He had a pretty tough year that season. His mother had blown his dad's head off with a shotgun and the story become somewhat of a sensation...imagine Evan Longoria's mom killing his dad and the type of story that would be. His teammates that season also took rookie hazing to a new level (mainly because they knew he might take one of their jobs away), they broke all of his homemade bats, stole his clothes several times, nailed his cleats to the clubhouse floor, threw food at him constantly, never let him take BP the whole season, and many other very mean things. Cobb was already a weirdo but the death of his father (a Senator btw) at the hands of his mother and the relentless hazing on top of all that sent him completely over the edge and pretty much turned him into the monster that he became.