Not satisfied to accept the mythology that surrounds Ty Cobb, who reputedly was one of baseball鈥檚 most contentious characters, author Charles Leerhsen endeavors to set the record straight. While no angel, Cobb鈥檚 is not the racist nor thoroughly disliked athlete some made him out to be, especially after his death. The result is a revealing look at one of America鈥檚 first true superstars, a player who once set more than 90 major-league records before retiring in 1928, including for most career base hits.
Here鈥檚 an excerpt from Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty:
鈥淭o some infielders, Cobb was like a shape-shifter who didn鈥檛 approach but mysteriously appeared at the base they were charged with defending. Umpire Billy Evans said that Cobb was the only runner he ever saw who didn鈥檛 slow up even slightly while transitioning from a flat-out run to a slide. Cobb said that the key was to slide with a kind of glee, or at least the appearance of glee 鈥� 鈥榣ike you enjoyed the act of sliding.鈥� This was, he admitted, particularly hard to do in the early part of the season, when each slide scraped a swatch of skin from his legs 鈥� skin that would grow back tougher, he believed, and make sliding in the home stretch of the season less painful.鈥�
