Athletes - Tris Speaker

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	Athletes - Tris Speaker

Tristram E. Speaker (April 4, 1888 in Hubbard, Texas - December 8, 1958 in Lake Whitney, Texas), nicknamed “Spoke” (a play on his last name) and “Grey Eagle” (for his prematurely graying hair), was an American baseball player considered to be the best defensive center fielder to ever play the game. Speaker was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame during the second year of voting, 1937.

Pre-professional career

Tris Speaker was born on Wednesday, April 4, 1888 in Hubbard, Texas, Archie and Nancy Peer Speaker. He suffered a broken right arm in a fall from a horse so was forced to use his left hand for throwing. Eventually he became very comfortable with it and stayed a southpaw even when his right arm healed. Then his left arm was injured in a football accident. Surgeons advised amputation, but he refused. He recovered to become one of baseball’s great hitters and outfielders, a manager of a world’s championship team and seventh member of the game’s Hall of Fame. In 1905 Speaker played his one and only year of college baseball for Fort Worth Polytechnic Institute.

Professional career

Minor leagues

The indomitable will of young Speaker attracted a discerning baseball man, Doak Roberts, then owner of the Cleburne Railroaders, a Houston club of the Texas League, in the town of Cleburne in 1906. Speaker ended up batting .318 for the Railroaders. He wanted to be a professional ballplayer, but his mother opposed his being “sold into slavery.” She said she would never give her consent to her son’s going to Boston (named the Red Sox in 1907), even after he had made a success at Houston. Roberts had faith that young Speaker would make the grade, and he sold the youngster to the Sox for $800 – the Boston scout beating the St. Louis Browns by a mere half-hour.

Speaker played in 7 games for the Red Sox in 1907 getting 3 hits in 19 at bats for a .158 average. The following year, the Red Sox traded Speaker to the Little Rock Travelers of the Southern League in exchange for use of their facilities for spring training in 1908. Speaker ended up batting .350 for the Travelers and his contract was repurchased by the Red Sox. Speaker ended up making it into 31 games and got 26 hits in 116 at bats for a .224 average.

Major leagues

The early years

Speaker finally won the regular starting centerfielders job in 1909 from the light hitting Denny Sullivan who ended up getting sold to the Cleveland Naps. The gamble paid off for the Red Sox when Speaker hit .309 in 143 games and the team finished third in the pennant race.

In 1910 the Red Sox signed Duffy Lewis (LF). Along with Speaker and Harry Hooper (RF) they would form Boston’s “Million-Dollar Outfield”, one of the finest outfield trios in baseball history. The outfield was broken up when Speaker was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 1916.

The Boston Red Sox finished second to Connie Mack’s Philadelphia A’s, with the formidable pitching trio of Jack Coombs, Chief Bender and Eddie Plank, the following two years.

Speaker’s best season came in 1912. The Red Sox opened the newly built Fenway Park on April 20, 1912. Speaker played in every one of the Red Sox' 153 games, leading the American League in doubles with 53, and home runs with 10. He set a career high with 222 hits, 136 runs, 580 at-bats, and 52 steals. He was at the top of his game. He batted .383, a mark he would surpass three times in his career, but his .567 slugging percentage was the highest of his dead ball days. Speaker set a major league record when he had three batting streaks of 20 (30, 23, 22) or more games during the season. In center field he helped the Red Sox pitching staff by stabbing line drives and throwing out greedy base runners. The Red Sox won the pennant by finishing 14 games ahead of the Washington Senators and 15 games ahead of the Philadelphia A’s.

Snodgrass $30,000 muff costs Giants victory

Speaker’s Red Sox faced off against John McGraw’s New York Giants in the 1912 World Series. The series was tied 3-3-1 going into game 8 on October 16, 1912. The game was tied going into the tenth inning. In the top of the tenth, Fred Merkle shook off some of the shame still on his shoulders from his supposed bonehead play in 1908. With Red Murray on second, he cracked a single to center. Speaker juggled the ball, allowing Murray to score. After the Giants were out, future Hall of Famer, Christy Mathewson strode to the mound to try and win the Giants' second World Series. Pinch hitter Clyde Engle led off the inning. He hit a routine fly ball out towards centerfield. Fred Snodgrass, a native of Ventura, California and the Giants dependable centerfielder of the last five years, trotted to the spot where he figured to catch the ball for the first out. But he didn't.

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