“The Most Popular Unpopular Man in Baseball”: Baseball Fans and Ty Cobb in the Early 20th Century

This essay deciphers the complexities of early twentieth century American male sports spectator behavior by examining how baseball fans responded to one of the most controversial athletes of the early 20th century—Ty Cobb. By exploring the ways in which fans interpreted Cobb’s fierce style of play, this essay argues baseball fans were active agents in the early stages of the emerging mass culture. Though they went to the ballpark for escape and release, fans responded to events on the field in ways that gave these events personal meaning. By cheering and booing, that is to say endorsing some behaviors and censuring others, early 20th century baseball fans projected their collective concerns about changing conceptions of masculinity onto the ball field. Specifically, they looked to stars like Cobb for evidence of ideal manhood. By their active participation in the game, fans tested Cobb, challenging him to display those attributes of manhood that they valued the most—especially that quality of manhood that they called nerve. More times than not, Cobb succeeded and thus became their hero—the personification of their hopes and dreams amidst the changing conceptions of manhood in the early 20th century.