lawrence dennis
November 20th, 2006, 02:52 AM
Great article about the stubborn determination of a true Southern man, not afraid to fight for his beliefs and his people's honor.
Ty Cobb: Southern Nationalist Hero (http://bedlamnation.blogspot.com/2006/11/ty-cobb-southern-nationalist-hero.html)
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/681/1685/400/ty-cobb-1.jpg (http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/681/1685/1600/ty-cobb-1.jpg)
Although he was widely regarded as the greatest all-around baseball player of his day, no name evokes such a reflexive disdain from today’s politically correct elite as does the name Cobb. The general idea is that while “The Georgia Peach” may have been great in his day, his achievements were eventually overshadowed by more modern –- and enlightened -– personalities. Even by those who admire Cobb’s ferocious style and obvious skills, the Georgian is regarded as an atavistic holdover, a relic from the South’s shameful past. In truth, adjusted for the era he played in, Cobb’s diamond achievements still shine, in some ways more brightly than ever. But more important, he can be seen as an example of a type as out of fashion now as he is sorely needed: a hero in defense of his honor and that of his family, his country and his race.
Cobb had an incredible drive to prevail, to outdo the other man, to win at any cost. He was absolutely fearless and inspired something close to terror in his opponents. His approach to baseball –- and to life –- was marked by a highly developed sense of personal honor. To give in, to admit defeat, to back down from a fight was simply not in the Cobb makeup. He was indomitable. “Baseball is something like a war,” he said, and he waged it wits as well as fists and spikes. Using his sharp mind to outwit his opponents, he employed a psychological approach. His goal was not just excellence but the utter demoralization of the enemy. Cobb waged total war, and his complex personality bore the scars of his defeats and the marks of his victories. Yet he could be gracious, especially to men who shared his code.
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“Racist” or Man of Honor?
Central to his reputation as a “racist” was Cobb’s history of violent run-ins with blacks. In 1908, he knocked down a black laborer worker who accidentally flicked a bit of asphalt on Cobb’s trousers while coating a street. The black newspaper Chicago Defender reported that Cobb had kicked a chambermaid down a flight of stairs after she objected to being called “nigger.” Early in 1907, Cobb slapped a black groundskeeper who while drunk, Cobb claimed, clapped him on the shoulder in a gesture of inappropriate familiarity. Already resentful from suspicions that the groundskeeper had trashed one of his gloves, the Peach attacked. He assaulted the groundkeeper and chased him back to a shack near the clubhouse, where his wife came to his aid. Teammates came running over to find Cobb choking her. Although a Southerner himself, the Tigers’ catcher, Charlie Schmidt, objected to the rough treatment of the woman and challenged the Georgian, and the two scuffled. A formal match was set up in which the 240 pound catcher and former boxer Schmidt gave Cobb perhaps the only defeat he ever suffered in a fight. Flattened, his nose broken, Cobb got up again and again, only to be pummeled further by Schmidt. In 1909, Cobb slapped a black elevator operator at Hotel Euclid in Cleveland, Ohio. In the lobby, the house detective, also black, attacked Cobb with a nightstick. As they fought, the detective, George Stansfield, pulled his gun. Cobb produced a knife, cutting Stansfield.
At the bottom of most of these dustups was Cobb’s defense of the ethos of white Southern manhood in the face of violations of the code. “(H)e believed blacks to be fundamentally different from and inferior to whites, and thus necessarily suited to a subservient role in a society that must be dominated by whites. Although most non-Southern whites probably felt basically the same way, that belief was most prevalent among white people in the southern states ….” :cheers: That is to say, it was up to Southerners like Cobb to actually uphold the code when it was challenged. But by no means was Cobb hateful when unprovoked. “He had pleasant recollections of a black maid who had looked after the Cobb children at their home in Royston, and he was capable of acts of kindness toward particular black persons.” Indeed, some blacks got on quite well with Cobb. In 1948, the Detroit News published an account in which a black man named Alexander George Washington Rivers described his relationship to Cobb in glowing terms. He met the famous ballplayer in New Orleans during an exhibition and was invited north to serve as Cobb’s bat man, chauffeur and general handyman. Rivers even named a son Ty Cobb Rivers in honor of the Peach, hardly the act of a man stinging under the lash of all-out racial hatred. “But [Cobb] had no patience whatever with blacks who were insolent, fractious, unsubmissive -– in a word, ‘uppity’ ” (Charles C. Alexander, Ty Cobb, p. 68).
