Going Back in Time: Baseball Legend Ty Cobb Picks His All-Time Team
The legendary outfielder knew exactly who he wanted if he was building a team of his own.
Legendary outfielder Ty Cobb remains one of the best players to ever grace a diamond nearly a century after his last game. His .366 career batting average is still the highest of all-time, and his 4,189 base hits are second. Needless to say, talent knows talent, and when Cobb picked his dream team, he made some interesting choices.
In 1941, Cobb, also known as the Georgia Peach, was 13 years into his retirement after spending 24 years in the majors — 22 with the Detroit Tigers and two with the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1936 he became an inaugural member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. When he was asked by John Kieran of the New York Times who he would choose for his all-time team, he didn’t hold back. In a piece published on July 31, 1941, he laid out his roster:
Catcher, Mickey Cochrane: The left-handed batter was a career .320 hitter and two-time American League MVP. He was also Cobb’s teammate with the Philadelphia Athletics during the legend’s final two seasons. A bean ball prematurely ended the catcher’s Hall-of-Fame career
First Base, Lou Gehrig: Although the Iron Horse was just becoming a star during the twilight of Cobb’s playing days, he made quite…
