"Ty Cobb hit .367 over 24 seasons in the major leagues - an astounding feat that will probably never be equaled and that in 1936 earned him the first spot in baseball's Hall of Fame. His success on the field, however, did not come without a steep price. Seized by an obsessive will to win, Cobb played baseball combatively and defiantly, reinventing its conventions and pushing its rules to their limits. Although effective, his ingenuity - and especially his no-holds-barred approach - was viewed with resentment and contempt by opponents, fans in other cities, most of the media, and even his Detroit teammates, who ceaselessly sparred with Cobb on and off the field." "Cobb's career spanned two eras, eras characterized by dramatic changes both in baseball and society at large; the period before World War I, known in baseball as the dead-ball era, when home runs were sparse and Sundays were reserved for church; and the Roaring Twenties, marked by the introduction of the live ball, when every game had a home run and every corner a speakeasy. Cobb excelled in both eras, demonstrating a fierce ability to adapt. Yet, to Ty's everlasting dismay, it was his single-minded pursuit of victory, his win-at-all-costs style that became his legacy, diminishing the greatness of .367." "Ty Cobb: His Tumultuous Life and Times takes you into the cauldron that was his life, revealing in a remarkable combination of words and pictures his many triumphs and even greater number of tragedies - the ugly incidents that he seemed powerless to avoid, the personal torment, the alienation. Besides the more than 275 photographs, many of which have never before been published, and author Richard Bak's adept narrative, this book includes numerous personal letters and interviews with Cobb's contemporaries. In all, they unearth images, stories, and anecdotes that reveal not only Cobb's tempestuous nature (both on and off the field) but a softer side that silently competed with his public persona. Bak pointedly replays the all too many times his malignant personality prevailed, such as when he throttled the career of a minor league pitcher who inadvertently dusted him off the plate - during batting practice. Or the time he beat his wife with a baseball bat. Or his alleged flirtations with the Ku Klux Klan. This is the Ty Cobb history remembers. But Bak uncovers another Cobb, a Cobb who could induce children to smile, a Cobb quietly involved in an assortment of charities, a Cobb who founded a hospital in his hometown of Royston, Georgia, that continues to operate today, thanks to the support of his estate." "A financial success away from the diamond as well, Ty was one of the first athletes to have an effect on popular culture. He embodied the possibilities of turn-of-the-century America, especially those of the city in which he played. As his baseball and business successes mounted, so did the fortunes of Detroit, whose population increased by more than half a million during Cobb's career. Bak explores with deft touch this not so coincidental parallel, drawing on little known sources to provide a translucent view of the boom years of a country, a city - and a man." "Ty Cobb: His Tumultuous Life and Times is a vivid portrayal of the most violent, tormented, and complex man ever to lace up a pair of spikes. It is also the story of the personality who was perhaps baseball's greatest player."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved