Hall of Fame Major League Baseball Player. He ranks as one of baseball's greatest players, if not the game's fiercest competitor. His childhood was in the post-Civil War South where racism was the norm and a given and accepted practice. What shaped his personality more than anything was an incident that happened when he was just 18, just a few weeks before he joined the Tigers. His mother fatally shot his father outside her bedroom window. It was thought that she mistook him for a burglar, while others whispered that he suspected her of infidelity. Either way, the killing of a father whom he dearly loved and admired spurred Cobb to become the fiercest competitor in baseball history. The "Georgia Peach" hit .300 or better every year from 1906 to 1928, and won the American League batting championship every year from 1907 to 1915 and 1917 to 1919. Some revisionist historians deprive him of his greatness, saying that he would not be able to achieve the same level of aggression and greatness in today's Baseball World. One must remember that if Ty Cobb were playing today, he would have the same advantages in training that today's players have. While it is almost never mentioned, he did have many friends in baseball. Hardly anyone knows that one of his best friends in the sport was none other than Christy Mathewson. He loved and admired "Big Six," visiting with him whenever he got the chance. He even went out of his way to serve with him in the Chemical Warfare Unit, which was known as the Gas and Flame Division, during World War I. When Mathewson died in 1925, it was said that Cobb broke down in tears. He also was great friends with Walter Johnson, Mickey Cochrane, (a hard loser like Cobb), Bobby Veach, Germany Schaefer, Bob "Fats" Fothergill, Wild Bill Donovan, Harry Heilmann, Ray Schalk, Nap Rucker, and Tris Speaker. He was friends with Joe DiMaggio and helped Joe with his contract squabbles with Yankee Management. He even had a rapprochement with Babe Ruth after the Bambino married a friend and fellow Georgian, the beautiful Claire Merritt Hodgson. The two, who had a venomous rivalry, became friendly after he left the Tigers at the end of the 1926 season. It is often mentioned that only 3 Major League players showed up at Cobb's funeral because he was not liked. In reality, most of Cobb's friends in baseball had already passed away. In fact, at the time of Ty's death from cancer in July of 1961, his good friend Mickey Cochrane was already ill with a respiratory ailment and would die in June 1962, eleven months after Cobb. Many myths revolve around the Cobb mystique. Cobb always said that he never sharpened his spikes, but also never denied it to opposing players. The alleged Honus Wagner "Kraut Head Incident" in the 1909 World Series was a fabrication of the press. There is no account of the incident in the newspapers of that time. Besides being a great ballplayer, he was very shrewd with money, becoming baseball's first millionaire. He bought Coca-Cola and automobile stock, building a fortune. Ty Cobb became the first player voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936. He died from cancer on July 17, 1961, five months shy of his 75th birthday. His career totals were 3,033 games played, 4,189 hits, 2,245 runs, 117 home runs, 727 RBIs, 12 batting titles, three .400 seasons, 892 career stolen bases, including a then-record 96 steals in 1915, and a lifetime .367 batting average, which is still the record for a career batting average.