Ty Cobb: Safe at Home

By Don Rhodes

Book Overview

Distantly related to a Confederate general, Ty Cobb was a strapping Augusta youth who became a star for the Detroit Tigers. Long revered as a great hitter and an incredibly fast baserunner, Cobb often has been remembered as a hated athlete, a bitter man who died nearly 50 years ago. No biographer has explored the complex personality as deeply and meticulously as Don Rhodes in his new comprehensive biography. Rhodes reveals the man as Cobb was in Augusta: in the off season and as a retiree. For the first time, a biographer includes interviews with Cobb's two daughters (whom Rhodes met before they died), his granddaughter, and close friends, who offer insight and photos of Cobb's private life never seen before. Many of Cobb's emotional troubles started early in life, and no doubt were compounded during his early seasons with the Tigers, when his mother went on trial for murdering his father. The ugly side of this phenomenal athlete is not defended or explained away, but readers learn to better understand a man who seemed so miserable, when he had so much.

Don Rhodes is an editor at Morris Communications in Augusta. He has written "Ramblin' Rhodes," a music column, for more than 37 years, and his byline appears in many magazines and newspapers. He lives in North Augusta, South Carolina.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0762744804
• ISBN13: 9780762744800
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Lyons Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Cobb Has A Compassionate Side

This book is well written, having been thoroughly researched by the author who interviewed several family members. It is about the human side of Cobb and reveals little known events that shows Cobb at times was all about family and community. The book chronicles several of Cobb's friends in Augusta, Detroit, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. It shows him to be highly respected and admired throughout the nation. Of course the ball players of his era were tenacious and highly competitive. There is new material never written about that the reader will find very informative. This is more than about baseball as it is all about Cobb's life. I am sure that many baseball fans will find this book informative and pleasurable.It is one of the best books on Cobb that I have ever read, possibly the greatest player to ever play the game.

Cobb's TRUE biography

Great book. I cannot put it down. Has a lot of facts of Cobb's life which I never read in any other book on the great baseball player.