Essay on Ted Williams vs. Ty Cobb

Accomplishments: He broke ground for the participation of African Americans in professional sports. Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's career home run record, although he hit a respectable .280 with 13 home runs before breaking an ankle in September. In 1955, Aaron became the Braves' starting right fielder and he won the NL batting title in 1956 with a .328 average and 26 home runs. His all-time career mark of 755 home runs was built on a remarkable 20-season stretch from 1955 through 1974. He hit 40 or more home runs in 8 of those seasons, 30 or more in 15, and 20 or more in all 20. He also batted over .300 fourteen times. His top batting average was .355 in 1959; his best home run season was 1971, when he had 47. Fascinatingly, he hit 44 home runs--his uniform number--in three different seasons, 1957, 1963, and 1965. The Braves, who had moved to Atlanta in 1966, announced that he would be held out of the opening series in Cincinnati so he would have a chance to break the record before his home fans. However, Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn ordered the team to use Aaron in Cincinnati, and he tied the record in his first trip to the plate. When he retired, he held all-time major-league records for extra base hits, 1,477; total bases, 6,856; and runs batted in, 2,297. Aaron then returned to Atlanta to work in the Braves' front office, where he became one of the first blacks in upper-level

I, Babe Ruth, had a major contribution to society, mainly the game of baseball. As I was becoming more recognized as more of a hitter than a pitcher while the “dead-ball era” was happening. I hit many home runs and broke records. My fans loved it; they paid attention to my full-swing hitting. With the style of hitting I had, it contributed to the revolution of baseball and now the “live-ball era.”

His main position was pitcher, but he also played as an outfielder. Babe started his baseball career in Baltimore, playing for the Orioles. He also played for other teams, such as: The Boston Braves, New York Yankees, and the Boston Red Sox. Babe Ruth hit about 2,873 hits and 714 of those hits were homeruns. Ruth’s first homerun was hit in 1933 at the All Star game in Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Throughout Ruth’s baseball career, he has received many awards. From 1933- 1934 he was on the American All Star League Team. In 1936, he was placed in the national baseball hall of fame.

The game of baseball evolved immensely during the 1900’s. There were new rules and rule changes, new teams in new states, and then there was Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson was a true legend from the day he was born in 1919. Baseball had it all in the first half of the 1900’s, fans filled the stadiums day after day, even during the war times. There was a big-name player on almost every team, children and adults admired these professional baseball players. The only thing professional baseball didn’t have during these times were African American players. Learning about the hardships that he had to overcome as a young boy, and the accomplishments he made from his college days at UCLA, to becoming the first African American professional baseball player, Jackie made it known that he was an American hero.

Baseball statistics are meant to be a representation of a player’s talent. Since baseball’s inception around the mid-19th century, statistics have been used to interpret the talent level of any given player, however, the statistics that have been traditionally used to define talent are often times misleading. At a fundamental level, baseball, like any game, is about winning. To win games, teams have to score runs; to score runs, players have to get on base any way they can. All the while, the pitcher and the defense are supposed to prevent runs from scoring. As simplistic as this view sounds, the statistics being used to evaluate individual players were extremely flawed. In an attempt to develop more

In 1946, Jackie Robinson altered the course of major league baseball forever, he did what no man ever did before him, Robinson broke the color barrier after 15 years of it withstanding (“Jackie”). Before Robinson, there were no African Americans in MLB

In the early to mid-1900s, the races in America were characterized by legal segregation because of lingering racism in America. Jackie Robinson worked his entire career not only to become one of the greatest Major League Baseball players, but also to break the color barrier in baseball. Players, coaches, and managers made a “rule” in 1884 that no African-American man could play baseball on a white team (Graf 2). Despite this decision, Branch Rickey (2) decided there needed to be a change and offered Robinson a contract with the LA Dodgers. Robinson questioned himself and questioned why Ricky chose him to break the color barrier. Rickey stated, “Robinson, I’m looking for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back” (Brown 3).

