 Tristram Speaker
Boston A.L.
 1937: Elected to the Baseball
Hall of Fame
1912: Hit 52 doubles (#1
ML-season--#2 all-time season record)
Lifetime:793 doubles (#1
All-time)
TRIS SPEAKER
Speaker, Tristram E "The Grey Eagle"
b: 4/4/1888, Hubbard, Tex. d: 12/8/58, Lake Whitney, Tex.
BL/TL, 5'11.5", 193 lbs. Deb: 9/14/07 MH
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YEAR TM/L G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1907 Bos-A 7 19 0 3 0 0 0 1 1 .158
1908 Bos-A 31 116 12 26 2 2 0 9 4 .224
1909 Bos-A 143 544 73 168 26 13 7 77 38 .309
1910 Bos-A 141 538 92 183 20 14 7 65 52 .340
1911 Bos-A 141 500 88 167 34 13 8 70 59 .334
1912 *Bos-A 153 580 136 222 53 12 10 90 82 .383
1913 Bos-A 141 520 94 189 35 22 3 71 65 22 .363
1914 Bos-A 158 571 101 193 46 18 4 90 77 25 .338
1915 *Bos-A 150 547 108 176 25 12 0 69 81 14 .322
1916 Cle-A 151 546 102 211 41 8 2 79 82 20 .386
1917 Cle-A 142 523 90 184 42 11 2 60 67 14 .352
1918 Cle-A 127 471 73 150 33 11 0 61 64 9 .318
1919 Cle-A 134 494 83 146 38 12 2 63 73 12 .296
1920 *Cle-A 150 552 137 214 50 11 8 107 97 13 .388
1921 Cle-A 132 506 107 183 52 14 3 75 68 12 .362
1922 Cle-A 131 426 85 161 48 8 11 71 77 11 .378
1923 Cle-A 150 574 133 218 59 11 17 130 93 15 .380
1924 Cle-A 135 486 94 167 36 9 9 65 72 13 .344
1925 Cle-A 117 429 79 167 35 5 12 87 70 12 .389
1926 Cle-A 150 539 96 164 52 8 7 86 94 15 .304
1927 Was-A 141 523 71 171 43 6 2 73 55 8 .327
1928 Phi-A 64 191 28 51 22 2 3 30 10 5 .267
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Total 22 2789 10195 1882 3514 792 222 117 1529 1381 ?220 .344
Considered by the people who saw him play as the "world's greatest outfielder", Tris Speaker is truly
one of the legends of the game. He once explained how Tristram became 'Tris'. Coming from Texas, it was quickly
given to him by his family so that he was already 'Tris' at the time of his christening. However, when he came
to Boston, he was given the nickname, 'Spoke'. Tris loved to play ball as a kid and was a natural righthander.
When he broke his right arm and collarbone being thrown from a bronco (not a Ford), he was forced to use his left
hand for throwing and eventually felt very comfortable in doing so. In fact when his right arm finally healed,
he stayed a southpaw and even turned to bat from the left side. The captain and pitcher of his high school team,
Tris developed a natural curve ball and stated that he always allowed for a curve in his throws from the outfield
when he made it to professional ball. His defensive style of play was trend-setting as he played a 'shallow' centerfield
and would anticipate the flight of the ball by the batter's stance and where the pitch was thrown. Tris credits
Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young , who would hit fungos to Tris, for helping develop his style of defensive play.
Speaker's assist total was truly amazing as Tris threw out 30 or more batters in 4 different seasons. In 1918 he
made two unassisted double plays, catching low line drives in the outfield and beating the runner on second back
to the bag. His style of play made people call him the 'fifth infielder'. Even up to his dying day, when asked
about his style of play, Tris said that more games are won by singles dropping over second base than by triples
over the heads of outfielders. What many call the catch that won the pennant for the 1920 Indians, player-manager
Speaker, his team playing a season-ending game with the White Sox, caught a screaming line drive hit to deep right-centerfield
by legendary Shoeless Joe Jackson . On the the dead run, Speaker leaped with both feet off the ground and snared
the ball before crashing into a concrete wall. Laying unconscious from the impact, Tris still had a viselike grip
on the ball. Tris truly loved to hit and would always get a thrill when getting a 'clean' hit that travelled over
an outfielder's head. Tris' .344 lifetime average is # 6 all-time(tied with Ted Williams). He also stole 433 bases.
In 1916, he overtook Ty Cobb and won the American League batting title with a .386 average. Perhaps Tris' greatest
thrill was the 1912 World Series against the NY Giants. In the deciding game of the series, the Giants were ahead
2-1 in the tenth inning at Boston. In Boston's home tenth, with Clyde Engle in scoring
position after the famous muff by Fred Snodgrass(actually a very difficult catch to
make, according to Speaker), Tris, facing legendary Christy Mathewson, lofted a towering
foul ball towards first base where Fred Merkle was expecting to catch the ball. For some
mysterious reason, Mathewson yelled for the catcher, Chief Meyers, to grab it except Meyers
didn't reach the ball in time. Reprieved, Tris yelled to Christy, "You just blew the championship!".
Sure enough, Tris hit a single that scored the tying run and eventually led to Boston's triumph of the game and
the World Series. Many pundits believe that when mentioning an all-time outfield, Tris Speaker is right there with
Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth. Tris was the seventh player selected to enter
the Baseball Hall of Fame. For more interesting information on this legendary player, visit The
Unofficial Ty Cobb-Tris Speaker- Joe Wood Page.
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