Ty Cobb Museum
Royston, GA
By
Ken Schlapp
After getting a
good night’s rest in Ft Lauderdale after the Marlins game, I had to
start my long haul back up North. Miami was the southernmost
portion of my driving journey, San Juan, Puerto Rico was the
furthest South, but I did not have Chitty Chitty
 Bang
Bang to drive there, so I had to take a plane. My only task for
this Saturday was to drive the 675 miles from Ft Lauderdale to
Royston, Georgia. I actually drove a bit farther though (793
miles). One of my non-baseball goals during this trip was to pass
through all 48 lower States, so I diverted my drive through South
Carolina to keep on target. After the long drive, I attempted
another good night sleep to prepare for a load of events on Sunday,
beginning with the Ty Cobb Museum.
The interesting
trick for me with the Ty Cobb Museum was that I knew going in that
they are closed on Sundays, which differs greatly from my mishaps
with the Nolan Ryan Museum and the Jim Thorpe House. I reached out
in advance to Candy Ross and Julie Ridgeway at the Museum to let
them know about my trip and to see if they would let me in on their
off day. My luck came through, Candy was willing to open up and
show me around at 8:30 in the morning to show me around.
Regardless of all
the negative press Ty Cobb has received over the years about his
human decency, he is one of the select best-of-the-bests in the
history of baseball. Needless to say, I was very excited about
visiting the museum and his hometown of Royston. Everything about
Royston exudes Ty Cobb. When entering the town, you are greeted by
a giants sign stating “Welcome to Royston, Home of Baseball’s
Immortal Ty Cobb.” It does not stop there; you will find the Ty
Cobb Health System, the Cobb Memorial Hospital (with the O actually
being a baseball), a historical marker for Ty Cobb, The Georgia
Peach, and a grave-like tombstone in town to honor him as well.
There is no doubt that Ty Cobb is an honored and loved man in this
town.
When I reached the
Museum, Candy Ross
 warmly
greeted me, and I could not thank her enough for taking time on a
Sunday morning to show me around. All the Cobb memorabilia was
overwhelming. When you first walk in, the Ty Cobb Museum sign
stands out over the entrance to the theatre (of course that was the
photo op to prove I was there, Candy graciously took the picture for
me). The movie theatre has stadium seating and presents a great
pictorial movie on Ty Cobb’s life, which is narrated by Larry Munson
and includes interviews with Chipper Jones and Peter Gammons. It
was definitely worth watching. The display that stood out most to
me was on the Cobb Style of Baseball. It includes pictures of him
hitting, throwing, running, and sliding all in that intense, take no
prisoners style, that made him famous. You can see the hard-nosed
grit in the pictures and in the commentary. There are also sections
with his awards, including his 1907 American League Batting Trophy.
A Georgia Peach display with several baseball cards, pictures, and
information about his life in Georgia outside of baseball.
The best part of
the visit was truly how nice Candy was to me. We talked a bit about
the negativity about Ty Cobb as a human being. She was disheartened
by those stories, but she did discuss how he would sometimes go into
the poor neighborhoods and hand out
 $100
bills to a few people that needed it, without having that fact
publicized. She also said she was upset about those in the Society
of American Baseball Research (SABR) that have done research that
ended up slightly bring down Cobb’s career batting average from .367
to .366. They show .367 in the museum (as does the Hall of Fame in
Cooperstown). Those discrepancies aside, she was quite proud of
Cobb’s accomplishments and about the Museum itself. She should be;
I would certainly recommend a visit to this museum for any baseball
fan.
The gift shop has
plenty to offer as well. I had to buy a cap, a magnet, and a shirt
for both me and Paul (because he wrote in my notebook that I had
to!).
Bottom line – I had
a great experience visiting this great museum and spending time
talking to a great person that went out of her way for me.
Basic trip facts:
-Miles traveled –
793 via Car (Totals: Driving – 14,191, Subway - 20, Air - 3,196,
Total – 17,427)
-States, provinces and/or commonwealths passed through – Florida,
Georgia, South Carolina, (Totals: States - 37, Provinces – 0,
Commonwealths - 1)
-Home team record to date – 11 wins, 13 losses
-Record of “team I was routing for” to date – 9 wins, 15 losses
-Lodging – Royston, Georgia (7/19), Roanoke, Virginia (7/20)
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