Ty Cobb

Portrays the life and personality of Ty Cobb and describes the development of his career as a baseball player

Ty Cobb's life is a fascinating study of extremes. His professional highs are astonishing: During his career, he set 123 records. His lifetime batting average of .367 has never been surpassed, and he hit over .300 for 23 straight seasons. But there was a

"An authoritative, reliable and compelling biography of perhaps the most significant and controversial player in baseball history, Ty Cobb, drawing in part on newly discovered letters and documents"--

Distantly related to a Confederate general, Ty Cobb was a strapping Augusta youth who became a star for the Detroit Tigers. Long revered as a great hitter and an incredibly fast baserunner, Cobb often has been remembered as a hated athlete, a bitter man who died nearly 50 years ago. No biographer has explored the complex personality as deeply and meticulously as Don Rhodes in his new comprehensive biography. Rhodes reveals the man as Cobb was in Augusta: in the off season and as a retiree. For the first time, a biographer includes interviews with Cobb's two daughters (whom Rhodes met before they died), his granddaughter, and close friends, who offer insight and photos of Cobb's private life never seen before. Many of Cobb's emotional troubles started early in life, and no doubt were compounded during his early seasons with the Tigers, when his mother went on trial for murdering his father. The ugly side of this phenomenal athlete is not defended or explained away, but readers learn to better understand a man who seemed so miserable, when he had so much. Don Rhodes is an editor at Morris Communications in Augusta. He has written “Ramblin' Rhodes,” a music column, for more than 37 years, and his byline appears in many magazines and newspapers. He lives in North Augusta, South Carolina.

As the first baseball player to achieve real celebrity status, Ty Cobb embodies the strength and determination of classic masculinity. His grit and stubbornness, however, form a legacy that has been both lauded and condemned by America’s own changing views of ideal masculine behavior. With attention to Cobb’s formation, personal tragedies, and struggles with his peers, Steven Elliott Tripp examines this baseball icon as a product of the American South and as an emblem of a masculinity now out of fashion.

A New York Times Notable Book; Spitball Award for Best Baseball Book of 1994; Basis for a major Hollywood motion picture. Now in paperback, the biography that baseball fans all across the country have been talking about. Al Stump redefined America's perception of one of its most famous sports heroes with this gripping look at a man who walked the line between greatness and psychosis. Based on Stump's interviews with Ty Cobb while ghostwriting the Hall-of-Famer's 1961 autobiography, this award-winning new account of Cobb's life and times reveals both the darkness and the brilliance of the "Georgia Peach." "The most powerful baseball biography I have read."--Roger Kahn, author of THE BOYS OF SUMMER

The 150th Anniversary special edition of the best-selling reference book of all time! The ebook format allows curious readers to keep millions of searchable facts at their fingertips. The World Almanac® and Book of Facts is America's top-selling reference book of all time, with more than 82 million copies sold. Since 1868, this compendium of information has been the authoritative source for all your entertainment, reference, and learning needs. The 150th anniversary edition celebrates its illustrious history while keeping an eye on the future. Praised as a "treasure trove of political, economic, scientific and educational statistics and information" by The Wall Street Journal, The World Almanac and Book of Facts will answer all of your trivia needs—from history and sports to geography, pop culture, and much more. Features include: 150 Years of The World Almanac: A special feature celebrating The World Almanac's historic run includes highlights from its distinguished past and some old-fashioned "facts," illustrating how its defining mission has changed with the times. Historical Anniversaries: The World Almanac's recurring feature expands to incorporate milestone events and cultural touchstones dating to the book's founding year, from the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson to the publication of Little Women. World Almanac Editors' Picks: Greatest Single-Season Performances: In light of Russell Westbrook's unprecedented 42 regular-season triple-doubles, The World Almanac takes a look back at athletes' best single-season runs. Statistical Spotlight: A popular new feature highlights statistics relevant to the biggest stories of the year. These data visualizations provide important context and new perspectives to give readers a fresh angle on important issues. The Obama Presidency: A year after Barack Obama’s second term came to a close, The World Almanac reviews the accomplishments, missteps, and legacy of the 44th president. The World at a Glance: This annual feature of The World Almanac provides a quick look at the surprising stats and curious facts that define the changing world. Other New Highlights: A biography of the 45th president and profile of the Trump administration; 2016 election results; and statistics on crime, health care, overdose deaths, shootings, terrorism, and much more. The Year in Review: The World Almanac takes a look back at 2017 while providing all the information you'll need in 2018. 2017—Top 10 News Topics: The editors of The World Almanac list the top stories that held the world's attention in 2017. 2017—Year in Sports: Hundreds of pages of trivia and statistics that are essential for any sports fan, featuring a preview of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, complete coverage of the 2017 World Series, new tables of NBA, NHL, and NCAA statistics, and much more. 2017—Year in Pictures: Striking full-color images from around the world in 2017. 2017—Offbeat News Stories: The World Almanac editors found some of the quirkiest news stories of the year, from the king who secretly worked as an airline pilot for decades to the state that's auctioning off its governor's mansion. World Almanac Editors' Picks: Time Capsule: The World Almanac lists the items that most came to symbolize the year 2017, from news and sports to pop culture.

When Bill James published his original Historical Baseball Abstract in 1985, he produced an immediate classic, hailed by the Chicago Tribune as the “holy book of baseball.” Now, baseball's beloved “Sultan of Stats” (The Boston Globe) is back with a fully revised and updated edition for the new millennium. Like the original, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is really several books in one. The Game provides a century's worth of American baseball history, told one decade at a time, with energetic facts and figures about How, Where, and by Whom the game was played. In The Players, you'll find listings of the top 100 players at each position in the major leagues, along with James's signature stats-based ratings method called “Win Shares,” a way of quantifying individual performance and calculating the offensive and defensive contributions of catchers, pitchers, infielders, and outfielders. And there's more: the Reference section covers Win Shares for each season and each player, and even offers a Win Share team comparison. A must-have for baseball fans and historians alike, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is as essential, entertaining, and enlightening as the sport itself.

