The book Cobb by Al Stump is a look at the late 19th and early 20th centuries through the eyes of Ty Cobb. The historical biography of Tyrus Raymond Cobb follows his journey from classroom boy and fighter to the greatest hitter to ever grace the major leagues. Ty Cobb. Growing up in Royston, Georgia, Cobb was the eldest of 3 brothers and the son of a school teacher, principal, newspaper publisher, state senator, and county school commissioner who wanted him to do nothing but study. Cobb didn't listen, he practiced getting to the bigs, just before leaving his father told him {in italics} don't return a failure. However, there was no looking back for the future Hall of Famer. Ty Cobb grew up in a world very different from ours, in the late 19th century. He was raised by his extremely strict and overbearing father and his mother who was 15 at the time of Ty's birth (ew). His father, W. H. Cobb, was an honorable man who wanted him to study law or medicine, but Ty always had a talent for baseball and maintained it for the rest of his life. Cobb fought his power but continued to love, idolize, and respect his father. It was crazy reading, learning that his father had punished him from time to time for abandoning his studies to the point of child abuse in the present day, but Cobb continued to pursue his ultimate goal, to be the greatest of all times. in the sport he loved. The story very clearly follows Tyrus through his revisits to the author a few years before his death due to the abuse of his poor mortal shell. The novel very clearly captures his trials and tribulations on his path to greatness, which is why it is the only truly widely accepted book about Cobb. In the Ty Cobb era it was brutal to say the... middle of the paper... ...slowly though, as it's really daunting in size and subject matter, but I found myself turning page after page just to find out what ridiculous thing Cobb would do or say later on his path to glory. I would recommend this book to anyone, baseball fan or not, as it is a beautiful, heartwarming piece of literature about one of America's first sports heroes, and also provides great insight into the historical period. Captain Tyrus Raymond Cobb was but a schoolboy in a small town in Georgia. He has changed his status to a teenager with no past to return to and no future in sight. Through hard work and the ability to exclude non-believers he managed to achieve immortality. No baseball player can honestly say that his entire game wasn't inspired by him, but no one can say that he didn't change the game into what it is today, which is why he is a paragon of devotion and an American hero..