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155-711: Various major , minor and Negro league teams took part in the American Series, including the Cincinnati Reds , Lincoln Giants and Boston Red Sox . In 1900, the Brooklyn Superbas and the New York Giants became the first major league teams to play in the series, with the two teams facing off against each other and with Brooklyn also playing four games against local Cuban League teams and generally overwhelming them. Eight years later,

310-519: A Dallas spring training doubleheader against the New York Giants because of a golf outing. Several of the Giants, including Buck Herzog , called him names from the bench. Cobb retaliated by spiking Herzog during the second game, prompting a bench-clearing brawl in which Cobb ground Herzog's face in the dirt. The Dallas Police Department had to help stop the brawl, and Cobb was thrown out of

465-604: A one-hitter and struck out nine. His next appearance came in relief, where he held the Reds to two hits in seven innings. He concluded the series with another shutout . Overall, he struck out 24, walked three, and gave up eight hits in 25 scoreless innings. In the 1909 series, Habana went 6-3 in nine games to finish with the best winning percentage. Almendares went 5–3, and Detroit, the American League pennant winner, went 4–8. Detroit star Ty Cobb did not participate in

620-606: A "young fellow named Cobb seems to be showing an unusual lot of talent." After about three months, Cobb returned to the Tourists and finished the season hitting .237 in 35 games. While with the Tourists he was mentored and coached by George Leidy, who emphasized pinpoint bunting and aggression on the basepaths. In August 1905, the management of the Tourists sold Cobb to the American League 's Detroit Tigers for $ 750 (equivalent to $ 25,433 in 2023). On August 8, 1905, Cobb's mother, Amanda, fatally shot his father, William, with

775-619: A $ 100 fine. This incident has often been retold with the elevator operator and the watchman both being black. However, recent scholarship has shown that all parties involved were white. On August 13, 1912, the same day the Tigers were to play the New York Highlanders at Hilltop Park , Cobb and his wife were driving to a train station in Syracuse that was to transport him to the game when three intoxicated men had stopped him on

930-673: A .421 average. The Athletics won the three-game series 2–1, with the Cubans winning the second game 6–4. Branch Rickey had the Pittsburgh Pirates conduct their spring training in Havana, where they played 10 games against the Cubans, a Cuban all-star team managed by Rodolfo Fernández . The Pirates went 6–4 against the Cubans, with Felipe Montemayor of the Pirates hitting five home runs. After an exhibition series played between

1085-482: A 14-game series against Cuban League teams in Havana from October 9 through November 2. Almendares won six games and lost one, and Habana won three games, lost three, and tied one, while the Lincoln Giants won four, lost nine, and tied one. Statistics were not available for the last game of the series. The Indianapolis ABCs , featuring Oscar Charleston , Bingo DeMoss , Dick Redding , and Ben Taylor , played

1240-435: A 20-game series against Cuban League teams in Havana during October and November. Habana won six games and lost three; Almendares won five games and lost four; San Francisco won one and lost one; and Indianapolis won eight and lost 12. Major League Baseball This is an accepted version of this page Major League Baseball ( MLB ) is a professional baseball league and the highest level of organized baseball in

1395-631: A 22-year career as a Tiger in November 1926, and headed home to Augusta, Georgia . Shortly thereafter, Tris Speaker also retired as player-manager of the Cleveland Indians . The retirement of two great players at the same time sparked some interest, and it turned out that the two were coerced into retirement because of allegations of game-fixing brought about by Dutch Leonard , a former pitcher managed by Cobb. Leonard accused former pitcher and outfielder Smoky Joe Wood and Cobb of betting on

1550-553: A 4–4 tie. The Brooklyn Dodgers conducted their spring training in Havana. That spring the Dodgers played a five-game series against a Cuban League all-star team, going 2–2 with one tied game. The Dodgers also played series in Havana against the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians . Another series was played in Havana between the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Red Sox . The Red Sox also agreed to play one game against

1705-407: A Cleveland hotel. Cobb got into an argument with the elevator operator around 2:15 a.m. when the man refused to take him to the floor where some of his teammates were having a card game. The elevator operator stated that he could only take Cobb to the floor where his room was. As the argument escalated, a night watchman approached and he and Cobb eventually got into a physical confrontation. During

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1860-431: A Cuban amateur all-star team. The Cuban amateurs won, 2–1. The Dodgers again used Havana as their spring training site and played series there against a Cuban all-star team and against the New York Giants . The Dodgers lost the series with the Cubans three games to two. The Washington Senators opened their spring training in Havana. They swept all five games that they played against a Cuban all-star team. They also played

2015-578: A Tigers–Indians game played in Detroit on September 25, 1919, in which they allegedly orchestrated a Tigers victory to win the bet. Leonard claimed proof existed in letters written to him by Cobb and Wood. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis held a secret hearing with Cobb, Speaker and Wood. A second secret meeting among the AL directors led to the unpublicized resignations of Cobb and Speaker; however, rumors of

2170-667: A batter could foul off any number of pitches with no strikes counted against him; this gave an enormous advantage to the batter. After the 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds, baseball was rocked by allegations of a game-fixing scheme known as the Black Sox Scandal . Eight players— "Shoeless" Joe Jackson , Eddie Cicotte , Claude "Lefty" Williams , George "Buck" Weaver , Arnold "Chick" Gandil , Fred McMullin , Charles "Swede" Risberg , and Oscar "Happy" Felsch —intentionally lost

2325-467: A batting record set by Wee Willie Keeler , with four five-hit games in a season. This has since been matched by Stan Musial , Tony Gwynn and Ichiro Suzuki . On May 10, 1924, Cobb was honored at ceremonies before a game in Washington, D.C., by more than 100 dignitaries and legislators. He received 21 books, one for each year in professional baseball. At the end of 1925, Cobb was again embroiled in

2480-476: A batting title race, this time with one of his teammates and players, Harry Heilmann . In a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns on October 4, 1925, Heilmann got six hits to lead the Tigers to a sweep of the doubleheader and beat Cobb for the batting crown, .393 to .389. Cobb and Browns player-manager George Sisler each pitched in the final game, Cobb pitching a perfect inning. Cobb announced his retirement after

2635-406: A chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before." With the approval of President Roosevelt, spring training began in 1942 with few repercussions. The war interrupted the careers of stars including Stan Musial , Bob Feller , Ted Williams , and Joe DiMaggio , but baseball clubs continued to field their teams. Branch Rickey, president and general manager of

2790-702: A child, and decided that he wanted to go professional one day; his father was vehemently opposed to this idea, but by his teenage years, he was trying out for area teams. He played his first years in organized baseball for the Royston Rompers, the semi-pro Royston Reds, and the Augusta Tourists of the South Atlantic League , who released him after only two days. He then tried out for the Anniston, Alabama based Anniston Steelers of

2945-431: A controlled environment, which eventually caused Mathewson to contract the tuberculosis that killed him on the eve of the 1925 World Series. On August 19, 1921, in the second game of a doubleheader against Elmer Myers of the Boston Red Sox , Cobb collected his 3,000th hit. Aged 34 at the time, he is still the youngest ballplayer to reach that milestone, and in the fewest at-bats (8,093). By 1920, Babe Ruth , sold to

3100-497: A couple of mostly discredited biographies that were released following his death. Cobb's reputation as a violent man was exaggerated by his first biographer, sportswriter Al Stump , whose stories about Cobb have been proven as sensationalized and largely fictional. While he was known for often violent conflicts, he spoke favorably about black players joining the Major Leagues and was a well-known philanthropist. Cobb

