Ty Cobb was one of the greatest baseball players to ever
grace a diamond. During a 24-year major league career, he hit .366 with 12
batting titles, both the highest marks of all-time, and was ultimately inducted
into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
He was also a complicated man, known for his intolerance and ferociousness, both on
and off
the field. When he died in
1961, he was incredibly wealthy, yet essentially alone—having lived an
incredible life but not maintaining the relationships befitting his station.
Cobb wasn’t just baseball and controversy. There were many
facets to him, with one of the least well-known being a brief bit of stage
acting he did following the 1911 season.
Although Cobb was one of the best-paid players in baseball during
his career, it was common practice for most major leaguers to barnstorm or have
a second job during the offseason. The star outfielder was no exception.
In 1911, Cobb was 25 and coming off a season that saw him
hit an amazing .420 for the Detroit Tigers. He was the face of baseball and in
a position to capitalize on it.
According to Rob
Edelman, who wrote about Cobb’s acting for SABR, Cobb was invited to try
his hand at the stage by Vaughan Glaser, an actor-director who oversaw a
Georgia-based theater company.
Dan Holmes wrote in Ty
Cobb: A Biography, that Glaser reportedly offered Cobb in the neighborhood
of $8,400 to play the part of Billy Bolton, a fourth-year freshman college
football player, in the production of The College Widow. It was a popular
comedy of the time and would be later made into the Marx Brothers film, Horse Feathers.
The play was a travelling show, going all over the country
during the late fall and early winter months. Because of the nice payday and
the promise he would receive acting coaching, Cobb accepted.
He wasn’t the only major leaguer in the troupe at first. He was
joined by Shoeless Joe Jackson, an outfielder for the Cleveland Indians and his
closest equal as a hitter. However, the quiet South Carolinian quit his
supporting role shortly after the tour began and returned home.
When the production reached Nashville, Cobb suited up and
practiced with the Vanderbilt football team—apparently trying his hand at
method acting.
His arrival in the land of country music and barbeque was
eagerly anticipated. Bill
Traughber cited a newspaper account, which was impressed by his thespian
abilities. "On the stage Mr. Cobb is maintaining the same high average
that has marked his work on the diamond. Although the footlights are new to
him, he declares he never had stage fright and likes the work.”
Not everyone appreciated Cobb’s acting, according to a June
13, 1915 article in the New
York Times. The ballplayer received very marked criticism from the editor
of The News in Birmingham, Alabama. The two exchanged heated letters, including
Cobb telling him, “I am a better actor than you are, a better sports editor
than you are, a better dramatic critic than you are. I make more money than you
do, and I know I am a better ball player—so why should inferiors criticize
superiors?”
Being a professional sports star, Cobb apparently took to
the pressures of acting naturally. Edelman quoted him as explaining, “Much to
my surprise, I managed to get through my first night on the stage without that
awful bugaboo, ‘stage fright,’ attacking my heart and dropping me in my tracks.
But I had been warned so much regarding such an attack that I made every
preparation to guard against it. It was just like figuring out what kind of a
ball a pitcher was going to put over. I knew it was coming and waited for it. A
few appearances on the stage gave me reassurance and now I am perfectly at
home. I find stage work wonderfully interesting and I like it.”
The show was a success wherever it went, as people piled
into seats to see the famous baseball deliver a comedic performance. However,
despite the success, Cobb unexpectedly decided to pull a diva move.
According to Edelman, Cobb explained, “Here
I am at the end of several months on the boards four pounds under my playing
weight when under . . . more natural conditions I should be from five to ten
pounds over that notch. I am becoming nervous and I miss my regular sleep. It
was my ambition . . . to become a good actor, but in attaining that object I
see that my usefulness as a baseball player is bound to suffer and so I have
decided to cut out the stage for the pastime which first made me the reputation
I enjoy.”
After nearly 10 weeks travelling all over North America as
an actor, Cobb returned home and spent the next several weeks with his family
before heading off to start a new baseball season.
There were possible other reasons why Cobb didn’t finish his
full run of shows. Dennis
Abrams wrote that the crusty player felt uncomfortable kissing his female
on-stage co-star and also worried that the bright production lights would
possibly damage his refined batting eye. He also intensely disliked not being
thought of being the best at whatever he did. Even though the show was popular,
and he had displayed great bravado in defending himself to the Birmingham
critic, he also must have known that his presence was primarily that of a
novelty.
Although he cut his first acting gig short, The College
Widow wasn’t his only brush with show business. He later acted in at least one silent
film, and also appeared
on some television quiz shows.
Show business was big business, and for a man who proved
himself incredibly intelligent at amassing a fortune,
it’s not a great surprise he continued to go back to the well to capitalize on
his reputation and celebrity.
Just think how odd it would be to see Mike Trout in an off-Broadway production of Cats. The same would have applied when Cobb tested out his acting chops. He brought out the lookie-loos, and made good money, but ultimately knew baseball was where his bread was buttered. Nevertheless, it is yet another fascinating chapter in the life of one of baseball’s most interesting figures.
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