And neither would he put up with insults from white men that took on a racial character. In 1912 at New York’s tiny Hilltop Park, Cobb withstood the attentions of a particularly vicious heckler. Dodging his taunts and insults by avoiding crossing the field near the man’s seat, Cobb asked park officials to have him removed but to no avail. As the Peach was on his way back to the dugout, the fan, Claude Lueker, yelled that Cobb was a “half-nigger.” Egged on by teammate Sam Crawford, Cobb brawled his way up to Lueker’s row and was kicking and stomping him while Crawford and other Tigers armed themselves with bats and challenged other New York fans. In his defense, Cobb said, “When a spectator calls me a ‘half-nigger’ I think it is about time to fight.” League president Ban Johnson suspended Cobb. The rest of the Tigers, some of whom were participants in the hazing of Cobb some six years earlier, went on strike, refusing to play until Cobb was reinstated. The men knew that if fans were allowed to insult players with impunity, none of them would be safe from insult. A line had to be drawn somewhere. The case was finally settled when Ty accepted a 10-day suspension.
Cobb’s reaction drew some favorable notice. “Most working sportswriters tended to side with Cobb, agreeing that spectators’ abuse of players had got out of hand and that the slur hurled at him would have provoked almost any white man, especially a sensitive southerner.” In addition, “Georgia’s entire congressional delegation -– two senators and ten representatives -– wired Cobb that ‘As Georgians we commend your action in resisting an uncalled for insult.’ Mayor Courtland S. Winn of Atlanta praised him for upholding ‘the principles that have always been taught to Southern manhood,’ and the city’s police commissioner thought that if Cobb hadn’t ‘licked that man as he should, he would have lost the respect of every decent man in the country” (Alexander, p. 107).
----- SNIP -----
Ty Cobb: Southern Nationalist Hero (http://bedlamnation.blogspot.com/2006/11/ty-cobb-southern-nationalist-hero.html)
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/681/1685/400/ty-cobb-1.jpg (http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/681/1685/1600/ty-cobb-1.jpg)
Although he was widely regarded as the greatest all-around baseball player of his day, no name evokes such a reflexive disdain from today’s politically correct elite as does the name Cobb. The general idea is that while “The Georgia Peach” may have been great in his day, his achievements were eventually overshadowed by more modern –- and enlightened -– personalities. Even by those who admire Cobb’s ferocious style and obvious skills, the Georgian is regarded as an atavistic holdover, a relic from the South’s shameful past. In truth, adjusted for the era he played in, Cobb’s diamond achievements still shine, in some ways more brightly than ever. But more important, he can be seen as an example of a type as out of fashion now as he is sorely needed: a hero in defense of his honor and that of his family, his country and his race.
Cobb had an incredible drive to prevail, to outdo the other man, to win at any cost. He was absolutely fearless and inspired something close to terror in his opponents. His approach to baseball –- and to life –- was marked by a highly developed sense of personal honor. To give in, to admit defeat, to back down from a fight was simply not in the Cobb makeup. He was indomitable. “Baseball is something like a war,” he said, and he waged it wits as well as fists and spikes. Using his sharp mind to outwit his opponents, he employed a psychological approach. His goal was not just excellence but the utter demoralization of the enemy. Cobb waged total war, and his complex personality bore the scars of his defeats and the marks of his victories. Yet he could be gracious, especially to men who shared his code.
----- SNIP -----
“Racist” or Man of Honor?
