A New York Times Notable Book; Spitball Award for Best Baseball Book of 1994; Basis for a major Hollywood motion picture. Now in paperback, the biography that baseball fans all across the country have been talking about. Al Stump redefined America's perception of one of its most famous sports heroes with this gripping look at a man who walked the line between greatness and psychosis. Based on Stump's interviews with Ty Cobb while ghostwriting the Hall-of-Famer's 1961 autobiography, this award-winning new account of Cobb's life and times reveals both the darkness and the brilliance of the "Georgia Peach." "The most powerful baseball biography I have read."--Roger Kahn, author of THE BOYS OF SUMMER

Ty Cobb was one of the most famous baseball players who every lived. The author puts Cobb into the context of his times, describing the very different game on the field then, and successfully probes Cobb's complex personality.

Ty Cobb's life is a fascinating study of extremes. His professional highs are astonishing: During his career, he set 123 records. His lifetime batting average of .367 has never been surpassed, and he hit over .300 for 23 straight seasons. But there was a

"An authoritative, reliable and compelling biography of perhaps the most significant and controversial player in baseball history, Ty Cobb, drawing in part on newly discovered letters and documents"--

Distantly related to a Confederate general, Ty Cobb was a strapping Augusta youth who became a star for the Detroit Tigers. Long revered as a great hitter and an incredibly fast baserunner, Cobb often has been remembered as a hated athlete, a bitter man who died nearly 50 years ago. No biographer has explored the complex personality as deeply and meticulously as Don Rhodes in his new comprehensive biography. Rhodes reveals the man as Cobb was in Augusta: in the off season and as a retiree. For the first time, a biographer includes interviews with Cobb's two daughters (whom Rhodes met before they died), his granddaughter, and close friends, who offer insight and photos of Cobb's private life never seen before. Many of Cobb's emotional troubles started early in life, and no doubt were compounded during his early seasons with the Tigers, when his mother went on trial for murdering his father. The ugly side of this phenomenal athlete is not defended or explained away, but readers learn to better understand a man who seemed so miserable, when he had so much. Don Rhodes is an editor at Morris Communications in Augusta. He has written “Ramblin' Rhodes,” a music column, for more than 37 years, and his byline appears in many magazines and newspapers. He lives in North Augusta, South Carolina.

"Humor is merely tragedy standing on its head with its pants torn."—Irvin S. Cobb Born and raised in Paducah, Kentucky, humorist Irvin S. Cobb (1876–1944) rose from humble beginnings to become one of the early twentieth century's most celebrated writers. As a staff reporter for the New York World and Saturday Evening Post, he became one of the highest-paid journalists in the United States. He also wrote short stories for noted magazines, published books, and penned scripts for the stage and screen. In Irvin S. Cobb: The Rise and Fall of a Southern Humorist, historian William E. Ellis examines the life of this significant writer. Though a consummate wordsmith and a talented observer of the comical in everyday life, Cobb was a product of the Reconstruction era and the Jim Crow South. As a party to the endemic racism of his time, he often bemoaned the North's harsh treatment of the South and stereotyped African Americans in his writings. Marred by racist undertones, Cobb's work has largely slipped into obscurity. Nevertheless, Ellis argues that Cobb's life and works are worthy of more detailed study, citing his wide-ranging contributions to media culture and his coverage of some of the biggest stories of his day, including on-the-ground reporting during World War I. A valuable resource for students of journalism, American humor, and popular culture, this illuminating biography explores Cobb's life and his influence on early twentieth-century letters.

A private investigator and a journalist team up in Calgary to fight for justice. Read the first two books in the exciting western crime series Cullen and Cobb Mysteries. Serpents Rising Private investigator Mike Cobb and journalist Adam Cullen take on twin investigations that take them onto Calgary’s meanest streets on the trail of a runaway and a killer. Dead Air Someone is killing big name right-wing media personalities. When ex-cop Mike Cobb is hired as a bodyguard for a conservative radio superstar, he and his partner, crime journalist Adam Cullen, are thrust into the line of fire.

A private investigator and a journalist team up in Calgary to fight for justice. Read all four books in the exciting western crime series. Serpents Rising — book #1 Private investigator Mike Cobb and journalist Adam Cullen take on twin investigations that take them onto Calgary’s meanest streets on the trail of a runaway and a killer. Dead Air — book #2 Someone is killing big name right-wing media personalities. When ex-cop Mike Cobb is hired as a bodyguard for a conservative radio superstar, he and his partner, crime journalist Adam Cullen, are thrust into the line of fire. Last Song Sung — book #3 Cullen and Cobb are back to investigate the 1965 disappearance of a folk singer. Kidnapped from the alley behind a folk club, her bandmates shot and killed, Ellie Foster’s whereabouts have remained a mystery for fifty years. Hired by Ellie’s granddaughter, Cullen and Cobb travel into the past to unearth long-buried secrets. None So Deadly — book #4 The brutal killing of a police investigator obsessed with Faith Unruh’s murder has put the ex-cop–private eye and former crime writing journalist back on the killer’s trail — and directly in the line of fire.

After being exiled to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1964 at the age of six, Alex Bell has managed to put his parents' tragic death behind him and lead a somewhat normal life. In 1991, Alex is working as a high school history teacher and wrestling coach in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is astonished when he's chosen to go to Russia as an exchange teacher. Alex seizes the opportunity and travels to Moscow, hoping to make his peace with the past. Things take a strange turn, however, when he receives a mysterious note asking him to help America. A meeting with a CIA agent opens a door into Alex's former life. If he helps the government, Alex could learn the story surrounding his parents' accident and his true identity. Alex delves deep into the shadowy world of espionage and soon becomes embroiled in a plot to thwart the assassination of President Mikhail Gorbachev. Alex knows that if Gorbachev is eliminated, then communism can continue, leading to a destabilized Soviet Union. What he doesn't know, however, is that the leader of the rebel group holds a connection to Alex's past, one that will set Alex down a dangerous and deadly path. Full of twists and turns, Almost Armageddon is an action-packed thrill ride.