Ty Cobb

Baseball Legends series. Ty Cobb was probably the greatest all-around player in baseball history. But because he always played to win at all costs, he was also called the dirtiest, meanest, most hated man who ever wore spikes.

Cobb was born in rural Georgia in 1886 and was a terror from an early age. Stubborn and hot-tempered, he could not stand to lose at anything. Baseball proved to be a natural outlet for his competitive spirit.

From the moment the "Georgia Peach" joined the Detroit Tigers in 1905, he drove himself without letup and made everybody else crazy trying to stop him. Almost no one could.

At the plate, on the basepaths, and in the outfield, Cobb was like a one-man gang. He developed nine different ways to slide and studied pitchers, catchers, and fielders until he knew all their movements, habits, and facial expressions. By the time his career ended in 1928, he ranked as baseball's all-time leader in games played, at-bats, base hits, runs scored, runs batted in, stolen bases, and batting average.

Playing ball as if it was "a struggle for supremacy, a survival of the fittest," Ty Cobb not only survived but thrived. In 1936, he received the most votes among the first group of players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.