3255-547: A double and a single. As Ruth's popularity grew, Cobb became increasingly hostile toward him. He saw the Babe not only as a threat to his style of play, but also to his style of life. Perhaps what angered him the most about Ruth was that despite Babe's total disregard for his physical condition and traditional baseball, he was still an overwhelming success and brought fans to the ballparks in record numbers to see him challenge his own slugging records. On May 5, 1925, Cobb told

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3410-445: A fight, several reporters came running and found Cobb and Schmidt wrestling on the ground. When the fight was broken up and Cobb had walked away, Schmidt remained behind and told the reporters that he saw Cobb assaulting Cummings and his wife and had intervened. Leerhsen speculates that this was just another one of Schmidt's assaults on Cobb and that once discovered, Schmidt made up a story that made him sound like he had assaulted Cobb for

3565-454: A final average of .408, twelve points lower than Cobb's .420, a 20th-century record which stood until George Sisler tied it and Rogers Hornsby surpassed it with .424, the record since then (until 2024) except for Hugh Duffy's .438 in the 19th century. I often tried plays that looked recklessly daring, maybe even silly. But I never tried anything foolish when a game was at stake, only when we were far ahead or far behind. I did it to study how

3720-466: A game against the Athletics in 1907 [on September 30]... The Athletics had us beaten, with Rube Waddell pitching. They were two runs ahead in the 9th inning, when I happened to hit a home run that tied the score. This game went 17 innings to a tie, and a few days later, we clinched our first pennant. You can understand what it meant for a 20-year-old country boy to hit a home run off the great Rube, in

3875-479: A game against the Giants, 7–4. The St. Louis Cardinals also came to Havana to play two games against the Giants, which they split. During their 1940 spring training, the National League champion Cincinnati Reds played three games in Havana against a Cuban League all-star team. The Cubans won the first game 11–7, while the Reds won the second 6–1 behind the pitching of Bucky Walters . The third game ended in

4030-506: A grand jury in Pittsburgh related to cocaine trafficking. The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike from August 12, 1994, to April 25, 1995, caused the cancellation of over 900 games and the forfeit of the entire 1994 postseason. Routinely in the late 1990s and early 2000s, baseball players hit 40 or 50 home runs in a season, a feat that was considered rare even in the 1980s. It later became apparent that at least some of this power surge

4185-443: A great baseball player and I won't allow him to be driven off this club." The following year, 1906, Cobb became the Tigers' full-time center fielder and hit .316 in 98 games, setting a record for the highest batting average (minimum 310 plate appearances) for a 19-year-old (later bested by Mel Ott 's .322 average in 124 games for the 1928 New York Giants ). He never hit below that mark again. After being moved to right field, he led

4340-658: A little better in subsequent campaigns—but in their eighth season (1969) the Mets became the first of the 1960s expansion teams to play in the postseason, culminating in a World Series title over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles. In 1966, the major leagues moved to the "Deep South" when the Braves moved to Atlanta. In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics moved west to become the Oakland Athletics . In 1969,

4495-438: A long series against Jackson's Cleveland Naps . Fellow Southerners Cobb and Jackson were personally friendly both on and off the field. Cobb used that friendship to his advantage. Cobb ignored Jackson when Jackson tried to say anything to him. When Jackson persisted, Cobb snapped angrily back at him, making him wonder what he could have done to enrage Cobb. Cobb felt that it was these mind games that caused Jackson to "fall off" to

4650-671: A man for many reasons. Color is not one of them." That year, Robinson won the inaugural Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award (separate NL and AL Rookie of the Year honors were not awarded until 1949). Less than three months later, Larry Doby became the first African-American to break the color barrier in the American League with the Cleveland Indians. The next year, a number of other black players entered

4805-620: A member of the Cubans, struck out eight, and allowed four hits and one run, but the Dodgers held the Cubans scoreless to win the game 1–0. Robinson was still assigned to the Montreal Royals , the Dodgers' Class AAA affiliate, which also trained in Havana. Two other black players, Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe , were also assigned to the Royals. Montreal played five games against the two Cuban teams, winning three, losing one, and tying one game. In those five games, Robinson went 8 for 19,

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4960-413: A new National Agreement which tied independent contracts to the reserve-clause contracts. The agreement also set up a formal classification system for minor leagues, the forerunner of today's system that was refined by Branch Rickey . Several other early defunct baseball leagues are considered major leagues, and their statistics and records are included with those of the two modern major leagues. In 1969,

5115-581: A noble purpose. In 1908, Cobb attacked a black laborer in Detroit who complained when Cobb stepped into freshly poured asphalt; Cobb was found guilty of battery, but the sentence was suspended. In September 1907, Cobb began a relationship with The Coca-Cola Company that lasted the remainder of his life. By the time he died, he held over 20,000 shares of stock and owned bottling plants in Santa Maria, California , Twin Falls, Idaho , and Bend, Oregon . He

5270-431: A one-armed outfielder, got the chance to advance to the major leagues. However, MLB rosters did not include any black players through the end of the war. Black players, many of whom served in the war, were still restricted to playing Negro league baseball . Wartime blackout restrictions , designed to keep outdoor lighting at low levels, caused another problem for baseball. These rules limited traveling and night games to

5425-620: A pennant-winning game with two outs in the ninth." Despite great success on the field, Cobb was no stranger to controversy off it. As described in Smithsonian , "In 1907 during spring training in Augusta, Georgia, a black groundskeeper named Bungy Cummings, whom Cobb had known for years, attempted to shake Cobb's hand or pat him on the shoulder." The "overly familiar greeting infuriated" Cobb, who attacked Cummings. When Cummings' wife tried to defend him, Cobb allegedly choked her. The assault

5580-402: A pistol that William had purchased for her. Court records indicate that William Cobb had suspected Amanda of infidelity and was sneaking past his own bedroom window to catch her in the act. She saw the silhouette of what she presumed to be an intruder and, acting in self-defense, shot and killed her husband. Amanda Cobb was charged with murder and released on a $ 7,000 recognizance bond . She

5735-501: A rebellion by players against the hated "reserve clause", which restricted the free movement of players between clubs. Teams came and went; 1882 was the first season where the league's membership was the same as the preceding season's, and only four franchises survived to see 1900. Competitor leagues formed regularly and also disbanded regularly. The most successful was the American Association (1882–1891), sometimes called

5890-553: A record 23 consecutive seasons, with the exception being his rookie season. He also hit .400 in three different seasons , a record he shares with three other players. Cobb has more five-hit games (14) than any other player in major league history. He also holds the career record for stealing home (54 times) and for stealing second base, third base, and home in succession (4 times), and as the youngest player ever to compile 4,000 hits and score 2,000 runs. His combined total of 4,065 runs scored and runs batted in (after adjusting for home runs)

6045-660: A reporter that, for the first time in his career, he was going to try to hit home runs, saying he wanted to show that he could hit home runs but simply chose not to. That day, he went 6 for 6, with two singles, a double and three homers. The 16 total bases set a new AL record, which stood until May 8, 2012, when Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers hit four home runs and a double for a total of 18 bases. The next day Cobb had three more hits, two of which were home runs. The single his first time up gave him nine consecutive hits over three games, while his five homers in two games tied

