The Ty Cobb statue is a

monumental statue A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

of baseball player

Ty Cobb Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the las ...

. The statue, completed in 1977, was designed by

Felix de Weldon Felix Weihs de Weldon (April 12, 1907 – June 3, 2003) was an American sculptor. His most famous pieces include the United States Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial, 1954) in the Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, US, and the Mal ...

and was located near

Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, often referred to as Fulton County Stadium and originally named Atlanta Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in the southeastern United States, located in Atlanta. The stadium was home of the Atlanta Braves of the ...

and later

Turner Field Turner Field was a baseball stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia. From 1997 to 2016, it served as the home ballpark to the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). Originally built as Centennial Olympic Stadium in 1996 to serve as the c ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Following the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

' departure from Turner Field in 2017, the statue was relocated to Cobb's hometown of

Royston, Georgia Royston is a city in Franklin, Hart, and Madison counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population was 2,649 at the 2020 census. History A post office called Royston has been in operation since 1878. The community was named after W.A. Royston ...

History

was born in

Banks County, Georgia Banks County is a County (United States), county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 18,035, down from 18,395 in 2010. The coun ...

in 1886. As a professional American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player, he played for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

from 1905 to 1926. He was inducted into the

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

in 1936 and became a

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

later in life before dying in

in 1961. In 1977,

Citizens & Southern National Bank Citizens and Southern National Bank (C&S) began as a Georgia institution that expanded into South Carolina, Florida and into other states via mergers. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia; it was the largest bank in the Southeast for much of the 20th c ...

president

Mills Lane Mills Bee Lane III (November 12, 1937 – December 6, 2022) was an American boxing referee and professional boxer, a two-term Washoe County, Nevada district court judge, and television personality. Lane was best known for having officiated sev ...

commissioned the sculptor

to create a statue honoring Cobb. It was completed later that year and placed near

, later moving to

in 1997. At Turner Field, the statue was placed in Monument Grove, a park near the ticket window that included monuments to other baseball players, such as

Hank Aaron Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. One of the gre ...

and

Phil Niekro Philip Henry Niekro ( ; April 1, 1939 – December 26, 2020), nicknamed "Knucksie", was an American baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball, 20 of them with the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves. Niekro's 31 ...

. In September 2015, as the

were preparing to move from Turner Field to

SunTrust Park Truist Park (originally SunTrust Park) is a baseball stadium in the Atlanta metropolitan area, approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of downtown Atlanta in the unincorporated community of Cumberland, in Cobb County, Georgia. Opened in 2 ...

WXIA-TV WXIA-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL (channel 36). Both stations share studios at One Monroe Place on the north en ...

reported that the statue of Cobb was not included in the list of items the Braves intended to bring with them to the new stadium. It was the only statue the Braves were not planning to relocate with them. The Braves stated that the reason for this was that the statue was owned by the Atlanta–Fulton County Recreation Authority and not the team. However, several sources alleged that the decision was due in part to Cobb's reputation, particularly with regards to

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

. While both the Recreation Authority and

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the ...

initially claimed the statue as their own, the statue was ultimately gifted to the Cobb's hometown of

, where it was dedicated on May 21, 2017, in front of the

Royston Public Library The Athens Regional Library System (ARLS) is a consortium of 11 public libraries across five counties, comprising the Athens – Clarke County metropolitan area as well as Franklin County in northeast Georgia, United States. The ARLS is a member ...

. In December, a large

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...

painting of the statue's rededication was unveiled at the

Ty Cobb Museum The Ty Cobb Museum is a museum located in Royston, Georgia, that honors Baseball Hall of Fame player Ty Cobb. The museum contains art and memorabilia, film, video, books and historical archives of Cobb as well as several other notable people f ...

, also located in Royston.

References

{{Coord, 34, 17, 6.1, N, 83, 7, 13.6, W, type:landmark_region:US-GA, display=title 1977 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) 1977 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Georgia (U.S. state) Monuments and memorials in Georgia (U.S. state) Outdoor sculptures in Georgia (U.S. state) Statues in Georgia (U.S. state) Statues of sportspeople Ty Cobb

History

See also

References