League baseball stardom until the emergence of the New York Yankee's Babe Ruth in the early 1920s.

If you love baseball--if you want to have a window into American society as it was at the turn of the century--if you want an exciting narrative regarding the golden days of baseball--if you are bored with reading about many of baseball's current day overrated prima donnas--BUY Ty Cobb by Charles C. Alexander.It will become a permanent part of your library and like me,you will reach for this book at the start of each baseball season.

Alexander brings Ty Cobb- a man most of us know only from thirdhand knowledge- to life in an incredibly readable, detailed biography of this baseball phenomenon and troubled man. Alexander did his homework thoroughly, and paints a portrait of a man who drove himself to be respected and reviled at the same time.

Alexander's "Ty Cobb" presents a comprehensive and captivating biography of one of baseball's legendary players. The author does an exceptional job detailing the background of Cobb's roots, the society around him, and - with an entire chapter devoted to it - the game as it was played in the "dead ball" era. Within these backgrounds, the story of Cobb is told: growing up, the beginning of his career, his character, the personal struggles on and off the field, the period where he played the role of player-manager, philanthropic efforts, his pitiful life after baseball, and of course his astonishing accomplishments on the field. All the while, it does not go overboard with trying to overanalyze Cobb's psychology.

The author details many of Cobb's games and the progress of many seasons without getting lost in dull verbatim chronologies. And although the book doesn't detail his every insight and technique, many of Cobb's hitting and base running tactics are told within this biography and it gives you an idea of his baseball intelligence, competitive spirit, and character. Several pages of black and white photos also augment this biography.

The tone of the author's narration is impartial and balanced. The impression of this biography of Cobb ranges from heroic to tragic, poetic to poignant. There were absolutely no "dead" areas in the book where where the story dragged, leaving me feeling lost or bored; every page kept me engage until I finished the chapter - and left me wanting to go on into the next chapter.

Outside this book, there's so much blurbs and anecdotes - along with photos and stats - that reminds us how great a baseball player Cobb was and his competitive nature. However, reading Alexander's biography provided a fuller and deeper understanding of the player and the person of Ty Cobb.

Now featuring a new afterword by author Charles C. Alexander (Professor Emeritus Of History at Ohio University), Ty Cobb is the classic biography of one of baseball's most brilliant, volatile, and intimidating presences. An inset section of black-and-white photographic plates illustrate this chronicle of not only Ty Cobb's robust life, but also the startling transformations taking place during twentieth-century baseball. A fascinating, deftly researched and highly readable "must-have" for fans of baseball legends.