6200-407: A season without hitting a ball over the fence. In the same season, Charles M. Conlon snapped the famous photograph of a grimacing Cobb sliding into third base amid a cloud of dirt, which visually captured the grit and ferocity of his playing style. Going into the final days of the 1910 season, Cobb had a .004 lead on Nap Lajoie for the American League batting title. The prize for the winner of

6355-567: A series against Cuban League teams in Havana in late October and early November. Detailed statistics are available for 13 games, though there was at least one additional game—a 3–1 victory by Almendares over the Leland Giants—for which statistics are not available. Of the 13 games for which statistics are available, Almendares beat the Leland Giants five times and lost twice, with one tie, and Habana lost all five games they played against

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6510-507: A series against the Boston Red Sox in Havana. In October, a National League "all-star" team managed by Chuck Dressen played against a Cuban all-star team. The major league team won the series 5–4. In 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers were preparing to promote Jackie Robinson and integrate the major leagues. Brooklyn team president, Branch Rickey , decided to hold their spring training to avoid southern segregation . In Havana,

6665-543: A single-game MLB attendance record in their first home appearance with 78,672 fans. In 1961, the first Washington Senators franchise moved to Minneapolis–St. Paul to become the Minnesota Twins . Two new teams were added to the American League at the same time: the Los Angeles Angels (who soon moved from downtown L.A. to nearby Anaheim ) and a new Washington Senators franchise. The NL added

6820-410: A snarling wildcat." Tigers manager Hughie Jennings later acknowledged that Cobb was targeted for abuse by veteran players, some of whom sought to force him off the team. "I let this go for a while because I wanted to satisfy myself that Cobb has as much guts as I thought in the very beginning," Jennings recalled. "Well, he proved it to me, and I told the other players to let him alone. He is going to be

6975-786: A story by sports columnist Grantland Rice , the film casts Cobb as "himself," a small-town Georgia bank clerk with a talent for baseball. Broadway critic Ward Morehouse called the movie "absolutely the worst flicker I ever saw, pure hokum." In October 1918, Cobb enlisted in the Chemical Corps branch of the United States Army and was sent to the Allied Expeditionary Forces headquarters in Chaumont, France . He served approximately 67 days overseas before being honorably discharged and returning to

7130-492: A successful Baltimore chop, the batter hits the ball forcefully into the ground, causing it to bounce so high that the batter reaches first base before the ball can be fielded and thrown to the first baseman. The adoption of the foul strike rule—in the NL in 1901, in the AL two years later—quickly sent baseball from a high-scoring game to one where scoring runs became a struggle. Before this rule, foul balls were not counted as strikes:

7285-458: A throwing tendency of first baseman Hal Chase but having to wait two full years until the opportunity came to exploit it. By unexpectedly altering his own baserunning tendencies, he was able to surprise Chase and score the winning run of the game in question. On May 15, 1912, Cobb assaulted a heckler, Claude Lucker (often misspelled as Lueker), in the stands in New York's Hilltop Park where

7440-486: Is perfect. [No one has] the combined power and eye of Ruth." Tigers owner Frank Navin tapped Cobb to take over for Hughie Jennings as manager for the 1921 season, a deal he signed on his 34th birthday for $ 32,500 (equivalent to approximately $ 555,168 in today's terms ). The signing surprised the baseball world. Although Cobb was a legendary player, he was disliked throughout the baseball community, even by his own teammates. The closest Cobb came to winning another pennant

7595-418: Is still the highest ever produced by any major league player. Cobb also ranks first in games played by an outfielder in major league history (2,934). He retained many other records for almost a half century or more, including most career games played (3,035) and at bats (11,429 or 11,434 depending on source) until 1974 as well as the modern record for most career stolen bases (892) until 1977. He also had

7750-687: Is the third-wealthiest professional sports league by revenue in the world after the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Baseball games are broadcast on television, radio, and the internet throughout North America and in several other countries. MLB has the highest total season attendance of any sports league in the world; in 2023, it drew more than 70.75 million spectators. MLB also oversees Minor League Baseball , which comprises lower-tier teams affiliated with

7905-1371: The Azul club and the Carmelita club , won one game against Nuevo Criollo , and went 1–2 against Habana . The Cuban X-Giants again visited Cuba and won five of nine games. They went 1–2 against the All Cubans , 2–1 against Club Fé , and 2–1 against Habana . In their fourth visit to Cuba, the Cuban X-Giants , featuring Pete Hill , Harry Buckner , Bill Gatewood , and Bruce Petway , went 6–5. They went 4–1 against Habana , but went 2–4 against Almendares . The Philadelphia Giants , featuring John Henry Lloyd , Home Run Johnson , Dan McClellan , and Bill Gatewood , went 10–12 in their visit to Cuba. They lost series to Almendares and to Habana , both by 5–6. The Brooklyn Royal Giants , featuring Bill Monroe , Home Run Johnson , Pete Hill , and Judy Gans , played sixteen games against Cuban League teams in Havana in late October and early November. Almendares won five and lost four; Brooklyn split their games, winning eight and losing eight, and Habana won three and lost four. The Chicago Leland Giants , featuring Home Run Johnson , Pete Hill , John Henry Lloyd , and Rube Foster , played

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8060-852: The Boston Braves became the Milwaukee Braves , the St. Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles , and the Philadelphia Athletics became the Kansas City Athletics . The 1958 Major League Baseball season began to turn Major League Baseball into a nationwide league. Walter O'Malley , owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers and "perhaps the most influential owner of baseball's early expansion era," moved his team to Los Angeles, marking

8215-575: The Cincinnati Reds came to Cuba and found stronger competition there, as they went 6–6 against the Cuban League teams and 0–1 against the Negro league Brooklyn Royal Giants . Series against major league opponents continued every year from 1908 to 1913, and then occasionally until 1953. The final American Series games before the Cuban League disbanded were played from March 20 to 21, 1959, when

8370-596: The Great Depression , baseball's popularity had begun a downward turn in the early 1930s. By 1932, only two MLB teams turned a profit. Attendance had fallen, due at least in part to a 10% federal amusement tax added to baseball ticket prices. Baseball owners cut their rosters from 25 men to 23, and even the best players took pay cuts. Team executives were innovative in their attempts to survive, creating night games, broadcasting games live by radio, and rolling out promotions such as free admission for women. Throughout

8525-682: The Houston Astros and the New York Mets in 1962. The Astros (known as the "Colt .45s" during their first three seasons) became the first southern major league franchise since the Louisville Colonels folded in 1899 and the first franchise to be located along the Gulf Coast . The Mets established a reputation for futility by going 40–120 during their first season of play in the nation's media capital—and by playing only

8680-859: The Los Angeles Dodgers , featuring Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale , faced the Cincinnati Reds in spring training games played in Havana . After a 40-year hiatus, a Major League Baseball team returned to Cuba in 1999, when the Baltimore Orioles played a two-game series (one game in Havana, the other in Baltimore ) against the Cuban national baseball team . Many well-known names played in American Series, including Babe Ruth , Ty Cobb , Josh Gibson , Sam Crawford , Jackie Robinson , Ted Williams and Christy Mathewson . In December 1879,

8835-687: The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP). The NABBP existed as an amateur league for 12 years. By 1867, more than 400 clubs were members. Most of the strongest clubs remained those based in the Northeastern United States. For professional baseball 's founding year, MLB uses the year 1869—when the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings , was established. A schism developed between professional and amateur ballplayers after

