In 1914, an “as told to” story about Ty Cobb appeared in the magazine section of several Sunday papers which were part of The Associated Sunday Magazines syndicate.
The writer, Edward Lyell Fox, was one of the most famous journalists of the decade, but just four years later his career ended in scandal. Fox was sent to Germany to cover the war for the Hearst newspapers, but in 1918 he was accused of writing “propaganda stories” for the German government—Fox’ career was ruined, and he was the subject of Congressional hearings, although the charges were never substantiated.
Fox
Some of the stories from the Fox piece appear in the rare 1914 book “Bustin’ ‘em” “by” Cobb, although Fox is not credited.
Cobb told Fox:
“I think I have more trouble with crowds than any other ballplayer. This is due to the fact that when I broke into the big leagues, I was pretty young and had a tempter that was too quick for my own good. Only in later years have I successfully curbed it. But the crowds remember those flare ups of the past. Then my manner on the field is aggressive. It’s part of my game. I couldn’t play ball if I didn’t feel aggressive. But I think that anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a perfectly harmless, mild-mannered, house-cat sort of individual off the field.”
Cobb
Cobb then told Fox about an experience with a hostile fan in Cleveland:
“I slid into third base ‘riding high,’ with spikes aglimmer. I did this purposely; for (Ivy) Olson, the Cleveland baseman, had been blocking runners. I wanted to scare him. He saw the spikes and kept out of the way thereafter.
‘”I guess I will call it off, Ty,’ he said, and grinned. There was no hard feeling between us. It was all in the game.”
One Indians fan did agree with Olson that there we no hard feelings.
“Behind the (Tigers) bench was a man with the voice of monstrous bullfrog. Every time there was a lull in the uproar of the park his voice would croak, ‘Dirty work! Dirty work, Cobb! I’ll get you after the game! Look out for me at the players’ gate!’
“Well he kept after me all the afternoon and began to get on my nerves. Finally, I shouted back something in his general direction. I couldn’t see who he was; but I concluded he must be as big as a house; possibly a pugilist. The game over, some of the players offered to go out the gate with me. If there was going to be an attack, they wanted to see that I got a square deal. As we passed through the gate I heard the bullfrog voice, only now if was very friendly. It said
“’Hello, Ty! How are you?’
“I looked around, and saw an amazing sight. That voice was coming from a man who looked five feet high and didn’t weigh a hundred pound.
‘That’s the fellow who was going to beat you up, Ty,’ said (George) Moriarty. Well, the players gave me the laugh on that thing for a couple of days.”
Baseball History Daily 
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