1912 suspension of Ty Cobb
During the 1912 baseball season, center fielder Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers was suspended for ten days after entering the spectator stands at New York's Hilltop Park during a game and physically assaulting Claude Lucker, a heckler.
Since there were few protections for ballplayers at the time from insults and objects hurled by fans, many took Cobb's side, including his teammates.
Baseball's first major league strike, the walkout had little effect, but teams added security to stadium seating areas.
Despite efforts to provide a family-friendly atmosphere, it was common for some of those attending to spend time hurling bottles and epithets at those on the field.
[3] Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers was one of the dominant players in the major leagues in 1912 and one of baseball's biggest stars.
A native of Georgia, he had the racial attitudes of many whites of his state at the time, although in later life, he expressed support for the integration of baseball.
[6] The reasons for Lucker's hostility toward Cobb are unknown; the player's biographer, Richard Bak, suggested that it was a case of "one of life's victims venting his bitterness" at "a thin-skinned star whose slow burn made for great sport".
[7] According to Bak, "on the afternoon of May 15, 1912, Claude Lucker outdid himself, pushing Cobb over the edge and setting in motion one of the wildest chain of events in sports history".
[8] During pregame fielding practice Cobb muffed a fly ball, and someone in the stands yelled, "Hey, are you on dope?
Between the home halves of the first and second inning, with Detroit batting, Cobb remained behind the outfield rather than return to the dugout and pass Lucker.
"[14] The Detroit manager, Hughie Jennings, by some accounts stated to the press that he heard Cobb called a "half-nigger" and "no Southerner would stand such an insult".
[21] Johnson summoned Cobb to the league president's hotel room on the evening of May 15 and asked the player for his version of events.
He told the owner of the Tigers, Frank Navin, that the franchise would be fined $5,000 ($114,000 in 2023[25]) if it failed to put a team on the field to face the Athletics on May 18.
[11] Accordingly, Jennings and his coaches Deacon McGuire and Joe Sugden, with the help of the Athletics owner/manager, Connie Mack, decided to seek replacement players who could take the field for the Tigers on May 18 if Cobb's teammates did not relent.
By another account, Jennings and his coaches (who would also play in the game), combed the streets for players and held tryouts at the team hotel.
However, the Saint Joseph's team had played a game out of town on Friday and apparently declined the offer, leaving Travers to gather up whatever volunteers he could find.
The replacement players also went into the clubhouse, where the striking Tigers gave them the shirts off their backs and they were signed to one-day contracts by Jennings.
[28] Then, they went out on the field to face the two-time defending World Series champion Athletics, featuring the future Hall of Famers Home Run Baker, Eddie Collins and Herb Pennock.
Travers was able to hold Philadelphia without a run in the bottom of the inning; catcher Jack Lapp singled, but was out trying to extend it to a double.
The bottom of the third saw Detroit retire the first two batters, then Collins bunted a ball that third baseman Billy Maharg fumbled.
[11] Maharg was unable to continue after losing two teeth to a ground ball,[13] so Ed Irwin pinch hit for him in the top of the fourth.
Catcher Lapp threw to first in an attempt to pick off Maney, but the throw got away, and Sugden and McGuire scored to cut Philadelphia's lead to 6–2.
[11] Bill Leinhauser, Cobb's 18-year-old replacement in center field, was hit on the head by one fly ball, leading Jennings to advise him, "Don't try to catch them.
Dan McGarvey was hit by a pitch and stole second base, but Pennock retired the next two batters to end the game.
[34] His 26 hits allowed by a pitcher tied a major league record, broken (with 29) in an 18-inning game by Eddie Rommel of the Athletics in 1932.
[11][13] Irwin, a 30-year-old semipro player, concluded his brief major league career with a lifetime batting average of .667 and a slugging percentage of 2.000.
"[13] Jennings stated after the game: "I put a team on the field today to save the owners of the Detroit franchise from being fined $5,000.
[11] Johnson assembled Cobb's teammates and told them they would be fined $100 ($3,000 in 2023[1]) per game if they refused to play; they remained resolute.
Navin had pledged to pay all fines incurred by the players, and Cobb's salary (he was in the third and final year of a contract that paid him $9,000 per season ($205,700 in 2023[1])) was unaffected by the suspension.
[39] Johnson had promised additional security in American League ballparks,[11] and in the aftermath of Cobb's suspension, almost all teams complied.