8990-628: The National Baseball Hall of Fame , receiving 222 out of a possible 226 votes (98.2%); no other player received a higher percentage of votes until Tom Seaver in 1992. In 1999, the Sporting News ranked Cobb third on its list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players." Cobb is credited with setting 9000 MLB records throughout his career. Cobb has won more batting titles than any other player, with 11 (or 12, depending on source). During his entire 24-year career, he hit .300 in

9145-713: The National League . A team known as the "All-Americans", which included John McGraw playing shortstop, played a series of five games against Cuban League teams, winning all of them by lopsided scores. The major league Brooklyn Superbas played four games in Havana against Cuban teams from November 5 through 25, winning all four games by lopsided scores. Brooklyn beat Cubano 12–2 and 10–2, Habana 13–1, and San Francisco 14–6. The 1908 series saw two Cuban League teams, one Negro league team, and one Major League team compete. The Cincinnati Reds played 14 games, playing seven against Almendares, six against Habana, and one against

9300-559: The Texas Rangers . In 1977, baseball expanded again , adding a second Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays , as well as the Seattle Mariners . Subsequently, no new teams were added until the 1990s and no teams moved until 2005. By the late 1960s, the balance between pitching and hitting had swung in favor of the pitchers. In 1968—later nicknamed "the year of the pitcher" —Boston Red Sox player Carl Yastrzemski won

9455-563: The Worcester team of the National Association became the first professional baseball team to visit Cuba. The team was promoted in Cuba as the "Hop Bitters", which was actually the name of the Rochester franchise. The trip was a financial failure, as they were only able to play two games against Cuban teams. The following season, Worcester achieved major-league status when it was admitted to

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9610-469: The first and second Negro National Leagues (1920–1931 and 1933–1948), the Eastern Colored League (1923–1928), the American Negro League (1929), the East–West League (1932), the Negro Southern League (1932), and the Negro American League (1937–1948). In 2021, baseball reference website Baseball-Reference.com began to include statistics from those seven leagues into their major-league statistics. In May 2024, Major League Baseball announced that it

9765-530: The most career hits until 1985 (4,189 or 4,191, depending on source) and most career runs until 2001. His .366 career batting average was officially listed as the highest-ever until 2024, when MLB decided to include Negro Leagues players in official statistics. Cobb's reputation, which includes a large college scholarship fund for Georgia residents financed by his early investments in Coca-Cola and General Motors , has been somewhat tarnished by allegations of racism and violence. These primarily stem from

9920-442: The "beer and whiskey league" for its tolerance of the sale of alcoholic beverages to spectators. For several years, the NL and American Association champions met in a postseason championship series—the first attempt at a World Series . The two leagues merged in 1892 as a single 12-team NL, but the NL dropped four teams after the 1899 season. This led to the formation of the American League in 1901 under AL president Ban Johnson , and

10075-428: The 1870s. In 1876, the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs (later known as the National League or NL) was established after the NA proved ineffective. The league placed its emphasis on clubs rather than on players. Clubs could now enforce player contracts, preventing players from jumping to higher-paying clubs. Clubs were required to play the full schedule of games instead of forfeiting scheduled games when

10230-448: The 1907 season with a league-leading .350 batting average, 212 hits, 49 steals and 119 runs batted in (RBI). At age 20, he was the youngest player to win a batting championship and held this record until 1955, when fellow Detroit Tiger Al Kaline won the batting title while twelve days younger than Cobb had been. Reflecting on his career in 1930, two years after retiring, he told Grantland Rice , "The biggest thrill I ever got came in

10385-445: The 1950s and 1960s. The AL and NL added eight clubs in the 1960s: two in 1961, two in 1962, and four in 1969. Player discontent with established labor practices, especially the reserve clause, led to the organization of the Major League Baseball Players Association to collectively bargain with the owners, which in turn led to the introduction of free agency in baseball. Modern stadiums with artificial turf surfaces began to change

10540-557: The 1960s and 1970s, as baseball expanded, NFL football had been surging in popularity, making it economical for many of these cities to build multi-purpose stadiums instead of single-purpose baseball fields. Because of climate and economic issues, many of these facilities had playing surfaces made from artificial turf , as well as the oval designs characteristic of stadiums designed to house both baseball and football. This often resulted in baseball fields with relatively more foul territory than older stadiums. These characteristics changed

10695-406: The 1990s. During the 1980s, baseball experienced a number of significant changes the game had not seen in years. Home runs were on the decline throughout the decade, with players hitting 40 home runs just 13 times and no one hitting more than 50 home runs in a season for the first time since the Dead-ball era (1900–1919). The 1981 Major League Baseball strike from June 12 until July 31 forced

10850-430: The AL MVP by the Baseball Writers' Association of America . On May 12, 1911, playing against the New York Highlanders , he scored from first base on a single to right field, then scored another run from second base on a wild pitch. In the seventh inning, he tied the game with a two-run double. The Highlanders catcher vehemently argued the safe call at second base with the umpire in question, going on at such length that

11005-435: The American League batting title with an average of just .301, the lowest in the history of Major League Baseball. Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain won 31 games, making him the only pitcher to win 30 games in a season since Dizzy Dean in 1934. St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Bob Gibson achieved an equally remarkable feat by allowing an ERA of just 1.12. Following these pitching performances, in December 1968

11160-917: The American and National Leagues both added two expansion franchises . The American League added the Seattle Pilots (who became the Milwaukee Brewers after one disastrous season in Seattle) and the Kansas City Royals . The NL added the first Canadian franchise, the Montreal Expos , as well as the San Diego Padres . In 1972, the second Washington Senators moved to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to become

11315-409: The Brooklyn Dodgers, began making efforts to introduce a black baseball player to the previously all-white professional baseball leagues in the mid-1940s. He selected Jackie Robinson from a list of promising Negro league players. After obtaining a commitment from Robinson to "turn the other cheek" to any racial antagonism directed at him, Rickey agreed to sign him to a contract for $ 600 a month. In what

11470-539: The Brooklyn Royal Giants. The Almendares won five games and lost only one, with one tie; Cincinnati won six and lost seven, also with a tie; Habana won one and lost five, and Brooklyn won its only game. The series is best known for the pitching performance of José Méndez of Almendares, who had just gone 9–0 in his rookie Cuban League season. In three appearances, Méndez held the Reds scoreless for 25 consecutive innings. In his first start, he pitched

11625-588: The Chicago team. The Lincoln Giants of New York City, featuring John Henry Lloyd , Dick Redding , Louis Santop , and Cyclone Joe Williams , played a series against Cuban League teams in Havana in December. Almendares won four games and lost two, and Habana won four games and lost three, while the Lincoln Giants won five and lost eight. The Lincoln Stars of New York City, featuring Dizzy Dismukes , Spottswood Poles , Dick Redding , and Louis Santop , played

11780-989: The Cuban X-Giants won 12 and lost 3. Among their Cuban opponents, Criollos won two and lost one, and Habana split their two games. The other Cuban teams were swept, with "Cuba" losing three, Almendares losing two, and Indepencia, Libertad, and "10 de Octubre" losing one game apiece. The Cuban X-Giants , an American Negro league team featuring Rube Foster , Pete Hill , Home Run Johnson , and Clarence Williams , played nine games in Cuba from December 1 through December 9, 1903, winning only two. The Cuban X-Giants lost games to Colombia 6–3 and 2–1, lost two games and tied one against Criollo, 4–0, 3–2, and 2–2, lost one game against Maine, 10–3, and won two games against Nuevo Azul, 4–0 and 3–1, while losing one, 4–3. The Cuban X-Giants , featuring Home Run Johnson , Harry Buckner , Dan McClellan , and Clarence Williams , won six of eight against Cuban teams. The X-Giants went 2–0 against both