On May 5, 1978, Rose became the 13th and youngest player in Major League history to collect his 3,000th career hit, with a single off Montreal Expos pitcher Steve Rogers. On June 14 in Cincinnati, Rose singled in the first inning off Cubs pitcher Dave Roberts; Rose would proceed to get a hit in every game he played until August 1, making a run at Joe DiMaggio’s record 56-game hitting streak, which had stood

He hit 600 home runs (5th most all time), won 10 gold gloves, and made 13 All Star Games. In almost 150 years baseball history, only the great Willie Mays can match Ken Griffey Jr. in these statistical categories. However, despite these extraordinary stats, Ken Griffey Jr. may be the ultimate “What Could Have Been” player. An incredibly promising career was derailed in the latter half by chronic injuries that robbed him of hundreds of games. If not for these injuries, Griffey was well on his way to becoming the Home Run King (Stark, 2010) and possibly the greatest player ever. Despite these setbacks, Griffey is still revered as one of the greatest and most popular MLB players ever. The savior of baseball in Seattle and the lone star to

of all time. Babe had a 92 and 44 record, 67.6%, and a 2.24 career earned- run

Some people may think that the Pittsburgh Pirates were the only team to play in Pittsburgh, but that is not true. The Pittsburgh Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords were the two Negro League teams. The Homestead Grays started in 1912. The Grays played independently until they became a part of the American Negro League in 1929. They only spent one season in the American Negro League and were independent again until 1932.

In 1839 Americas soon to be favorite past time was invented right here in New York, Baseball. Baseball whether you like the game or not, has weaved itself deeply into our culture and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. There are countless movies, articles, songs, playing cards, bobble heads, merchandise and books all made about baseball. The players are often idolized by children and adults alike. Baseball in our country was and still is a huge topic of discussion, whose batting average is higher, which team is better, is someone cheating. Troy Maxson like many American’s knows a lot about baseball like how striking out is bad and homeruns are how you win but there are things about baseball that Troy doesn’t know. The article, Walking Around the Fences: Troy Maxson and the Ideology of “Going Down Swinging”, written by David Letzler. Letzler Delves into the ideology of batting and walks in baseball in explanation of the main character Troy Maxson of August Willison’s play Fences, and his thought process of going down swinging and Troy’s thoughts on some of the major league players of that time.

Ty went on to become the youngest man to win a big league batting title, as well as winning 12 in total within thirteen years. I would say he was definitely dedicated to baseball or maybe just his success. As for his stance towards black, I imagine he was largely influenced by society’s views in the south. The south, for the most part during this time, was still against blacks and his actions from the reading showed he was too. For instance, he stabbed a black hotel watchman for no reason other than the man trying to do his job. To be fair, I would imagine that the Tigers covering up the stabbing did nothing but make his attitude towards blacks even worse. Another instance of his aggressiveness towards blacks was when a black groundskeeper tried to shake his hand; Cobb tried to strangle him and the man’s wife for trying to help her husband (Baseball, 2010). Considering his stance on blacks I am honestly not sure if he should be celebrated historically for his accomplishments or vilified due to his actions towards black. The reason for my uncertainty is due to the time frame his accomplishments and actions took place in. America during his time still held a prejudice and racism towards blacks and Cobbs actions showed this. He was also an accomplished baseball player (batting titles) and used many techniques on and off-field that baseball still uses today (training off season); therefore, he really cannot be forgotten historically. For this reason, maybe Cobb should be both celebrated and

It is arguable as to what the greatest age of baseball has been? Babe Ruth is referred to as the greatest baseball player of all time. He has broke many records and has a successful career in baseball. The 20’s stake a claim to baseballs golden age - Babe Ruth. He had stadiums built to either house his home runs or for him to hit them out. Babe Ruth was one of the best pictures of the era. Ruth had converted from a 20 game winner to the titanic slugger with his 50 plus home runs a year. In Babes 22 seasons of playing he got 714 home runs. We will be remembered for his all time record breaking career in baseball. Also for him being a great persona all the way around. He played to the strength of the live ball by picking up a bat and becoming

The book Cobb by Al Stump is a look into the late 19th century and early into the 20th through the eyes of Ty Cobb. The historical biography of Tyrus Raymond Cobb follows his path from classroom screwaraound and fighter to the greatest hitter to ever grace the major leagues. Ty Cobb. Growing up in Royston, GA, Cobb was the oldest of 3 siblings and the son of a schoolteacher, principal, newspaper publisher, state senator, and county school commissioner who wanted him to do nothing but study. Cobb didn’t listen, he practiced his way to making the bigs, shortly before leaving his dad told him {italicize} don’t return a failure. There was no looking back for the future Hall of Famer though.