Hall of Famer Tris Speaker
The Grey Eagle Led the Red Sox and the Indians to the World Series
Jul 4, 2007
Tristram E. ("Tris") Speaker was born on April 4, 1888 in the small town of Hubbard, Texas. As a youth, Speaker broke his right arm when he fell off a horse. While his arm was still healing, young Tris learned to throw with his left hand. Eventually he became so comfortable with his left handed toss that he continued to throw southpaw even after his right arm healed.
After being a standout center fielder in High School, Speaker signed on with the Cleburn Railroaders, a minor league team that played in the Texas League. The 18-year old Speaker hit .318, played brilliant defense, and soon drew the attention of scouts from the Boston Red Sox, who purchased his contract for $800 towards the end of the 1907 season.
Tris Speaker's Boston Years
Speaker became the regular Boston center fielder by the start of the 1909 season, a year in which he hit .309 and knocked in 77 runs. Those were big numbers for the heart of the dead ball era. Speaker had his first great season in 1912, the first year that Fenway Park opened, when he hit .383 with a league-leading 10 home runs and 90 RBI. That October, Speaker made his first trip to the World Series, which the Red Sox would win in eight games (yes, eight games) over the New York Giants. Speaker and the Sox would return to the Series in 1915, and beat the Philadelphia Phillies, four games to one. Speaker performed well in both Series with the Red Sox, hitting .300 and .294, respectively.
After the 1915 Series, however, he had a falling out with the Red Sox owner Joe Lannin, who wanted his star player to take a pay cut from $15,000 to $9,000 because he hit only .322 that season. Speaker refused the cut and was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Sad Sam Jones and $50,000 in cash.
Speaker Lifts a Sagging Cleveland Indian Franchise
Speaker made an immediate impact in Cleveland. He led the American League in batting (.386), hits (211), doubles (41), on base percentage (.470) and slugging percentage (.502). Between 1916 and 1918, the Indians climbed from a sixth place team to a second place squad. Speaker was made player/manager before the 1919 season, a year that saw the Indians lose the American League pennant by three games to the Chicago Black Sox.
In 1920, however, Speaker took his team all the way. They edged the White Sox to win the American League championship by just two games. In addition to managing the team, Speaker hit .388 with 50 doubles, 107 RBI and 137 runs scored.
In the 1920 World Series, the Indians beat the Brooklyn Robins (now the Dodgers) five games to two. It was Cleveland's first world championship. Speaker hit .320 in seven games and provided a steady hand at management, both of which contributed to the team's win.
Speaker would never make it back to another World Series, but he continued to be an incredibly productive player, batting .380 at 35 years old and hitting .327 in his last full season at age 39. He retired after the 1928 season at the age of 40 after playing a reserve role for the 1928 Phildelphia Athletics.
Career Statistics, Honors and Essential Facts
Speaker was nicknamed the Grey Eagle because of his prematurely greying hair.
Speaker was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1937. He was just the seventh player admitted to the Cooperstown shrine.
Speaker won the 1912 American League MVP award, beating out Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.
His career batting average is .345, which is sixth best all time. (Speaker is actually just 3/1000ths of a point ahead of Ted Williams).
Speaker finished his career with 3,514 hits, ranking him fifth all-time.
Speaker also stole 432 bases, with a career high of 52 in 1912.
He also had 1,542 RBI even though his prime years were played during the dead ball era.
Speaker is the all-time leader in doubles with 792. In his career, he led the American League in that category eight times, and set a Major League record when he pounded out 59 two base hits in 1923.
His 222 triples are sixth all time.
Finally, he struck out a mere 220 times in 10,125 career at-bats.
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