11935-686: The Dodgers played series against the Boston Braves and the New York Yankees . While the Yankees were visiting, they played a game against a Cuban all-star team. The Cubans won behind the pitching of Connie Marrero , who held the Yankees to one run on four hits. A week later, the Dodgers faced the Havana Cubans, a minor league affiliate of the Washington Senators that was composed of Cuban players. Marrero again pitched as

12090-711: The Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning the Negro league teams that they had followed exclusively. Robinson's promotion met a generally positive, although mixed, reception among newspaper writers and white major league players. Manager Leo Durocher informed his team, "I don't care if he is yellow or black or has stripes like a fucking zebra. I'm his manager and I say he plays." After a strike threat by some players, NL President Ford C. Frick and Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler let it be known that any striking players would be suspended. Robinson received significant encouragement from several major-league players, including Dodgers teammate Pee Wee Reese who said, "You can hate

12245-619: The Georgia Peach ", was an American professional baseball center fielder . A native of rural Narrows , Georgia , Cobb played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He spent 22 years with the Detroit Tigers and served as the team's player-manager for the last six, and he finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics . In 1936, Cobb received the most votes of any player on the inaugural ballot for

12400-683: The Great Depression, no MLB teams moved or folded. The onset of World War II created a shortage of professional baseball players, as more than 500 men left MLB teams to serve in the military. Many of them played on service baseball teams that entertained military personnel in the US or in the Pacific. MLB teams of this time largely consisted of young men, older players, and those with a military classification of 4F , indicating mental, physical, or moral unsuitability for service. Men like Pete Gray ,

12555-695: The Havana Park club finished 3-8. Only three teams competed in the 1912 Cuban-American series, with the Philadelphia Athletics winning 10 of their 12 games. Philadelphia's Eddie Collins batted .417, and pitcher Jack Coombs won all five of his games. Habana went winless in six games. The Brooklyn Dodgers went 10-5. Habana won three of their 7 games, and Almendares finished the series 2-6. The St. Louis Terriers, featuring pitcher Eddie Plank and Cuban center fielder Armando Marsans , went 7–2. A record crowd of 10,619 turned out to see

12710-548: The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds on March 20–21, 1959, less than three months after the Cuban Revolution , no Major League Baseball team played in Cuba for 40 years. In 1999, the Baltimore Orioles arranged to play a two-game series against the Cuban national baseball team , with the first game played in Havana on March 28, and the second game played in Baltimore on May 3. The Orioles won

12865-496: The MLB Playing Rules Committee voted to reduce the strike zone from knees to shoulders to top of knees to armpits and lower the pitcher's mound from 15 to 10 inches, beginning in the 1969 season. In 1973, the American League, which had been suffering from much lower attendance than the National League, sought to increase scoring even further by initiating the designated hitter (DH) rule. Throughout

13020-482: The National Agreement of 1903, in which AL and NL agreed to respect each other's player contracts, including the contentious reserve clause . The period before 1920 was the dead-ball era , when home runs were rarely hit. Professional baseball was rocked by the Black Sox Scandal , a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series . Baseball survived the scandal, albeit with major changes in its governance as

13175-770: The Special Baseball Records Committee of Major League Baseball officially recognized six major leagues: the National League, American League, American Association, Union Association (1884), Players' League (1890), and Federal League (1914–1915). The status of the National Association as a major league has been a point of dispute among baseball researchers; while its statistics are not recognized by Major League Baseball, its statistics are included with those of other major leagues by some baseball reference websites, such as Retrosheet . Some researchers, including Nate Silver , dispute

13330-539: The St. Louis Cardinals played four games in Havana against Habana and Almendares. Habana won both of their matches against the Cardinals, while the Cardinals swept both games from Almendares. Almendares beat the Giants in both games they played, 6–1 and 4–0, and Habana won their game 9–1. The Giants managed a 1–1 tie in a game against a Cuban all-star team, and beat Fortuna, an amateur team, 7–2. An armed forces team also won

13485-584: The Tigers to three consecutive American League pennants in 1907, 1908 and 1909. Detroit would lose each World Series (to the Cubs twice and then the Pirates); however, Cobb's postseason numbers were far below his career standard. Cobb did not get another opportunity to play on a pennant-winning team. In 1907, Cobb reached first and then stole second, third and home. He accomplished the feat four times during his career, still an MLB record as of 2022. He finished

13640-526: The Tigers were playing the Highlanders. Lucker, described by baseball historian Frank Russo as "a Tammany Hall lackey and two-bit punk," often berated Cobb when Detroit visited New York. In this game, the two traded insults through the first couple of innings. Cobb at one point went to the Highlander dugout to look for the Highlanders' owner to try to have Lucker ejected from the game, but his search

13795-520: The United States and Canada . One of the "Big Four" major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada , MLB comprises 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. Formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively, the NL and AL cemented their cooperation with the National Agreement in 1903, making MLB

13950-538: The United States. He was given the rank of captain underneath the command of Major Branch Rickey , the president of the St. Louis Cardinals . Other baseball players serving in this unit included Captain Christy Mathewson and Lieutenant George Sisler . All of these men were assigned to the Gas and Flame Division, where they trained soldiers in preparation for chemical attacks by exposing them to gas chambers in

14105-547: The World Series in exchange for a ring worth $ 100,000 ($ 1,712,780.35 in 2022 dollars). Despite being acquitted, all were permanently banned from Major League Baseball. Baseball's popularity increased in the 1920s and 1930s. The 1920 season was notable for the death of Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians . Chapman, who was struck in the head by a pitch and died a few hours later, became the only MLB player to die of an on-field injury. Both leagues quickly began to require

14260-474: The ballpark prior to games. The Victorian duplex in which Cobb lived still stands. Three weeks after his mother killed his father, Cobb debuted in center field for the Detroit Tigers. On August 30, 1905, in his first major league at bat, he doubled off Jack Chesbro of the New York Highlanders . Chesbro had won 41 games the previous season. Cobb was 18 years old at the time, the youngest player in

14415-472: The batting title with a .324 average, but Detroit suffered another loss in the World Series. In August 1908, Cobb married Charlotte ("Charlie") Marion Lombard, the daughter of prominent Augustan Roswell Lombard. In the offseason, the couple lived on her father's Augusta estate, The Oaks , until they moved into their own house on Williams Street in November 1913. The Tigers won the AL pennant again in 1909. During that World Series, Cobb's last, he stole home in

14570-532: The cancellation of 713 total games and resulted in a split-season format. In 1985, Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb 's all-time hits record with his 4,192nd hit, and in 1989 Rose received a lifetime ban from baseball as a result of betting on baseball games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds . Rose was the first person to receive a lifetime ban from baseball since 1943. 1985 also saw the Pittsburgh drug trials which involved players who were called to testify before

14725-481: The center field fence, and the Huntington Avenue Grounds of the Boston Red Sox , which was 635 feet (194 m) to the center field fence, thus home runs were rare, and "small ball" tactics such as singles , bunts , stolen bases , and the hit-and-run play dominated the strategies of the time. Hitting methods like the Baltimore chop were used to increase the number of infield singles. On

