Detroit Tigers All-Time 25-Man Roster
By Matt Snyder
Center Field – Ty Cobb
The Georgia Peach may have been anything but a “peach” on and off the field but Ty Cobb remains one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He played at a time in which the statistics of his day are incongruous with the statistics of today but there is no denying Cobb’s dominance in his era.
Cobb’s career batting average of .367 is the best in Major League history and his list of Tigers franchise records is extensive. Cobb tops the list of all-time Tigers for career runs scored, hits, doubles, triples, runs batted in, stolen bases, batting average and on base percentage.
For all the superlative numbers associated with Cobb, perhaps the most unbelievable is actually a small number. Cobb won the Triple Crown in 1909 by leading the league in batting average, runs batted in and home runs. His home run total that season? Nine.
The numbers are eye-popping but still don’t do Cobb justice. As fellow Hall of Famer George Sisler said, “the greatness of Ty Cobb was something that had to be seen, and to see him was to remember him forever.”
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