Cobb's great-grandson: 'Exciting that there's a new statistical batting average leader'

Cobb's great-grandson: 'Exciting that there's a new statistical batting average leader'

May 29th, 2024

For the first time in over 100 years, Ty Cobb's name isn't the first one you see atop MLB's career batting average leaderboard.

With Major League Baseball officially incorporating Negro League statistics into its record book on Wednesday, Josh Gibson is now recognized as MLB's all-time batting champion with a .372 career mark, just ahead of Cobb's .367.

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And at least one of the Georgia Peach's descendants is on board with the change.

Tyrus Cobb, the great-grandson of the Tigers legend, told the Associated Press: "Baseball history is a part of U.S. history, and I think [the] Major Leagues acknowledging and incorporating the Negro Leagues is a huge step in kind of bringing all the parts of baseball history together.

"And I think it's actually pretty exciting that there's a new statistical batting average leader."

Cobb, whose checkered reputation has been the topic of much debate throughout baseball history, first took over as MLB's batting average leader during his playing career, supplanting fellow Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie in the No. 1 spot. He was still the record holder when he retired in 1928. And for the next century, Cobb sat atop the list.

But in the 1930s and '40s, Gibson was also racking up hits in the Negro Leagues. He even posted a career-best .466 batting average for the Homestead Grays in 1943. Gibson's stats were just never a part of the MLB record until now.

MLB's inclusion of Negro League stats in 2024 even inspired Cobb's grandson to learn more about the careers of Gibson, who was known as the Black Babe Ruth, and other Negro Leagues stars like Oscar Charleston, who now ranks third all-time with a .363 batting average, right behind Cobb.

"I made sure to look up [Gibson] and Oscar Charleston and some of the other guys who finished up near the top of the list," Tyrus Cobb told the AP. "So I think it’s a really exciting thing for baseball history."