Jacobs writes historical fiction under a different name, but here tries his hand at nonfiction to tell the story of Ed Robb, one of the first and most successful FBI undercover agents to work against the Mafia organized crime network. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time, Ty Cobb cast a shadow over the game with his violent behavior on the field and off. His shadow was never darker than when it fell on his teammates. Sam Crawford, Harry Heilmann and Heinie Manush were three of the greatest players in baseball history, good enough to be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Each played in the Detroit outfield alongside Cobb, though their fame never reached the level of his. Little is remembered about this trio of Hall of Famers. Crawford, the all-time triples leader, Heilmann, the last right-handed batter to hit .400, and Manush, another batting champion, each made his own mark on the game, detailed for the first time in this triple biography.

"Shoeless" Joe Jackson was one of baseball's greatest hitters and most colorful players. Born Joseph Jefferson Wofford Jackson on July 16, 1888, in Pickens County, South Carolina, Jackson went to work in a textile mill when he was around six years old, and got his start in baseball playing for the Brandon Mill team at the age of 13 earning $2.50 a game. He emerged as the star of the team and a favorite of fans with his hitting and throwing abilities, and moved up to play in the Carolina Association, where he received his nickname "Shoeless" because the blisters on his feet forced him to play in his stockings. He then made his move to the major leagues, signing on with the Philadelphia Athletics and rising to fame. This work chronicles Jackson's life from his poor beginnings to his involvement in the scandal surrounding the 1919 World Series to his life after baseball and his death December 5, 1951, with most of the work focusing on his baseball career.

Although most baseball fans are familiar with the on-the-field accomplishments of Hall of Famers, few are as knowledgeable regarding who the players were beyond the ballpark. This book probes into the personal lives of fifty members of the Hall of Fame, examining their childhoods, families, influences, impactful life-changing events, and more.

Baseball and law have intersected since the primordial days. In 1791, a Pittsfield, Massachusetts, ordinance prohibited ball playing near the town's meeting house. Ball games on Sundays were barred by a Pennsylvania statute in 1794. In 2015, a federal court held that baseball's exemption from antitrust laws applied to franchise relocations. Another court overturned the conviction of Barry Bonds for obstruction of justice. A third denied a request by rooftop entrepreneurs to enjoin the construction of a massive video screen at Wrigley Field. This exhaustive chronology traces the effects the law has had on the national pastime, both pro and con, on and off the field, from the use of copyright to protect not only equipment but also "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" to frequent litigation between players and owners over contracts and the reserve clause. The stories of lawyers like Kenesaw Mountain Landis and Branch Rickey are entertainingly instructive.

Interest Level: 5-12 Reading Level: 3-4 CCSS Level: 2-5 Reinforce reading comprehension skills with these higher-level activities! Extend learning and keep students working towards Adequate Yearly Progress with these more challenging activities. 180-page activity book includes 720 specific reading skills questions focusing on Main Idea, Conclusion, Sequence, Inference, Comparison, Vocabulary, and more. Stories feature a more traditional font size in a single column format to help transition students into an "on-grade-level" reading style. Book includes activities for December, January, and February.

Tony Gwynn is the greatest hitter in the history of baseball. That's the conclusion of this engaging and provocative analysis of baseball's all-time best hitters. Michael Schell challenges the traditional list of all-time hitters, which places Ty Cobb first, Gwynn 16th, and includes just 8 players whose prime came after 1960. Schell argues that the raw batting averages used as the list's basis should be adjusted to take into account that hitters played in different eras, with different rules, and in different ballparks. He makes those adjustments and produces a new list of the best 100 hitters that will spark debate among baseball fans and statisticians everywhere. Schell combines the two qualifications essential for a book like this. He is a professional statistician--applying his skills to cancer research--and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball. He has wondered how to rank hitters since he was a boy growing up as a passionate Cincinnati Reds fan. Over the years, he has analyzed the most important factors, including the relative difficulty of hitting in different ballparks, the length of hitters' careers, the talent pool that players are drawn from, and changes in the game that raised or lowered major-league batting averages (the introduction of the designated hitter and changes in the height and location of the pitcher's mound, for example). Schell's study finally levels the playing field, giving new credit to hitters who played in adverse conditions and downgrading others who faced fewer obstacles. His final ranking of players differs dramatically from the traditional list. Gwynn, for example, bumps Cobb to 2nd place, Rod Carew rises from 28th to 3rd, Babe Ruth drops from 9th to 16th, and Willie Mays comes from off the list to rank 13th. Schell's list also gives relatively more credit to modern players, containing 39 whose best days were after 1960. Using a fun, conversational style, the book presents a feast of stories and statistics about players, ballparks, and teams--all arranged so that calculations can be skipped by general readers but consulted by statisticians eager to follow Schell's methods or introduce their students to such basic concepts as mean, histogram, standard deviation, p-value, and regression. Baseball's All-Time Best Hitters will shake up how baseball fans view the greatest heroes of America's national pastime.

This work recreates for the reader the best of the best, at their best. The author devotes a chapter each to the most memorable season of some of baseball’s greatest players: Christy Mathewson (1908), Ty Cobb (1911), Babe Ruth (1921), Rogers Hornsby (1922), George Sisler (1922), Hack Wilson (1930), Jimmie Foxx (1932), Dizzy Dean (1934), Lou Gehrig (1936), Hank Greenberg (1937), Ted Williams (1941), Bob Feller (1946), Stan Musial (1948), Joe DiMaggio (1948) and Jackie Robinson (1949).