There is no doubt that Ty Cobb is one of the greatest hitters in Major League Baseball history. If you have any doubt check out our "Hit to Hit" comparison of Cobb's batting records. Two things that make these batting records so impressive are the caliber of pitchers Cobb faced throughout his career and the fact that until 1920, midway through Ty's career, pitchers in Major League Baseball were allowed to doctor baseballs.
In 1920 doctored baseballs were outlawed in Major League Baseball. Doctored baseballs allowed pitchers a huge advantage over batters. A few types of doctored balls included the shineball, emeryball, spitball, and mudball. Doctored baseballs were baseballs altered by a pitcher with either mud, spit, vaseline, or anything that either gave a pitcher more control over the baseball or altered the weight of one side of the ball causing it to move in a non-typical manner. To envision what a doctored baseball might have looked like picture a knuckleball traveling at the speed of a fastball.
According to Severre Braathen in The Idol of Baseball Fandom, Ty Cobb said the hardest pitcher that he ever had to face was Ed Walsh. Ed Walsh is considered by many to be the greatest doctored ball thrower of all time. It's no wonder why Cobb thought he was tough to face. Walsh played 14 years in the major leagues from 1904-1917 for the Chicago White Sox and Boston Braves. A few of Walsh's career stats include:
Doctoring Baseballs
- 1st all time in ERA at 1.82
- 11th all time in shutouts with 57
- 125th all time in strikeouts with 1,736
- 128th all time in career wins with 195
Because
of Ed Walsh's prolific use of doctored baseballs we will compare him to Tim Wakefield. Tim Wakfield is considered to be the second best knuckleball pitcher
of all time. A knuckleball's movement is perhaps the closest recreation of movement that a doctored baseball would have had in the early 1900's. To see the knuckleball in action head over to YouTube to see some career highlights of Tim Wakefield. Wakefield played
professional baseball from 1992-2011 for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Red
Sox. A few of his career stats include:
- 4.41 ERA
- 6 career shutouts
- 69th all time in strikeouts with 2,156
- 115th all time in wins with 200
Besides Ed Walsh, Walter Johnson and Denton “Cy” Young were among the many other great pitchers in the game of baseball during Cobb’s era.
Walter Johnson is considered by many
to be the greatest pitcher ever in Major League Baseball History. Johnson
played for the Washington Senators for 21 years from 1907-1927. A few of
Johnson’s career stats include:
- 1st all time in shutouts with 110
- 2nd all time in wins with 417
- 9th all time in strikeouts with 3,509
- 12th all time in ERA at 2.17
Denton
“Cy” Young played 22 years of Major League Baseball from 1890-1911 for the
Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Perfectos, Boston Americans, and the Cleveland
Naps. If Cy Young’s name sounds familiar that may be because after his death baseball commissioner Ford Frick introduced the Cy Young award in 1955. The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitcher from the American League (AL) and National
League (NL). The Cy Young award winners are announced every November. As of right now the favorite from the AL to win the Cy Young award for 2018 is Blake Snell and the favorite to win the award from the NL is Max Scherzer. For a complete list of Cy Young award winners since 1955 head over to MLB.com. As for Cy Young, a few of his career stats include:
- 1st all time in wins with 511
- 4th all time in shutouts with 76
- 21st all time in strikeouts with 2,803
- 60th all time in ERA at 2.63
Because
both Cy Young and Walter Johnson are among the greatest Major League pitchers of all time we will make a comparison between them and Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw has the best pitching career of any current major league pitcher and is a future hall of fame'r. Kershaw came into the league in 2008 and has played for the Los
Angeles Dodgers ever since. Kershaw has won 3 Cy Young awards, 1 gold glove, and 1 MVP award. A few of his career stats
include:
- 1st among active players in ERA at 2.38. This puts him in 27th all time.
- 1st among active players in shutouts with 15
- 8th in career strikeouts among active players with 2,271. This ranks 57th all time.
- 9th among active players in career wins with 153. This puts him in 247th all time.
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| This original newspaper article from July 20, 1961 found in Milner Library's Special Collections Unit at Illinois State University details how Ty Cobb analyzed pitchers like no player before |
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