Editing Ty Cobb (section)

==Regular season statistics==
For several years, Cobb had the highest batting average in major league history, .366.<ref name="2024rev" /> In Cobb's time, major league records were kept very well, but not with the absolute accuracy seen later.<ref name=NYTimes/> Thus, for many years, Cobb's lifetime batting average was reported as .367, but rigorous research of source documents late 20th&nbsp;century found that this is wrong, as some games had been reported incorrectly.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sabr.org/journal/article/how-many-hits-did-ty-cobb-make-in-his-major-league-career-what-is-his-lifetime-batting-average/ |title=How Many Hits Did Ty Cobb Make in His Major League Career? What Is His Lifetime Batting Average? |author=Herm Krabbenhoft |date=Spring 2019 |work=Baseball Research Journal |publisher=SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) |access-date=February 11, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Banks |first=Kerry |title=Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records |url=https://archive.org/details/baseballstop100g0000bank/page/8/mode/2up |access-date=February 6, 2021 |year=2010 |publisher=Greystone Books |isbn=9781553655077 |page=9}}</ref>

All sources with standing agree that Cobb's lifetime batting average is .366 (except MLB.com, see below); some show slightly different numbers for at-bats and hits, but all devolve to .366. [[Society for American Baseball Research|SABR (the Society for American Baseball Research)]] (seconded by [[John Thorn]] and [[Pete Palmer]], among others), the [[Baseball Almanac]], and [[ESPN]] credit Cobb with 4,189 hits in 11,434 at-bats.<ref>[https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ty-cobb/ SABRE's Ty Cobb totals][https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=cobbty01 Baseball Almanac Cobb totals][http://www.espn.com/mlb/history/leaders ESPN Cobb totals]</ref> [[Retrosheet]] gives Cobb the same number of hits in five more at-bats (11,439),<ref>[https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/C/Pcobbt101.htm Retrosheet Cobb totals]</ref> and [[Baseball-Reference.com|Baseball Reference]] and the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Baseball Hall of Fame]] add one more at-bat (11,440).<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cobbty01.shtml Baseball Reference Cobb totals][https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/cobb-ty Hall of Fame Cobb totals]</ref> All of these round to .366.

[[MLB.com]] lists Cobb's lifetime average as .367 (4,191 hits in 11,429 at-bats),<ref>[https://www.mlb.com/player/ty-cobb-112431 MLB.com Cobb totals]</ref> the number that had been reported and believed true from Cobb's retirement until the late 20th&nbsp;century. (Other pages on the website do give the correct value.)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/ty-cobb-history-built-on-inaccuracies-c178601094 |title=Author says Cobb's reputation built on tales |author=Anthony Castrovince |date=May 17, 2016 |work=Mlb.com |access-date=February 11, 2021}}</ref> According to former Baseball Commissioner [[Bowie Kuhn]], Major League Baseball continues and will continue to report the incorrect value on the basis of it being [[Grandfather clause|grandfathered in]] ("The passage of 70&nbsp;years, in our judgment, constitutes a certain statute of limitation as to recognizing any changes.")<ref name=NYTimes>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/31/sports/baseball/numbers-are-cast-in-bronze-but-are-not-set-in-stone.html |title=Numbers Are Cast in Bronze, but Are Not Set in Stone |author=Alan Schwarz |date=July 31, 2005 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 11, 2021}}</ref>

According to [[Retrosheet]], Cobb recorded 1 six-hit game, 13 five-hit games, and 82 four-hit games in his MLB career.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/C/PX_cobbt101.htm|title=Ty Cobb's best performances from retrosheet.org|website=retrosheet.org|access-date=September 24, 2022}}</ref> 
  
