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You are here: Home Errata Ty Cobb's Splits by Ballpark - BRJ Vol. 38 No. 2
Ty Cobb's Splits by Ballpark - BRJ Vol. 38 No. 2 Print
Thursday, 04 February 2010 13:03

This table was truncated in the Journal. It appears here in full, along with some explanatory text from the article.

Stadium Team G AB R H TB 2B 3B HR SB BB HBP AVG OBP SLG
Huntington Ave.Gr. BOS 61 245 51 95 136 21 7 2 29 16 2 0.388 0.430 0.555
Fenway Park BOS 159 610 104 205 289 32 17 6 43 69 8 0.336 0.410 0.474
Southside Park III CHI 48 179 25 57 75 8 2 2 16 10 4 0.318 0.368 0.419
Comiskey Park I CHI 157 619 117 227 302 32 17 3 43 73 5 0.367 0.438 0.488
League Park I CLE 51 193 20 49 65 4 3 2 7 7 3 0.254 0.291 0.337
League Park II CLE 168 649 135 238 331 51 9 8 42 73 6 0.367 0.435 0.510
Bennett Park DET 444 1648 321 618 855 105 42 16 180 137 17 0.375 0.428 0.519
Tiger Stadium DET 965 3493 717 1284 1803 241 115 16 264 469 25 0.368 0.446 0.516
Hilltop Park NY 71 277 58 98 144 17 10 3 23 15 2 0.354 0.391 0.520
Polo Grounds V NY 106 407 76 160 229 29 8 8 26 55 3 0.393 0.469 0.563
Yankee Stadium NY 49 189 40 69 101 9 1 7 4 20 0 0.365 0.426 0.534
Columbia Park PHI 28 113 13 31 50 8 4 1 6 6 1 0.274 0.317 0.442
Shibe Park PHI 293 1152 242 428 577 72 19 13 67 125 5 0.372 0.435 0.501
Sportsman's Park II STL 34 130 13 31 43 3 3 1 7 3 1 0.238 0.261 0.331
Sportsman's Park III STL 179 689 155 263 394 40 17 19 61 86 4 0.382 0.453 0.572
American League Park II WAS 51 201 36 76 106 13 4 3 21 15 0 0.378 0.421 0.527
Griffith Stadium WAS 171 645 125 261 363 39 21 7 62 76 8 0.405 0.473 0.563

Cobb had his best numbers at Washington’s Griffith Stadium (.405 average) and the Yankees’ Polo Grounds (.563 slugging).  From September 13, 1913, through May 11, 1918, Cobb also put together one of the most amazing—yet heretofore unknown—hitting streaks by getting a base hit in 48 consecutive games at the Polo Grounds.  This streak appears to be the longest hitting streak at any particular ballpark in MLB history.

It should be pointed out that Cobb wasn’t the only one who hit well at the Polo Grounds.  During his time with the Boston Red Sox, Babe Ruth hit only 22 percent of his home runs at Fenway.  However, in 1920 he went to the Yankees and hit 54 percent of his homers at the Polo Grounds, where he compiled a record .990 slugging percentage.  It’s not a stretch to say that Ruth never would have come close to 714 homers if he’d stayed at Fenway Park for his entire career.

Returning to Cobb, the only two parks that stymied the Georgia Peach were two that existed only during the beginning of his career: Cleveland’s League Park I, where he hit an anemic .254 with a .291 on-base percentage, and St. Louis’s Sportsman’s Park II, where Cobb hit only .238 in 34 games.