TY Cobb best hitter ever?

Question

Cobb played before Ruth, cobb was a hit and run the bases type of guy and ruth was a homerun hitter which the fans loved. When ruth came on the seen,cobb finally said look anyone can hit homers he went 6 for 6 hitting 2 homers.

Answer 1

Yes, Ty Cobb was the greatest hitter. His numbers were incredible. He hit more triples then rickey henderson, he hit a better average and dominated every single statistic for hitters. He did say anyone could hit homeruns, and he liked hitting doubles and triples.

In 1950-something, a reporter asked Cobb if he would fair as well as he did against the present day pitchers, compared to his own. He answered by saying he'd hit around .300. The reporter was going to ask if he thought the pitchers of the 50's were that much better when Cobb said, "But you have to remember, I'm 73."

That kind of swagger? Best hitter of all time.

Ruth hit a ton of homers, but he leads all time for most strike-outs. Cobb didn't strike out much.

Answer 2

Would say Ty Cobb was the best. In one thousand baseball seasons no hitter with a minimum of 1000 at bats will break Ty Cobbs 367 lifetime batting average. The talent pool being deeper? If Ty Cobb played today he would still hit 350. This dude had guts ,he would find a way. He could pick off singles easy against todays pitching. There are so many expansion teams, a young Ty Cobb could easily succeed. He may have some discipline problems though.

Answer 3

Ty Cobb was simply one of the best of his generation, but unlike Ruth, he merely dominated, but essentially changed nothing.

Cobb hit .400 over a 5 year stretch, something that's unimaginable now. However, a lot of people had really crappy gloves and making only 40 errors would be considered good.

If Cobb truly was able to hit home runs anytime, then he lacked the foresight to see that a home run was more productive than a triple.

Rickey Henderson didn't hit triples because he felt there was a higher percentage of success if he hit a double and stole 3rd.

Cobb, Wagner, Williams, Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Schmidt and Bonds all were great players at playing the game that they had in front of them.

Ruth changed it. Some pitchers that come up with new pitches change the game and should be treated like that, but still none changed it like Ruth.

The difference in hitting between Cobb and Ruth was 25 points and Cobb was 7% better than Ruth in batting average.
Cobb could drive in 100-120 runs. He would score 130, he would steal 80.

Ruth walked 170 times and still drove in 145. He scored more than Cobb, drove in more than Cobb. The only significant difference is in the stolen bases.

Answer 4

An argument could be made that he was the best hitter ever in MLB. His career batting average was 366 over 24 seasons and he hit over 400 three times. The problem anyone would have is trying to compare players today with those of yesterday because the game is so much different now. However, many people would agree that Cobb is the guy. The thing that is so great about baseball is that everyone has their opinion and everyone is right if that is how they feel.

Answer 5

Best Hitters? The folks who have responded have left off a few names. Remember that some did not have the long career like Cobb. Cobb in his day was the cream of the crop with others just mediocre. Like Michael Jordan and then the rest of the NBA.

If Cobb had played with more talented players such as those in the 60's, 70's, 80's & 90's were the talent pool was in greater numbers he would have still been good but not as great as his stats indicate. It's like a man playing in the little leagues, his stats better be great.

Just want to drop a few names that did not get mentioned as yet. Maybe you forgot or you are not a real baseball fan.
Hank Greenberg, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Arron, Pete Rose, Ted Williams, Roberto Clemente, Jimmie Fox, Lou Gehrig, Frank Robinson, Rod Carew. Most of these guys played against each other in their careers so you really had great talent vs great talent. Men against men!!!!!!

Answer 6

He is not the best hitter of all time. Sure, he finished with a .367 career BA, but I don't think he has the overall stats like some of the better players of the past 100 years. He is in the conversation but not number one. Ruth's stats speak for themself.

Ruth-http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_stats/Hitting/Ruth_Babe.htm
Cobb-
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_stats/Hitting/Cobb_Ty.htm

And Ruth had a career BA of .342. Yes, he struck out a lot but with an AVG like that, come on. I just think Ruth was also the more interesting character. I love Ty Cobb but when comparing, I go Ruth.

Answer 7

No, Ty Cobb was not the best hitter ever. He was the best contact hitter of the early era and, if he played today, he would be a lead off hitter on any team. There have been many great hitters in the game of baseball(Ty Cobb one of them), but he is behind Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Ted Williams.

Answer 8

Best Hitter Ever

Answer 9

Cobb and Ruth played together in the American League from 1914 to 1928. Cobb was a great hitter, but I feel Ruth was the total package. Cobb hit .367 for a career average, but Ruth hit .342 for his career and he obviously produced more runs since he held the record for RUNS SCORED, as well as HR, RBI, OBP, Slugging Average, etc, when he retired.

Answer 10

Yes and I will let his stats speak for themselves.

#1 All-Time ba - .366
#2 All-Time hits - 4,189
#2 All-Time runs - 2,246
#4 All-Time stolen bases - 892
#6 All-Time rbi's - 1,937

Won 12 batting titles. ( 9 in a row )
Went 23 straight season hitting over .300
Had (3) .400 seasons.
In 1909 won the triple crown and became baseball's first and only quadruple crown winner. ( He won the stolen base title as well. )
He struck out 357 times out of "11,434" at bats! That's 1 out of every 32 at bats.

The is no doubt that Ty Cobb was baseball's greatest hitter.