14880-608: The club was no longer in the running for the league championship, which happened frequently under the NA. A concerted effort was made to curb gambling on games, which was leaving the validity of results in doubt. The first game in the NL—on Saturday, April 22, 1876 (at Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia )—is often pointed to as the beginning of MLB. The early years of the NL were tumultuous, with threats from rival leagues and

15035-573: The condition of the baseball itself. The baseball used American rather than the modern Australian wool yarn and was not wound as tightly, affecting the distance that it would travel. More significantly, balls were kept in play until they were mangled, soft and sometimes lopsided. During this era, a baseball cost three dollars, equal to $ 52.72 today (in inflation-adjusted USD ), and owners were reluctant to purchase new balls. Fans were expected to throw back fouls and (rare) home runs. Baseballs also became stained with tobacco juice, grass, and mud, and sometimes

15190-438: The course of which Cobb knocked down Herzog about six times while Herzog only knocked Cobb down once. The scuffle left Herzog's face bloodied and his eyes nearly shut. With Herzog vowing revenge, Cobb skipped the rest of the exhibition series against the Giants, heading to Cincinnati to train with the Reds, who were managed by Cobb's friend Christy Mathewson . However, Cobb later expressed the deepest respect for Herzog because of

15345-405: The field, and several profanity-laced shouting matches. For example, Cobb and umpire Billy Evans arranged to settle their in-game differences through fisticuffs under the grandstand after the game. Members of both teams were spectators, and broke up the scuffle after Cobb had knocked Evans down, pinned him and began choking him. In 1909, Cobb was arrested for assault for an incident that occurred in

15500-563: The field. According to him, this incident led to the formation of a players' union, the "Ballplayers' Fraternity" (formally, the Fraternity of Professional Baseball Players of America), an early version of what is now called the Major League Baseball Players Association , which garnered some concessions from the owners. During his career, Cobb was involved in numerous other fights, both on and off

15655-477: The fight, Cobb produced a penknife and slashed the watchman across the hand. Cobb later claimed that the watchman, who had the upper hand in the fight, had his finger in Cobb's left eye and that Cobb was worried he was going to have his sight ruined. The fight finally ended when the watchman produced a gun and struck Cobb several times in the head, knocking him out. Cobb would later plead guilty to simple assault and pay

15810-529: The first game of the series, a pitching duel between Pittsburgh's Hal Carlson and Habana's Oscar Tuero that Pittsburgh won 1–0. The Pirates went 10–6, while Habana was 4–4 and Almendares was 2–6. Babe Ruth was reportedly paid between $ 1,000 and $ 2,000 per game to join the Giants in the last half of the series. By the time he hit his first home run in his fifth game, Cuban slugger Cristóbal Torriente had already stolen his thunder by hitting three home runs in one game (one of them off Ruth, who briefly pitched in

15965-567: The first game, 3–2, and the Cuban national team won the second, 12–6. Series were played between teams in the Cuban League and in the Negro leagues . The first series played in Cuba by a Negro league baseball team was by the Cuban X-Giants , a team of American players that was managed by E. B. Lamar and included Frank Grant and Clarence Williams . They played at least 17 games in Cuba; accounts are available for 15 games. Of these recorded games,

16120-535: The first major league franchise on the West Coast. O'Malley also helped persuade the rival New York Giants to move west to become the San Francisco Giants. Giants owner Horace Stoneham had been contemplating a move to Minnesota amid slumping attendance at the aging Polo Grounds ballpark when O'Malley invited him to meet San Francisco Mayor George Christopher in New York. After Stoneham

16275-543: The first week of April. Six teams in each league then advance to a four-round postseason tournament in October, culminating in the World Series , a best-of-seven championship series between the two league champions first played in 1903. The New York Yankees have the most championships with 27. The reigning champions are the Los Angeles Dodgers , who defeated the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series . MLB

16430-513: The founding of the Cincinnati club. The NABBP split into an amateur organization and a professional organization. The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , often known as the National Association (NA), was formed in 1871. Its amateur counterpart disappeared after only a few years. The modern Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves franchises trace their histories back to the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players in

16585-517: The game in the 1970s and 1980s. Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s. In the mid-2000s, media reports disclosed the use of anabolic steroids among MLB players; a 2006–07 investigation produced the Mitchell Report , which found that many players had used steroids and other performance-enhancing substances , including at least one player from each team. Each team plays 162 games per season, with Opening Day traditionally held during

16740-406: The game). Almendares beat the Giants 4–2 (with two tied games), while the Giants won the series against Habana 6–1 (with one tie). A game against a Cuban all-star team also ended in a tie. In games against Habana and Almendares, the Dodgers went 10–5. Those series were followed by a five-game series between the Dodgers and a Cuban all-star team; the Cubans won 3–2. As part of their spring training,

16895-560: The game. Both teams were staying at the Oriental Hotel, and at dinner that evening, Herzog walked up to Cobb and challenged him to a fight. The two met an hour later in Cobb's room, where the Tiger outfielder had prepared for the fight by moving furniture out of the way and pouring water on the floor. Cobb's leather-soled shoes enabled him to get better footing than Herzog, who wore tennis shoes. The fight lasted for thirty minutes, over

17050-429: The hole " between the corner and middle infielders. Starting pitchers were no longer expected to throw complete games ; it was enough for a starter to pitch 6–7 innings and turn the game over to the team's closer , a position which grew in importance over these decades. As stolen bases increased, home run totals dropped. After Willie Mays hit 52 home runs in 1965, only one player ( George Foster ) reached that mark until

17205-529: The juice of licorice, which some players would chew for the purpose of discoloring the ball. Also, pitchers could manipulate the ball through the use of the spitball (In 1921, use of this pitch was restricted to a few pitchers with a grandfather clause ). Additionally, many ballparks had large dimensions, such as the West Side Grounds of the Chicago Cubs, which was 560 feet (170 m) to

17360-491: The league by almost a year. Although he hit only .240 in 41 games, he signed a $ 1,500 contract to play for the Tigers in 1905. As a rookie, Cobb was subject to severe hazing by his veteran teammates, who were jealous of the young prospect. The players smashed his homemade bats, nailed his cleats in the clubhouse, doused his clothes before tying knots in them, and verbally abused him. Cobb later attributed his hostile temperament to this experience: "These old-timers turned me into

17515-620: The major league clubs, and the MLB Draft League , a hybrid amateur-professional showcase league. MLB and the World Baseball Softball Confederation jointly manage the international World Baseball Classic tournament. In the 1860s, aided by soldiers playing the game in camp during the Civil War , "New York"-style baseball expanded into a national game and spawned baseball's first governing body,

17670-603: The major leagues. Satchel Paige was signed by the Indians and the Dodgers added star catcher Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe , who was later the first winner of the Cy Young Award for his outstanding pitching. MLB banned the signing of women to contracts in 1952, but that ban was lifted in 1992. There have been no female MLB players since then. From 1903 to 1952, the major leagues consisted of two eight-team leagues whose 16 teams were located in ten cities, all in

17825-473: The major-league status of the Union Association by pointing out that franchises came and went and that the St. Louis club was deliberately "stacked"; the St. Louis club was owned by the league's president and it was the only club that was close to major-league caliber. In December 2020, Major League Baseball announced its recognition of seven leagues within Negro league baseball as major leagues:

