Ty Cobb is the greatest Tigers player to ever put on a uniform. You'd probably think that his family are all excited about the Tigers being in the World Series and vehemently rooting against the Giants.
You would, however, be wrong. They're all rooting for the Giants.
In fact, Cobb's family is full of Giants fans. Notabaly, his grandson, Herschel Cobb, lives in the Bay Area and told The Detroit News that the family's rooted for the Giants "for a long time."
"Ty Cobb would be very excited about his Tigers playing in the World Series," the 69-year-old grandson said. "But we live in the Bay Area and have been Giants fans for a long time. We're going to be rooting for the home team to prevail."
As the News notes, Cobb moved to the Bay Area not long after retiring in 1928 and used to be a "regular presence" in the Giants clubhouse when they picked up from New York to San Francisco in 1958.
Oddly enough, Herschel says that he didn't know much about Ty's baseball past (???) for much of his life. It took people wondering why he wasn't a Little League superstar for the grandson to harrass the legend about his playing days.
"I literally insisted that he tell me everything he had done and why these people were shouting at me," Herschel said. "He didn't answer directly. He never really boasted about his baseball career with his grandchildren."
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Herschel's son, also named Ty Cobb, is apparently a pretty good baseball player as well and also an "ardent Giants fan."
"He loves the team," Herschel said. "And he loves the enthusiasm."
It's weird to see a family not root for a patriarch who was such a legendary member of one baseball team. But it's also hard not to respect them for rooting for the team they like. Just don't try and tell Tigers fans that.
