“Georgia Peach” Tennis Rackets

First Published April, 2015

Ty Cobb 1886-1961

Without a doubt Ty Cobb, who was nicknamed “The Georgia Peach” by sportswriters, was one of the most unlikely endorsers in the history of tennis rackets.  The famous baseball star also played polo, golf and loved to fish, but there is no mention in his biography that he had ever even picked up a tennis racket.

Cobb’s nickname is as curious as his racket endorsement, because while he was from Georgia, very few people thought he was a “Peach”. He was never well liked by his fellow players or even by many of the baseball fans. Cobb was known as an unyielding, tempestuous player who liked to slide into bases with his steel spikes aiming for any player who was foolish enough to get in his way. He even once fought with an umpire under the bleachers and another time went in the stands during a game to assault a heckler.

1915 Catalog

However, he was widely respected for his baseball skills, which were considerable.  During his career from 1905-1928, Cobb was credited with setting new records in an incredible 90 different categories.  Some of his records still stand, such as his feat of stealing home 54 times during his career. This widespread respect was evidenced in 1936 when the Baseball Hall of Fame elected its first induction class. Cobb was named on 222 of a possible 226 ballots, which put him ahead of Babe Ruth and every other player who ever played the game.

Ty Cobb Racket

So, how did this pugnacious baseball star come to endorse a line of tennis rackets?  He did it the easy way in 1912 by buying part of the W. B. Jarvis Company of Michigan, a sporting goods company with retail locations in Grand Rapids and Detroit where Cobb played baseball for the Tigers. Cobb was quoted as saying that he had been “on the lookout for a business opening” for after baseball and that he would stay in Detroit in the off season to work in the business.

The Jarvis Company immediately began using the name and photograph of their new “Vice President” in company advertising and also on Jarvis sporting goods, such as baseball and football equipment.

The very first Ty Cobb rackets were offered for sale in 1913 and were available in concave and convex wedge models. A small company like Jarvis did not manufacture its own rackets and, in all probability, they bought leftover rackets from a racket manufacturer and applied the Jarvis sticker to them. This perhaps explains why Jarvis was still selling convex wedge rackets after they had been essentially phased out by other companies

As it turned out, Cobb had a short lived affiliation with Jarvis, due to his dislike of cold winter weather and the fact he had literally made a fortune investing in companies like General Motors and Coca Cola. Baseball’s first millionaire player sold back his Jarvis shares and resumed his routine of to returning to Georgia in the off season.

 The last Jarvis catalog with Cobb on the cover was the 1915 edition, which was the last year of the partnership. It was also the year that the Jarvis Company began transitioning from sporting goods into auto parts manufacturing.

While three other baseball stars (Honus Wagner, George Wright and Ted Williams) have endorsed tennis rackets through the years, “The Georgia Peach” was the very first non-tennis athlete to endorse a tennis racket.

So, why are there so few Ty Cobb rackets to be found today? They were basically only sold at two stores in Michigan and for only a short span of three years. As might be expected, his rackets are more sought after today by baseball aficionados than they are by tennis collectors.

Good Collecting.