17980-526: The man had no hands, to which Cobb reportedly retorted, "I don't care if he got no feet!" According to Russo, the crowd cheered Cobb on in the fight. Though extremely rare in the 21st century, attacking fans was not so unusual an activity in the early years of baseball. Other notable baseball stars who assaulted heckling fans include Babe Ruth , Cy Young , Rube Waddell , Kid Gleason , Sherry Magee , and Fred Clarke . The league suspended him . His teammates, though not fond of Cobb, went on strike to protest

18135-471: The nature of professional baseball, putting a higher premium on speed and defense over home-run hitting power since the fields were often too big for teams to expect to hit many home runs and foul balls hit in the air could more easily be caught for outs. Teams began to be built around pitching—particularly their bullpens—and speed on the basepaths. Artificial surfaces meant balls traveled quicker and bounced higher, so it became easier to hit ground balls " in

18290-527: The northeastern and mid-western United States: New York City had three teams and Boston , Chicago, Philadelphia , and St. Louis each had two teams. St. Louis was the southernmost and westernmost city with a major league team. The longest possible road trip, from Boston to St. Louis, took about 24 hours by railroad. After a half-century of stability, starting in the 1950s, teams began to move out of cities with multiple teams into cities that had not had them before. From 1953 to 1955, three teams moved to new cities:

18445-586: The oldest major professional sports league in the world. They remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the commissioner of baseball . MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan . Baseball's first all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings , was founded in 1869. The first few decades of professional baseball saw rivalries between leagues, and players often jumped from one team or league to another. These practices were essentially ended by

18600-502: The other Highlanders infielders gathered nearby to watch. Realizing that no one on the Highlanders had called time, Cobb strolled unobserved to third base and then casually walked towards home plate as if to get a better view of the argument. He then suddenly broke into a run and slid into home plate for the eventual winning run. It was performances like this that led Branch Rickey to say later that Cobb "had brains in his feet." Describing his gameplay strategy in 1930, he said, "My system

18755-532: The other team reacted, filing away in my mind any observations for future use. —Ty Cobb in The New York Times Cobb led the AL that year in numerous other categories, including 248 hits, 147 runs scored, 127 RBI, 83 stolen bases, 47 doubles, 24 triples and a .621 slugging percentage . Cobb hit eight home runs but finished second in that category to Frank Baker , who hit eleven. He was awarded another Chalmers car, this time for being voted

18910-466: The point that the 1942 season was nearly canceled. On January 14, 1942, MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis wrote to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt , pleading for the continuation of baseball during the war. Roosevelt responded, "I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before. And that means that they ought to have

19065-478: The previous year defending himself on several occasions from assaults by Schmidt, with Schmidt often coming out of nowhere to blindside Cobb. On that day, several reporters did see Cummings, who appeared to be "partially under the influence of liquor," approach Cobb and shout "Hello, Carrie!" (the meaning of which is unknown) and go in for a hug. Cobb then pushed him away, which was the last interaction that anyone saw between Cobb and Cummings. Shortly thereafter, hearing

19220-412: The record set by Cap Anson of the old Chicago NL team in 1884. By the end of the series Cobb had gone 12 for 19 with 29 total bases, and afterwards reverted to his old playing style. Even so, when asked in 1930 by Grantland Rice to name the best hitter he'd ever seen, Cobb answered, "You can't beat the Babe. Ruth is one of the few who can take a terrific swing and still meet the ball solidly. His timing

19375-526: The relatively weak National Commission was replaced with a powerful commissioner of baseball with near-unlimited authority over the sport. MLB rose in popularity in the decade following the Black Sox Scandal, and unlike major leagues in other sports it endured the Great Depression and World War II without any of its teams folding. Shortly after the war, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier . Some teams moved to different cities in

19530-407: The renamed New York Yankees from the Boston Red Sox , had established himself as a power hitter, something Cobb was not considered to be. When his Tigers showed up in New York to play the Yankees for the first time that season, writers billed it as a showdown between two stars of competing styles of play. Ruth hit two homers, a triple, and two singles during the series, compared to Cobb's two hits of

19685-478: The resulting bidding war for players led to widespread contract-breaking and legal disputes. The war between the AL and NL caused shock waves throughout the baseball world. At a meeting at the Leland Hotel in Chicago in 1901, the other baseball leagues negotiated a plan to maintain their independence. A new National Association was formed to oversee these minor leagues. After 1902, the NL, AL, and NA signed

19840-402: The same year where Cobb had allegedly grown pessimistic and was quoted as saying: "It seems I am a burden to the Detroit club, as a trespasser of its rules. If that be the case, let Mr. Navin put a price on me and I'll take a chance on being able to negotiate my own release. I don't think I shall ever play ball again. This is positively my last statement in this matter." This attributed statement

19995-492: The scandal led Judge Landis to hold additional hearings in which Leonard refused to participate. Cobb and Wood admitted to writing the letters, but claimed that a horse-racing bet was involved and that Leonard's accusations were in retaliation for Cobb's having released him from the Tigers, thereby demoting him to the minor leagues . Speaker denied any wrongdoing. On January 27, 1927, Judge Landis cleared Cobb and Speaker of any wrongdoing because of Leonard's refusal to appear at

20150-475: The second game, igniting a three-run rally, but that was the high point for him, finishing with a lowly .231, as the Tigers lost to Honus Wagner and the powerful Pirates in seven games. Although he performed poorly in the postseason, he won the Triple Crown by hitting .377 with 107 RBI and nine home runs, all inside the park , thus becoming the only player of the modern era to lead his league in home runs in

20305-573: The semipro Tennessee–Alabama League , with his father's stern admonition ringing in his ears: "Don't come home a failure!" After joining the Steelers for a monthly salary of $ 50, Cobb promoted himself by sending several postcards written about his talents under different aliases to Grantland Rice , the Atlanta Journal sports editor. Eventually, Rice wrote a small note in the Journal that

20460-406: The series. A major league all-star team, featuring Addie Joss , Mordecai Brown , Sherry Magee , and Fred Merkle played five games against the Cuban teams and went 2–3. The series featured an 11-inning no-hitter pitched by Eustaquio Pedroso of Almendares against Bill Lelivelt of the Tigers. The game went to extra innings with the score tied 1–1, as Almendares had allowed an unearned run in

20615-490: The seventh inning on a throwing error. In the eleventh inning, a well-executed squeeze bunt by Armando Cabañas gave Almendares a 2–1 victory. After two consecutive series in which Cuban teams had best winning percentage, in 1910 the American team finished with the best winning percentage, as the Detroit Tigers went 7-4 in 12 games. The New York Giants, featuring Baseball Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson , won 9 of their 12 games. The Phillies went 5-4, Almendares went 4-6, and

20770-680: The sport's most unlikely complete games . The pre-1901 record for the most hits and runs given up in a game is held by the Cleveland Blues ' Dave Rowe . Primarily an outfielder, Rowe pitched a complete game on July 24, 1882, giving up 35 runs on 29 hits. The current post-1900 record for most hits in a nine-inning game is 31, set in 1992 by the Milwaukee Brewers against Toronto; however, the Blue Jays used six pitchers. The strike ended when Cobb urged his teammates to return to

20925-399: The station for the game. Cobb refused to speak any further of the issue. He would go on to hit 2–3 with two singles and a run scored, as well as batting .418. The Tigers lost 2–3. In 1913, Cobb signed a contract worth $ 12,000 for the six-month season (equivalent to $ 369,939 in 2023), making him likely the first baseball player in history to be paid a five-figure salary. This occurred in

