Ty Cobb: famously sliding hard into Jimmy Austin

On this date, in 1886…who would have known? The Georgia Peach, still in the top-five career stats for all the big-batting categories in Major League Baseball, was born. (Cobb’s lifetime batting average of .367 [some sources list .366] is one of “those records” not likely to be surpassed.) Cobb was, except for a late stint with the Philadelphia Athletics, a lifelong Detroit Tiger. He died in 1961. In that year, on this date, the Tokens hit “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”—well known to several generations, the latest via The Lion King—reached Number One on the charts.