1912 suspension of Ty Cobb

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fWotD Episode 2637: 1912 suspension of Ty Cobb
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The featured article for Wednesday, 24 July 2024 is 1912 suspension of Ty Cobb.
During the 1912 baseball season, center fielder Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers was suspended for ten days. Cobb was at the time probably the biggest star in the major leagues. American League president Ban Johnson suspended and fined him $50 ($1,600 in 2023) for going into the stands at New York's Hilltop Park and beating Claude Lucker, a fan who had been heckling him.
Cobb had been Lucker's verbal target throughout the four-game series between the Tigers and New York Yankees. By the fourth inning of the fourth game, on May 15, 1912, with the stream of insults continuing and questioning Cobb's racial ancestry, he lost his temper. He raced into the stands, punching and kicking Lucker, who due to an industrial accident had lost eight fingers and could not defend himself. Cobb was ejected from the game. These events were witnessed by Johnson, who suspended Cobb indefinitely. Since there were at the time few protections for ballplayers from the insults and hurled objects of fans, many took Cobb's side, including his teammates. After beating the Philadelphia Athletics on May 17, the Detroit players telegraphed Johnson that they would not play again until Cobb was reinstated. Johnson refused to do so.
Seeking to avoid a $5,000 fine ($114,000 in 2023) if Detroit did not field a team, owner Frank Navin instructed manager Hughie Jennings to recruit a team. Aided by Connie Mack, the Philadelphia owner/manager, he did so. Facing baseball's World Champions, the replacement team lost 24–2. After the game, Johnson came to Philadelphia to negotiate with the players. Cobb urged them to go back to work, and they did. The striking players were fined, as was Cobb when his suspension was lifted on May 25, but all penalties were paid by Navin. Baseball's first major league strike, it had little effect, but teams put additional security into stadium seating areas.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:31 UTC on Wednesday, 24 July 2024.
For the full current version of the article, see 1912 suspension of Ty Cobb on Wikipedia.
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Until next time, I'm generative Matthew.