Ty Cobb Statue Not Headed to New Braves Stadium

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

The statue of Royston native and baseball Hall Of Famer Ty Cobb will not be relocated to the new SunTrust Stadium in Cobb County.

According to a report by WXIA-TV/11Alive News, the Braves are planning to take hundreds of items from Turner Field to their new stadium in Cobb County, including many of the statues from Monument Grove of famous baseball players, but they have no plans to take the statue of Ty Cobb.

Now the director of the Ty Cobb Museum in Royston is trying to find out what the owners of Turner Field plan to do with it.

Julie Ridgeway said she first learned that the statue would be left behind last Friday and was upset with the TV reporter’s speculation as to why it would not be moved.

WXIA-TV reporter Doug Richards theorized Friday it is because of Cobb’s reputation as a racist.  Ridgeway said that allegation was not true of the Georgia Peach.

“I just thought it was very rude and very unprofessional,” Ridgeway said. “We’ve worked very hard to improve the image of Ty Cobb over the years and to give to the people the complete, accurate portrayal of him.”

Ridgeway said as far she knows, the Braves have not said why they are not moving the Ty Cobb statue. Ridgeway called the Sports Director at WXIA-TV and talked to them about Richards’ remark in his story.

According to Richards’ report, there is a tug of war going on between the Braves and the Fulton County Recreation Department over who owns all of the items at Turner Field, including the statues.  Still, Ridgeway was upset with Richards’ speculations regarding the Cobb statue.

“I voiced my concerns and also shared a great resource that she and her sports writer could go to and read where the racism issue had been dispelled and that’s Charles Learson’s new book,” she said.

Ridgeway said the TV station has since edited out the racism remarks from their story.

According to Ridgeway, most people don’t know about Ty Cobb’s philanthropy and all of the people he helped along the waay.

“He did a lot for Royston, he did a lot for the education system in Georgia that people don’t know about,” Ridgeway noted. “And that’s because Ty Cobb was kind of a private person and didn’t brag about the things he did for people.”

Meantime, attention is now turning to the fate of the statue at Turner Field.

Ridgeway said she and several other people have been working all weekend to find out who exactly will determine where the statue will end up.

“I’ve been pretty busy talking to different people who are working on this with me,” she said. “We’re just trying to actually talk to the proper person who can make a decision about this. At this point, we just want to know what’s going to be done with the statue and if it’s nothing, then we would like the statue to come to us.”

The statue of Ty Cobb was designed by sculptor Felix de Weldon and was originally placed outside Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1977.  20 years later, it was moved to Monument Grove at Turner Field.

The statue depicts a portrait of Ty Cobb stealing third base against “Home Run” Baker of the Philadelphia Athletics, as captured in a 1925 photograph.