ATLANTA (WXIA) -- The Atlanta Braves should embrace Georgia's link to baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb – and not leave his statue behind when they move out of Turner Field next year. So says the author of a new book, who says the fiery Cobb has gotten a bum rap in baseball lore.
Of the four statues outside Turner Field, there is only one the Atlanta Braves say they don't intend to take to their new stadium in Cobb County: It's the statue of Ty Cobb. The Braves say the reason is because the Braves don't own the statue.
But Charles Leehrsen says he suspects Cobb's mythology is part of it. Leehrsen published a book this year that debunks much of the accepted biography of Cobb County.
"He wasn't a saint by any means," Leehrsen said in an interview with 11Alive News. "He was a tough guy and a fierce competitor. But he was not the racist and spikes-flashing maniac he's portrayed to be."
Born and raised in Georgia, Ty Cobb made his name as a record-setting hitter and base-stealer with the Detroit Tigers. But after he died, a biographer published a book about him describing him as a racist and a thug. Leehrsen says it damaged Cobb's reputation for decades.
"Cobb himself never said anything about the subject of race until the 1950s," Leehrsen said, when "Cobb said 'the Negro should be accepted wholeheartedly and not grudgingly into baseball. The Negro has the right to play professional sports, and who's to say he has not?' That amazing quote is Cobb's first statement on the record about race."
The Braves reserved further comment on their intention to leave the statue in Atlanta when they move to a new stadium in Cobb County in 2017. But when asked if Ty Cobb's biography figured into the decision, spokeswoman Beth Marshall wrote "No, the fact that we don't own the statue is the reason." The Braves are claiming ownership of statues of Hank Aaron, Warren Spahn and Phil Niekro. Fulton County chairman John Eaves says he believes the Aaron statue should stay behind.
Leehrsen says Ty Cobb was actually ahead of his time on race relations, and that the Braves should embrace his memory and the statue outside their ballpark.
"Here's a guy who once stole second, third and home on three consecutive pitches; who once got an inside the park home run on a tap back to the pitcher's mound. This is one of the most glorious and best baseball players of all time, and he's a Georgian, and it's time we recognized that," Leehrsen said.
The Braves said Monday that they were rescinding their claim on a bust of Hank Aaron, also in monument grove. The bust was presented to "the city of Atlanta" by Citizens and Southern Bank, according to a plaque on the bust.
