Sports Media Report
The Ty Cobb Museum in Royston, Georgia announced today the publication of a modern reprint edition of the famous 1927 biography, Ty Cobb, The Idol of Baseball Fandom, written by Sverre O. Braathen. This book has been out of print for almost a century and copies are very difficult to find even in reference libraries. When privately held copies exchange hands today they typically sell for hundreds of dollars each, and often more in very good condition.
When Ty Cobb left the Detroit Tigers after the 1926 season and signed with Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics, it was widely believed that the 1927 season would be his last. With Cobb’s career apparently coming to an end, an admiring and dedicated fan, attorney Sveere O. Braathen, undertook the task of writing a biography of his baseball idol. He titled his work: Ty Cobb, The Idol of Baseball Fandom.
Braathen summarized the performance of Cobb’s 23-year career to that time, presenting a detailed description of each season, and accumulating the available batting and fielding statistics from various sources. Additionally, he presented a list of all of the records that Ty had set during his playing career, something that was not typically done in the literature of that day. Braathen developed detailed tables of statistics for Cobb and others to compare Ty Cobb’s career with notable players like Wagner, Ruth, Speaker, and LaJoie.
The accumulation of such statistics into a single published source represented a unique effort in 1927. Braathen’s work set the standard for baseball books of the day, becoming the major source for information on Ty Cobb’s career for the next sixty years.
The Ty Cobb Museum is very pleased to publish this important reprint, judiciously edited and annotated by Dr. William R. Cobb, a member of its Board of Advisors. To achieve the broadest distribution possible, the Ty Cobb Museum’s new paperback edition will sell for only $21.99. It is hoped that every Ty Cobb fan will read this work to understand how truly outstanding the baseball career of Ty Cobb really was.
The Ty Cobb Museum in Royston, Georgia was founded in 1998 to memorialize and honor the baseball career, philanthropy, and the life of Royston native Tyrus Raymond Cobb. The Ty Cobb Museum is at 461 Cook Street, Royston, Georgia, and is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm and Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. For further information about the Museum, visit its website at TyCobbMuseum.org or contact the Museum at 706-245-1825.
