oscargamblesfro
(73)
 
02/06/2007 | | As irishgit noted, the Tigers won 3 straight pennants in the early part of his career with a very good though not great club that had the misfortune of running into the Cubs dynasty of the 1906-1910 era twice- one of, if not THE most dominant teams over a five year stretch ever, and they also lost to a powerful Pirates team in '09. The closest Cobb came again was in 1915, when his team lost out to the Red Sox by a game, and at the tail end of his career he played for the late 20's A's just before that team peaked. Between 1915 and 1926 the Tigers generally had middling to bad clubs which Cobb also managed in the early and mid 20's, which must have been horrific for his players. One reason the Tigers didn't win more is that aside from great outfields featuring Cobb, HOF'ers Sam Crawford and Harry Heilmann, and a fine if forgotten guy named Bobby Veach, the pitching was usually, overall, mediocre in the 1910's and 20's and they didn't really have many notable guys at the other positions until Gehringer arrived at second late in Cobb's career. As a player a 5, as a human being a 1- the 3 is for how his teams should have theoretically won a championship. | 4 |