The Significance of Ty Cobb and our Farm

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Tyrus Raymond Cobb ( December 1886 - July 1961) had an unparalleled baseball career. The "Georgia Peach" as he was called. created or equaled more records than any other player in the history of the game. The outfielder played from 1905 to 1928. Most of those years were spent with the Detroit Tigers, but his last three seasons were with the Philadelphia Athletics under manager Connie Mack, who lured him from the Tigers with a record salary offer of $60,000 a year.

 Ty Cobb led the American League in batting twelve times and hit over .400 three straight seasons. He stole 892 bases during his career, a record that stood for fifty years. Cobb was an aggressive and, according to some, an unprincipled player. His alleged spiking, which he consistently denied, was a particular sore point with other players. Despite his unpopularity in some circles, Cobb was the leading vote-getter among the initial group of inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936. The others were Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, and Christy Mathewson. Long before his retirement, Cobb was a rich man, having invested shrewdly in Coca-Cola and General Motors stock.

Little known is the fact that this illustrious career had its beginnings in Cherokee County, particularly at the Cobb House and on the ballfields of Murphy, Nc.

 Cobb hailed from what he called the "backwoods of northeastern Georgia." He was born in the Narrows community of Banks County to William and Amanda Cobb. The family moved to Royston when he was still quite young. Professor William Herschel Cobb was a farmer, schoolteacher, and one time Georgia state senator. Though from a poor area the Cobbs were themselves, middle class. "We had status," Ty Cobb wrote. Thus it is not surprising that his father discouraged his ball-playing, believing it to be a waste of time and showing a lack of ambition. His father hoped that he might become a doctor or a lawyer. As a consequence the young Ty Cobb looked forward to the train trips to his grandparents, who had no such objections as to how he spent his time: 

There was still another powerful male influence in my early life: my grandfather~ John Cobb--the squire of a section of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Murphy, North Carolina. During summertime, I was allowed to visit Grandpa and Grandma Cobb. I couldn't wait to make the hundred-mile trip. A decision I'd have to make before long--between college and a career no other Cobb had elected began to take shape here.

Ty Cobb's aunt Nora often drove him by buggy to Murphy and Andrews to play ball. These trips took place during his early teen years, that is between 1897 and 1903.

 In 1904 Cobb received a minor-league tryout and in the next year, at age eighteen, was in the majors at Detroit. During his playing years, Cobb often came back to the old place. On occasion, he would return to Detroit with some of his grandmother's home cooking to share with his teammates.

 About 200 feet from the house is a rocked-in spring. At that spot is an engraved plaque that reads "TY COBB/SENIOR GRANDSON/WORLD'S BASEBALL CHAMPION." The plaque, erected in 1941 is apparently the only recognition given locally to Ty Cobb. 

John Franklin Cobb died intestate in 1911 at the age of seventy-nine. His heirs included his five surviving children and several grandchildren (including Ty Cobb) Each of the heirs transferred their interest in the property to Cobb's widow Sarah. In 1916 Mrs. Cobb sold all of her real estates, three tracts totaling 158 acres, to her daughter Nora for $1~350. Sarah Cobb died on October 4, 1921, at the age of eighty-four. The Significance of Ty Cobb and our Farm Best Cabin Rentals In Carolina