21080-551: The suspension, and the lack of protection of players from abusive fans, before the May 18 game in Philadelphia. For that one game, Detroit fielded a replacement team made up of hastily recruited college and sandlot players plus two Tiger coaches and lost 24–2, thereby setting some of Major League Baseball's modern-era (post-1900) negative records, notably the 26 hits in a nine-inning game allowed by Allan Travers , who pitched one of

21235-423: The title was a Chalmers automobile . Cobb sat out the final two games to preserve his average. Lajoie hit safely eight times in a doubleheader but six of those hits were bunt singles. Later it was rumored that the opposing manager had instructed his third baseman to play extra deep to allow Lajoie to win the batting race over the generally disliked Cobb. Although Cobb was credited with a higher batting average, it

21390-454: The use of new, white baseballs whenever a ball became scuffed or dirty, helping bring the "dead-ball" era to an end. The following year, the New York Yankees made their first World Series appearance. By the end of the 1930s, the team had appeared in 11 World Series, winning eight of them. Yankees slugger Babe Ruth had set the single-season home run record in 1927, hitting 60 home runs; breaking his own record of 29 home runs. Afflicted by

21545-522: The way the infielder had conducted himself in the fight. In 1917, Cobb hit in 35 consecutive games, still the only player with two 35-game hitting streaks (including his 40-game streak in 1911). He had six hitting streaks of at least 20 games in his career, second only to Pete Rose 's eight. Also in 1917, Cobb starred in the motion picture Somewhere in Georgia for a sum of $ 25,000 plus expenses (equivalent to approximately $ 595,000 today ). Based on

21700-406: The way. When Cobb had gotten out of the car to confront the men, they had asked for money and instigated a physical fight, with Cobb defending himself from one of the men by punching him in the chin as another had fled the scene. After being grabbed by the neck by another man, the man had pulled a knife and stabbed him in the back before he forced him away and returned to his car to continue driving to

21855-469: Was acquitted on March 31, 1906. Ty Cobb later attributed his ferocious play to his late father, saying, "I did it for my father. He never got to see me play ... but I knew he was watching me, and I never let him down." Cobb was initiated into Freemasonry in 1907, earning the 32nd degree in 1912. In 1911, Cobb moved to Detroit's architecturally significant and now historically protected Woodbridge neighborhood, from which he would walk with his dogs to

22010-399: Was "absorbing the available Negro Leagues numbers into the official historical record." The period between 1900 and 1919 is commonly referred to as the "dead-ball era". Games of this era tended to be low-scoring and were often dominated by pitchers, such as Walter Johnson , Cy Young , Christy Mathewson , Mordecai Brown , and Grover Cleveland Alexander . The term also accurately describes

22165-462: Was a crusade." Baseball historian John Thorn said in the book Legends of the Fall , "He is testament to how far you can get simply through will. ... Cobb was pursued by demons." Cobb was having a tremendous year in 1911, which included a 40-game hitting streak . Still, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson led him by .009 points in the batting race late in the season. Near the end of the season, Cobb's Tigers had

22320-918: Was a result of players using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs . In 1993, the National League added the Florida Marlins in Miami and the Colorado Rockies in Denver . In 1998, the Brewers switched leagues by joining the National League, and two new teams were added: the National League's Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix and the American League's Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Tampa Bay . Ty Cobb As manager Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "

22475-400: Was all offense. I believed in putting up a mental hazard for the other fellow. If we were five or six runs ahead, I'd try some wild play, such as going from first to home on a single. This helped to make the other side hurry the play in a close game later on. I worked out all the angles I could think of, to keep them guessing and hurrying." In the same interview, Cobb talked about having noticed

22630-414: Was also a celebrity spokesman for the product. In the offseason between 1907 and 1908, Cobb negotiated with Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina , offering to coach baseball there "for $ 250 a month, provided that he did not sign with Detroit that season." This did not come to pass, however. The following season, the Tigers finished ahead of the Chicago White Sox for the pennant. Cobb again won

22785-454: Was born in 1886 in Narrows, Georgia , a small, unincorporated rural community of farmers. He was the first of three children born to William Herschel Cobb (1863–1905) and Amanda Chitwood Cobb (1871–1936). Cobb's father was a state senator. When he was still an infant, his parents moved to the nearby town of Royston , where he grew up. By most accounts, he became fascinated with baseball as

22940-672: Was first published on an April 19, 1913, edition of the Los Angeles Herald . Cobb did not play that day as the Tigers won 4–0 against the St. Louis Browns . In June 1914, Cobb pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace after pulling a revolver during an argument at a Detroit butcher shop. He was fined $ 50 (equivalent to $ 1,521 in 2023). In 1915, Cobb set the single-season record for stolen bases with 96, which stood until Dodger Maury Wills broke it in 1962. That year, he also won his ninth consecutive batting title, hitting .369. During 1917 spring training, Cobb showed up late for

23095-478: Was in 1924, when the Tigers finished in third place, six games behind the pennant-winning Washington Senators . The Tigers had also finished third in 1922, but 16 games behind the Yankees. Cobb blamed his lackluster managerial record (479 wins against 444 losses) on Navin, who was arguably even more frugal than he was, passing up several quality players Cobb wanted to add to the team. In fact, he had saved money by hiring Cobb to both play and manage. In 1922, Cobb tied

23250-482: Was in vain. He also asked for the police to intervene, but they refused. The situation climaxed when Lucker allegedly called Cobb a "half-nigger." Cobb, in his discussion of the incident in the Holmes biography, avoided such explicit words but alluded to Lucker's epithet by saying he was "reflecting on my mother's color and morals." He went on to state that he warned Highlander manager Harry Wolverton that if something

23405-474: Was later discovered in the 1970s that one game had been counted twice so that Cobb actually lost to Lajoie. As a result of the incident, AL president Ban Johnson was forced to arbitrate the situation. He declared Cobb the rightful owner of the title, but car company president Hugh Chalmers chose to award one to both Cobb and Lajoie. Cobb regarded baseball as "something like a war," future Tiger second baseman Charlie Gehringer said. "Every time at bat for him

23560-555: Was later referred to as "The Noble Experiment", Robinson was the first black baseball player in the International League since the 1880s, joining the Dodgers' farm club, the Montreal Royals , for the 1946 season. The following year, the Dodgers called up Robinson to the major leagues. On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, including more than 14,000 black patrons. Black baseball fans began flocking to see

23715-425: Was not done about that man, there would be trouble. No action was taken. At the end of the sixth inning, after being challenged by teammates Sam Crawford and Jim Delahanty to do something about it, Cobb climbed into the stands and attacked Lucker, who it turned out was handicapped (he had lost all of one hand and three fingers on his other hand in an industrial accident). Some onlookers shouted at him to stop because

23870-419: Was only stopped when catcher Charles "Boss" Schmidt knocked Cobb out. However, aside from Schmidt's statement to the press, no other corroborating witnesses to the assault on Cummings ever came forward and Cummings himself never made a public comment about it. Author Charles Leerhsen speculates that the assault on Cummings and his wife never occurred and that it was a total fabrication by Schmidt. Cobb had spent

24025-449: Was persuaded to move to California, Time magazine put O'Malley on its cover. MLB Commissioner Ford C. Frick had opposed the meeting, but the dual moves proved successful for both franchises—and for MLB. Had the Dodgers moved out west alone, the St. Louis Cardinals —1,600 mi (2,575 km) away —would have been the closest NL team. Instead, the joint move made West Coast road trips economical for visiting teams. The Dodgers set

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