Baseball (the sport) does not have official statistics. In ''C.B.C. Distribution Marketing v. Major League Baseball'', the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit]] upholding a 2007 judgement by the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri]], ruled that baseball statistics, as being mere facts, are in the public domain and are therefore not the property of Major League Baseball Enterprises, Inc. or any other private or public entity.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://casetext.com/case/cbc-distribution-marketing-v-major-league-baseball |title=C.B.C. Distribution Marketing v. Major League Baseball |date=2005 |work=Casetext |access-date=February 14, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mead |first1= Daniel |title=C. B. C. Distribution and Marketing, Inc. v. Major League Baseball Advanced Media, LP: Why Major League Baseball Struck Out and Advanced Media, LP: Why Major League Baseball Struck Out and Won't Have Better Luck in its Next Trip to the Plate Won't Have Better Luck in its Next Trip to the Plate |url=https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1279&context=mjlst |journal=Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology |date=2007 |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=715–736 |doi= |access-date=February 14, 2021}}</ref> However, because Major League Baseball Enterprises, Inc. does have some official legal rights and responsibilities concerning major league baseball – enforcing copyrights on team logos, making the official rules used by the teams, and so forth – and because Major League Baseball does empower the Elias Sports Bureau with "official provider of MLB statistics" status - confusion sometimes arises and thus a few sources can still describe Cobb's major league batting average as being "officially" .367. "Official" in that sense of the word means merely "from the office" of Major League Baseball, the corporation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/baseball-history/changing-nature-of-statistics |title=A Number of Changes |last=Smith |first=David |website=baseballhall.org |access-date=September 4, 2022}}</ref> In 2024, MLB.com incorporated the records of more than 2,300 [[Negro Leagues]] players, making [[Josh Gibson]]'s .372 career batting average the new highest.<ref name="2024rev" />

Cobb's career totals from Baseball Reference are as follows.<ref name=BaseballRefCobbCareerStats/> Other sources may have slightly different figures. Caught Stealing is not shown comprehensively because the stat was not regularly recorded until 1920.
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
|-
| [[Games played|G]]
| [[At bat|AB]]
| [[Run (baseball)|R]]
| [[Hit (baseball)|H]]
| [[Double (baseball)|2B]]
| [[Triple (baseball)|3B]]
| [[Home run|HR]]
| [[Run batted in|RBI]]
| [[Stolen base|SB]]
| [[Caught stealing|CS]]
| [[Base on balls|BB]]
| [[Strikeout|SO]]
| [[Batting average (baseball)|BA]]
| [[On-base percentage|OBP]]
| [[Slugging average|SLG]]
| [[Total bases|TB]]
| [[Sacrifice hit|SH]]
| [[Hit by pitch|HBP]]
|-
| 3,034
| 11,440
| 2,245
| 4,189
| 724
| 295
| 117
| 1,944
| 897
| 212
| 1,249
| 680
| .366
| .433
| .512
| 5,854
| 292
| 94
|}

Cobb's career totals published by Major League Baseball Enterprises, Inc. are shown below:<ref name="OfficialStats">{{cite web|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/historical/individual_stats_player.jsp?c_id=mlb&playerID=112431&HS=True|title=Historical Player Stats: Ty Cobb|access-date=March 16, 2012|publisher=[[Major League Baseball]]}}</ref>
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
|-
| [[Games played|G]]
| [[At bat|AB]]
| [[Run (baseball)|R]]
| [[Hit (baseball)|H]]
| [[Double (baseball)|2B]]
| [[Triple (baseball)|3B]]
| [[Home run|HR]]
| [[Run batted in|RBI]]
| [[Stolen base|SB]]
| [[Caught stealing|CS]]
| [[Base on balls|BB]]
| [[Strikeout|SO]]
| [[Batting average (baseball)|BA]]
| [[On-base percentage|OBP]]
| [[Slugging average|SLG]]
| [[Total bases|TB]]
| [[Sacrifice hit|SH]]
| [[Hit by pitch|HBP]]
|-
| 3,035
| 11,429
| 2,246
| 4,191
| 723
| 297
| 117
| 1,938
| 892
| ---
| 1,249
| 357
| .367
| .433
| .513
| 5,859
| 295
| 94
|}