song on the legendary ty cobb who introduced psychological warfare into baseball; it was his trick to maddog the other players, make them lose their cool, get them nervous or irate them to boiling point, so they'd screw up. he could get very personal in doing this, coz he took baseball so seriously that he didn't mind whether he made enemies for life with his 'special technique'; hence "I got the love to hate". he was a baseball wizard working the illusions of being an evil-psycho-killer relying on his intimidating method acting as well as on his actual ball-playing skills; hence "I'm sittin' in a magic hat with smoke and mirrors".
Was also a pretty racist and bitter guy. A lot of the old ballplayers probably were. He attacked a black groundskeeper over the condition of the left field grass and choked his wife when she tried to jump in and help her husband. He became extremely bitter when Babe Ruth entered the game (even though he was a great all around player, too) because it evolved into a game where hitting home runs became the spectacle. In anger he belted 4 home runs in one game then returned to playing small ball - bunting, stealing, etc. He never really did...
Was also a pretty racist and bitter guy. A lot of the old ballplayers probably were. He attacked a black groundskeeper over the condition of the left field grass and choked his wife when she tried to jump in and help her husband. He became extremely bitter when Babe Ruth entered the game (even though he was a great all around player, too) because it evolved into a game where hitting home runs became the spectacle. In anger he belted 4 home runs in one game then returned to playing small ball - bunting, stealing, etc. He never really did sharpen his spikes, he only let the other players think that for the sake of intimidating them. While outwardly an asshole, in his later years after the death of 2 sons he made many charitable contributions.
song on the legendary ty cobb who introduced psychological warfare into baseball; it was his trick to maddog the other players, make them lose their cool, get them nervous or irate them to boiling point, so they'd screw up. he could get very personal in doing this, coz he took baseball so seriously that he didn't mind whether he made enemies for life with his 'special technique'; hence "I got the love to hate". he was a baseball wizard working the illusions of being an evil-psycho-killer relying on his intimidating method acting as well as on his actual ball-playing skills; hence "I'm sittin' in a magic hat with smoke and mirrors".
Was also a pretty racist and bitter guy. A lot of the old ballplayers probably were. He attacked a black groundskeeper over the condition of the left field grass and choked his wife when she tried to jump in and help her husband. He became extremely bitter when Babe Ruth entered the game (even though he was a great all around player, too) because it evolved into a game where hitting home runs became the spectacle. In anger he belted 4 home runs in one game then returned to playing small ball - bunting, stealing, etc. He never really did...
Was also a pretty racist and bitter guy. A lot of the old ballplayers probably were. He attacked a black groundskeeper over the condition of the left field grass and choked his wife when she tried to jump in and help her husband. He became extremely bitter when Babe Ruth entered the game (even though he was a great all around player, too) because it evolved into a game where hitting home runs became the spectacle. In anger he belted 4 home runs in one game then returned to playing small ball - bunting, stealing, etc. He never really did sharpen his spikes, he only let the other players think that for the sake of intimidating them. While outwardly an asshole, in his later years after the death of 2 sons he made many charitable contributions.