I honestly don't know how to feel about Ty Cobb. As many/most of you know, I AM a Tigers fan. Ty Cobb is undoubtedly the greatest player in team history. He retired with 90 records. He has the highest HOF voting percentage in history (yes, better than the Babe). He STILL holds a bunch of records. He hit .366(!!!) for his career. And yet...
...he went into the stand to beat up a man with only 2 fingers. He was a notorious racist who once hit a black elevator operator for being "uppity."
How does one reconcile two totally polar opposite sides of the man? His on-field heroics have nothing to do with his reprehensible racism, and vice versa. Does one give him a pass because he was a rural Georgian born in the 1880's. I just don't know how to react to the man.
This I do know: He was one hell of a player. He also was known as a terrible racist, although perhaps that stance is somewhat overblown. How does one reconcile inner sanctum HOF credentials against reprehensible personal beliefs?
What if Babe Ruth had done the racist things that Ty did? How would we view him? What if Ty's actions are somewhat modernized? What if his cruel actions, rather than against blacks, were against gays or hispanics, how would be feel then? How much of a pass do we give a person for "nurture?"
I don't know. I wish I did. Ty Cobb is head and shoulders the greatest player in my favorite team's history. I want a man to idolize. He just has so many damned warts....
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