Norwich bulletin., 1918-01-02
N COBB BEST MAN
 OF PRESENT DAY
Won First American Leauuse Cham piorahip in 1907 at 5Ass; of 2s-HasI LedSA slusgers, of Past Ten Years

Few persons question the fact that Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers is the greatest player of the era, though some may object to calling him the greatest player of all time. Howecer, an examination of Cobb's record, com pared with stars of other days, must prove that Cobb is unquestiona the greatest player the game has yet pro
 duced Great as were Wagner and on the mighty Tyrus. s
 Cobb joined the Detroit Tigers at the age of IS in the latter part of 1895 and hit .240. in Al games The next year as a regular he finished fifth with an average of 1920. It was during this season that Manager Armour offered to trade Cobb to Clark Griffith, then man. ager of the Yankees. fora pitcher. At the age of 20 Cobb won his first Amer ican league championship in 1907, and has repeated every year since with the exception of 1916, when he was passed by Iris Speaker. 3. .si
 An examination of the batting fig ures for the twelve years in which Cobb has been so consplcuousiy before the public shows how Cobb maintained his skill with the old hitters ase well as the new. Cobb took on such slug gers as Nap Laioie, George Stone, Sam Crawford and Elmer Flick when he first came into the league, but later on his. greatest tussies were with that famous trio of modern day battersL Iris Speaker, Ed Collins and Joe Jack son. Now Cobb is compelled to take on a batter of the latest generation. George Sisier of the Browns, who ran second to the great Tyrus last sea sen. & 7s9 It is interesting to note that whil. Cobb, Jackson, Collins and Speake, i held sway in. the American league in- 1 troduced a new crew of leading bat 1 ters almost each season. From 1910
 to 1917 inclusive the National league
 has had, seven batting champions in eight years, Jake Daubert being the only one to turn the trick twice. The ! other leaders were Magee, Zimmerman l Wagner, Doyle, Chase
 i During Gobb's twelve years as a ma 1 jor league regular he beat the aver.
 age Of the Nationa, league champion nine times, tied it oace,!s and oris ! tN1ce. finished below the mark ser bs ] the champion of the parent league. < It also is interesting to note tha1
 while Speaker was the only ,;playe,
 Who has beaten Cobb for the battins championship rsince 1907, Iris neyel finished in second place. During Eti,t ten years in which Cobb won the bat. ting championships, Jackson. was tht
 runnerup three times Ed Collins thre, times and Crawford, dim Delalanty flajoie and Sisler' once each ~s r. Grouping the five leading batters il leach league Curing the time of Cphb': career brings out some interestfn:
 things. Hal Chase appears only. twie,
 among the. i've leading hitters.4 In 19O1 Cobb's first big year. Chase .outi1it hin
 by three points and finished third il ] the American league with an averas Eot ,323. In 1916 Chase won the 'b;;,f lting championship of the Nationa league, the only year in the, fast i
 that Cobb did not lead the Americaf
 The figures also show that .presen
 day batting is no lighter now than i was ten years ago. In both 1907 an
 1909 the National league had only fou
 300 hitters, in fact the fifth batte
 among. the regulars in 19pa was ] 1 Bridwell hitting .2e4. In 1908 the fit I hitter in the American league hit .29
 and three years later. in 1911, the fit
 hitter in the American, Lajoie, hit .56i