Last cut for Cobb

Ty Cobb takes his final swing in the major leagues 96 years ago today.

Cobb, then with the Philadelphia Athletics, is playing out his 24-year, Hall of Fame career as a pinch-hitter for Jimmy Dykes to start the ninth inning of the Athletics’ game at Yankee Stadium.

Against the backdrop of an estimated crowd of 50,000 for a Tuesday afternoon matinee, Cobb faces Yankees starter Hank Johnson in a ballpark where he holds a .367 lifetime batting average.

And Johnson?

Hank Johnson

Not so good against the Athletics, against whom he loses 11 of his previous 20 decisions with a hide-the-women-and-children ERA of 6.22.

Even at age 41, Cobb is batting .324 as he steps into the box to face Johnson.

Surely, Cobb – the game’s all-time hits leader at the time with 4,189 of them – would add to his total against the mediocrity that ultimately defines Johnson’s 12-year career.

Instead, Cobb’s final swing produces only an infield pop-up to shortstop Mark Koenig.

Sigh.

Johnson also retires the next two batters – two more pinch-hitters in Eddie Collins and Walt French – to finish off the A’s 5-3 for the 12th victory in a career that will last a dozen seasons and produces a 63-56 record and 4.75 ERA.

Cobb, of course, finishes with a .366 lifetime batting average – the highest of any player in history – those aforementioned 4,189 hits and, eventually, the distinction of being among the first group of players elected to the Hall of Fame.