Plans Underway to Build New Ty Cobb Museum in Royston

By Mark Berryman, 92.1WLHR, Lavonia

Plans are progressing to build a new Ty Cobb Museum in Royston on the grounds of the old Cobb Memorial Hospital, which was torn down last year.

The Ty Cobb Museum honors Baseball Hall of Fame player Ty Cobb, and contains art and memorabilia, film, video, books, and historical archives of Cobb.

It also houses the Franklin County Sports Hall of Fame.

Ty Cobb Museum Executive Director Wesley Fricks said putting the new museum on the old hospital property is a fitting tribute to the famous baseball player, who paid for the construction of the hospital in 1950.

“When I got the call we were moving forward and releasing it to the public, that we were going to build a new museum on the property where the Cobb Memorial Hospital was built I was honored. I was tickled to death. I was so excited I wanted to cut cartwheels down 29. To know that Mr. Cobb’s legacy will continue on that property is really satisfying to me and I think Mr. Cobb would be proud to know his legacy will continue on that property,” said Fricks.

Although the plans are still being drawn up and tweaked, Fricks did say the new museum will have more space and more opportunities for various activities than the current facility on Cook St. In Royston.

“Realistically, the project is designed where there’s going to be a lot of activities going on in one building, so it’s really hard to compare apples to apples when it comes to square footage and that kind of stuff because there’s going to be several different things there under one roof. I can assure you the museum will be, the way we’re planning it, to be certainly more than double its size but those kind of things are still in the works and have not been finalized,” said Fricks.

The executive director said he was only one part of the team working on this project and there were many more who deserved attention and credit as well.

“The reality of it is there’s a lot of people working hard that you may never see their names, but I hope you do because they deserve just as much credit and are just as excited as I am not only to work toward developing this project but to see it become a reality,” said Fricks.

Fricks also said the public should look for announcements in the very near future about the release of a new bobblehead and a couple of official Ty Cobb baseball bats.