Central to his reputation as a “racist” was Cobb’s history of violent run-ins with blacks. In 1908, he knocked down a black laborer worker who accidentally flicked a bit of asphalt on Cobb’s trousers while coating a street. The black newspaper Chicago Defender reported that Cobb had kicked a chambermaid down a flight of stairs after she objected to being called “nigger.” Early in 1907, Cobb slapped a black groundskeeper who while drunk, Cobb claimed, clapped him on the shoulder in a gesture of inappropriate familiarity. Already resentful from suspicions that the groundskeeper had trashed one of his gloves, the Peach attacked. He assaulted the groundkeeper and chased him back to a shack near the clubhouse, where his wife came to his aid. Teammates came running over to find Cobb choking her. Although a Southerner himself, the Tigers’ catcher, Charlie Schmidt, objected to the rough treatment of the woman and challenged the Georgian, and the two scuffled. A formal match was set up in which the 240 pound catcher and former boxer Schmidt gave Cobb perhaps the only defeat he ever suffered in a fight. Flattened, his nose broken, Cobb got up again and again, only to be pummeled further by Schmidt. In 1909, Cobb slapped a black elevator operator at Hotel Euclid in Cleveland, Ohio. In the lobby, the house detective, also black, attacked Cobb with a nightstick. As they fought, the detective, George Stansfield, pulled his gun. Cobb produced a knife, cutting Stansfield.
At the bottom of most of these dustups was Cobb’s defense of the ethos of white Southern manhood in the face of violations of the code. “(H)e believed blacks to be fundamentally different from and inferior to whites, and thus necessarily suited to a subservient role in a society that must be dominated by whites. Although most non-Southern whites probably felt basically the same way, that belief was most prevalent among white people in the southern states ….” :cheers: That is to say, it was up to Southerners like Cobb to actually uphold the code when it was challenged. But by no means was Cobb hateful when unprovoked. “He had pleasant recollections of a black maid who had looked after the Cobb children at their home in Royston, and he was capable of acts of kindness toward particular black persons.” Indeed, some blacks got on quite well with Cobb. In 1948, the Detroit News published an account in which a black man named Alexander George Washington Rivers described his relationship to Cobb in glowing terms. He met the famous ballplayer in New Orleans during an exhibition and was invited north to serve as Cobb’s bat man, chauffeur and general handyman. Rivers even named a son Ty Cobb Rivers in honor of the Peach, hardly the act of a man stinging under the lash of all-out racial hatred. “But [Cobb] had no patience whatever with blacks who were insolent, fractious, unsubmissive -– in a word, ‘uppity’ ” (Charles C. Alexander, Ty Cobb, p. 68).
And neither would he put up with insults from white men that took on a racial character. In 1912 at New York’s tiny Hilltop Park, Cobb withstood the attentions of a particularly vicious heckler. Dodging his taunts and insults by avoiding crossing the field near the man’s seat, Cobb asked park officials to have him removed but to no avail. As the Peach was on his way back to the dugout, the fan, Claude Lueker, yelled that Cobb was a “half-nigger.” Egged on by teammate Sam Crawford, Cobb brawled his way up to Lueker’s row and was kicking and stomping him while Crawford and other Tigers armed themselves with bats and challenged other New York fans. In his defense, Cobb said, “When a spectator calls me a ‘half-nigger’ I think it is about time to fight.” League president Ban Johnson suspended Cobb. The rest of the Tigers, some of whom were participants in the hazing of Cobb some six years earlier, went on strike, refusing to play until Cobb was reinstated. The men knew that if fans were allowed to insult players with impunity, none of them would be safe from insult. A line had to be drawn somewhere. The case was finally settled when Ty accepted a 10-day suspension.
Cobb’s reaction drew some favorable notice. “Most working sportswriters tended to side with Cobb, agreeing that spectators’ abuse of players had got out of hand and that the slur hurled at him would have provoked almost any white man, especially a sensitive southerner.” In addition, “Georgia’s entire congressional delegation -– two senators and ten representatives -– wired Cobb that ‘As Georgians we commend your action in resisting an uncalled for insult.’ Mayor Courtland S. Winn of Atlanta praised him for upholding ‘the principles that have always been taught to Southern manhood,’ and the city’s police commissioner thought that if Cobb hadn’t ‘licked that man as he should, he would have lost the respect of every decent man in the country” (Alexander, p. 107).
----- SNIP -----