Baseball geeks: how do you think Ty Cobb's style of play would hold up vs. modern pitching/defense?

[Fausto]

I'm reading Ty Cobb's biography and it discusses in great detail how his style of hitting and particularly his agressive baserunning netted him a lot of extra bases and runs scored.

For example, he'd often go from first to third on a sac bunt....something I don't recall seeing in modern ball. Batting-wise, he used that funky hands-apart grip to slap balls through the infielders rather than hit for power (although he did hit his fair share of homers for the day). The book just got me thinking how that style of play might be dealt with in modern ball.

Discuss.



PS- first person to crap in this thread with a "Baseball sucks" post gets a spikes-up slide in the junk.

 

[Led Zeppelin]

Pedro's first pitch to him would be straight at his head.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: LedZeppelin
Pedro's first pitch to him would be straight at his head.

And Ty would promptly charge the mound and beat the crap out of him. He was a bit of a scrapper....even got in fights fairly regularly with his own teammates.

 

[gistech1978]

ty cobb wouldnt have even set foot on the field with pedro pitching to him, him being a complete racist moron.
the game is so different now anyways.

 

[filmmaker]

I think baseball would be more fun to watch if it were played like Cobb. I hate seeing people jog to first when they have a chance to make it there. I think it would stun a lot of the opossing players.

 

[filmmaker]

Originally posted by: gistech1978
ty cobb wouldnt have even set foot on the field with pedro pitching to him, him being a complete racist moron.
the game is so different now anyways.

Yes, it is much different now.

 

[timmyG]

wasn't ty cobb a real scumbag?

 

[filmmaker]

Originally posted by: timmyG
wasn't ty cobb a real scumbag?

I can think of a lot of players today that are a lot like him, but yes, he wasn't the rosiest player on the field.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: filmmaker

Originally posted by: gistech1978
ty cobb wouldnt have even set foot on the field with pedro pitching to him, him being a complete racist moron.
the game is so different now anyways.

Yes, it is much different now.

Well yeah, but that's the point of the thread. For example, what would the average defensive setup do when Ty tried to take third on a sac bunt or an extra bag on a lazy throw from an outfielder. You will see stuff like this from time to time as most players have a "standard" number of bags in their head that the batter will take depending on where the ball is hit in most cases. It would be interesting to see how someone as fast and agressive as Cobb was on the bags would affect this.

 

[BigSmooth]

I'd guess that Cobb would still be a good hitter in today's game. He obviously had great hand-eye coordination, he was fast, and he had excellent instincts.
Ichiro hits .350 today despite an unusual swing because he is fast and he "hits 'em where they ain't", and I think Cobb could do the same.

 

[MrDingleDangle]

he personally wouldnt be able to play in the modern day probably because of the media and him being 1000X more of an ass the bonds

but his style of play could hold up

 

[filmmaker]

Originally posted by: BigSmooth
I'd guess that Cobb would still be a good hitter in today's game. He obviously had great hand-eye coordination, he was fast, and he had excellent instincts.
Ichiro hits .350 today despite an unusual swing because he is fast and he "hits 'em where they ain't", and I think Cobb could do the same.

Ichiro rocks

 

[gistech1978]

well..the first to third on a sac bunt would work once, if at all.
as far as the lazy throws, i think i saw soriano do it once this season.
i think ty cobb would play like pete rose did.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: gistech1978
well..the first to third on a sac bunt would work once, if at all.
as far as the lazy throws, i think i saw soriano do it once this season.
i think ty cobb would play like pete rose did.

That was pretty much my thinking as well. I've seen Andruw Jones (Braves CF) take an extra base on a lobbed thrown from deep center a few times as well. I just think a lot of modern players are fairly complacent baserunners most of the time with Rose being the exception.

 

[filmmaker]

Originally posted by: Fausto1

Originally posted by: gistech1978
well..the first to third on a sac bunt would work once, if at all.
as far as the lazy throws, i think i saw soriano do it once this season.
i think ty cobb would play like pete rose did.

That was pretty much my thinking as well. I've seen Andruw Jones (Braves CF) take an extra base on a lobbed thrown from deep center a few times as well. I just think a lot of modern players are fairly complacent baserunners most of the time with Rose being the exception.

I wish more players would run to first like he did.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: filmmaker

Originally posted by: Fausto1

Originally posted by: gistech1978
well..the first to third on a sac bunt would work once, if at all.
as far as the lazy throws, i think i saw soriano do it once this season.
i think ty cobb would play like pete rose did.

That was pretty much my thinking as well. I've seen Andruw Jones (Braves CF) take an extra base on a lobbed thrown from deep center a few times as well. I just think a lot of modern players are fairly complacent baserunners most of the time with Rose being the exception.

I wish more players would run to first like he did.

I agree. Our (Braves) leadoff man Furcal legs out a lot of infield hits or causes throwing errors because he hauls ass to first almost every time he puts the ball in play.

 

[murphy55d]

He'd probably be in prison if he were around today, so he'd dominate the penal leagues, that's about it. (eagerly awaits first "he said penal" joke)

His style? yeah, it would work today... but it's hard to say if he himself could even touch a Randy Johnson or Pedro Martinez fastball. IMO it is impossible(and unfair) to compare guys from completely different eras.