The sub-300ft right field fence at Yankee Stadium back then certainly didn't hurt. :-) But I don't think it was luck, I think he was trying to hit the ball out to try and show Ruth up in his own house. That first game he went 6-6 with 3hr, 2 doubles, and a single. The next day he added on another 2hr and a double. And don't say the guy was stupid, because he wasn't. He was characterized by many in his day to be bookish and a bit nerdy for a ballplayer. He was always reading the classics and studying history and politics and was smart enough out of highschool that he got an appointment to West Point and was also urged to go to Med School or Law School. He wasn't a backwaters idiot like Joe Jackson; Cobb's father was a Senator. Yeah, he said later in life he always regretted not going go college and becoming a doctor.