| Baseball's Sad Lexicon | |
|---|---|
| byFranklin Pierce Adams | |
The threeChicago Cubs of the poem | |
| Original title | That Double Play Again |
| Subject | Baseball |
| Publisher | New York Evening Mail |
| Publication date | July 12, 1910 (1910-07-12) |
| Lines | 8 |
| Full text | |
 Baseball's Sad Lexicon atWikisource | |
"Baseball's Sad Lexicon," also known as "Tinker to Evers to Chance" after its refrain, is a 1910 baseball poem byFranklin Pierce Adams. The eight-line poem is presented as a single, ruefulstanza from the point of view of aNew York Giants fan watching theChicago Cubs infield ofshortstopJoe Tinker,second basemanJohnny Evers, andfirst basemanFrank Chance complete adouble play. These three players helped the Cubs win fourNational League championships and twoWorld Series from 1906 to 1910.
"Baseball's Sad Lexicon" became popular across the United States among sportswriters, who wrote their own verses along the same vein. The poem only enhanced the reputations of Tinker, Evers, and Chance over the succeeding decades as the phrase became synonymous with a feat of smooth and ruthless efficiency. It has been credited with their elections to theNational Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.
The poem was first published in theNew York Evening Mail on July 12, 1910, under the title "That Double Play Again."[1] The day before, the Cubs had defeated the Giants, 4–2, in Chicago, having squelched a late-inning Giants rally with a double play from shortstop Tinker to second baseman Evers to first baseman Chance. Per standardbaseball positions, this play is recorded as 6-4-3 (shortstop to second baseman to first baseman).
Tinker, Evers, and Chance began playing together with the Cubs in September 1902, forming a double play combination that lasted through April 1912. The Cubs won theNational League pennant four times from 1906 to 1910 and won back-to-backWorld Series championships in 1907 and 1908, a five-year span that saw them regularly defeat their archrival Giants en route to the pennants and World Series.[3]
Frank Chance joined theChicago Cubs in 1898 as a reserve catcher, backing upTim Donahue andJohnny Kling.Frank Selee, the Cubs' manager, decided that Chance would be better suited as afirst baseman. Chance at first opposed the move and even threatened to quit, but he ultimately obliged.[4]
Joe Tinker was athird baseman inminor league baseball but in 1902 made the Cubs as ashortstop, replacingBarry McCormick.[5]
Johnny Evers made his major league debut with the Cubs on September 1, 1902 at shortstop, with Selee moving Tinker from shortstop to third base.[6] Three days later, Selee returned Tinker to shortstop and assigned Evers tosecond base to back upBobby Lowe. Lowe suffered a knee injury late in the 1902 season, providing Evers with more playing time.[6]
Tinker, Evers, and Chance first appeared in a game together on September 13, 1902. They turned their first double play on September 15, 1902.[7] Lowe's injury did not properly heal during the off-season, making Evers the new permanent second baseman for the Cubs in 1903.[6] Chance succeeded Selee as manager during the 1905 season when Selee became ill.[4]
The Cubs, led by Tinker, Evers, and Chance, won theNational League pennant in 1906, 1907, 1908, and 1910. In 1908 the Cubs clinched the pennant after defeating the Giants, in part due toMerkle's Boner. In the Merkle game, Tinker hit a home run offChristy Mathewson,[5] and Evers alertedumpireHank O'Day to Merkle's base-running gaffe.[6] In the replay of the Merkle game, Tinker hit atriple off Mathewson that started the rally that gave the Cubs the victory, clinching the pennant.[5][8]
From 1906 to 1910, the Cubs turned 491 double plays, the third most in the NL during that time. According toBill James' "expected double plays" formula, the Cubs led the NL with 50 more double plays than expected during those five seasons.[9] From 1906 through 1910, the "Tinker, to Evers, to Chance" double play happened 54 times in 770games played, and the trio did not collaborate on a double play during any of their 21World Series games.[10] In 1906, the trio committed 194errors, though this was in part due to poor field conditions and scorers.[11]
Franklin Pierce Adams wrote a weekly column for theNew York Evening Mail called "Always in Good Humor". Adams hoped to leave work to attend a Giants game, but his editor found that Adams had not produced enough content for his column. While reflecting on Tinker, Evers, and Chance as he traveled to thePolo Grounds to see the Giants play the Cubs, Adams wrote the poem that would becomeBaseball's Sad Lexicon.[7] He considered the lines to be forgettable as he wrote them, and an editor at the paper told him that he did not consider the work to be "much good".[12]
This work was first published as "That Double Play Again" in theNew York Evening Mail on July 12, 1910 (not on July 10 as numerous sources state).[12][13] TheChicago Daily Tribune reprinted it as "Gotham's Woe" on July 15, 1910.[14] Three days later, on July 18, theNew York Evening Mail republished it under the title by which it is best known today, "Baseball's Sad Lexicon."[15][16][17] The poem was such a hit that other sportswriters submitted additional verses.[12]
For the poem's 100th anniversary, Tim Wiles, director of research at the Baseball Hall of Fame, conducted research on the poem. He revealed that the poem was part of series of poems published in theNew York Evening Mail and theChicago Tribune. During the research process, combing the archives in theNew York Public Library and theCenter for Research Libraries, they uncovered 29 poems, 15 of which detail a specific play or game that had occurred during the 1910 season, with "Baseball's Sad Lexicon" the first poem published.[12]
In 1911, the Giants overcame the Cubs, capturing the first of three consecutiveNational League pennants.[18] The trio played their final game together on April 12, 1912.[7] While Chance was hospitalized for a brain injury suffered while playing, club ownerCharles Webb Murphy released him after an argument about Murphy's releasing other players with high salaries.[4] Murphy named Evers manager for the 1913 season, which displeased Tinker, who was traded to theCincinnati Reds.[5]
Murphy fired Evers as manager after one season, trading him against his will to theBoston Braves in February 1914.[19] As a consequence,National League presidentJohn K. Tener and newspaper ownerCharles P. Taft (who also owned thePhiladelphia Phillies) made a successful effort to drive Murphy out of baseball.[20] Taft purchased the Cubs from Murphy in 1914.[21]Sporting Life commemorated the affair with this variation on the poem:[20]
Brought to the leash and smashed in the jaw,
Evers to Tener to Taft.
Hounded and hustled outside of the law,
Evers to Tener to Taft.
Torn from the Cubs and the glitter of gold,
Stripped of the guerdons and glory untold,
Kicked in the stomach and cut from the fold,
Evers to Tener to Taft.
— "C. Murphy – His Lyric,"Sporting Life, Mar. 14, 1914, p. 12.[20]
Chance died in 1924, Evers in 1947, and Tinker in 1948. The poem was regularly used to memorialize each of the players after his death.[22][23][24]
All three players were inducted into theNational Baseball Hall of Fame in1946. Their inductions have been credited in part to the fame generated by Adams' poem.[12]Andy Coakley, a teammate with the Cubs as well as a coach forColumbia University, regarded Tinker, Evers, and Chance to be the best infield in baseball history.[25] Bill James, in his 1994 book,Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?, argued that Tinker was less accomplished thanGeorge Davis, who at the time was not a member of the Hall of Fame.[c]
The poem gave the trio "everlasting fame".[10] Evers made an appearance onInformation Please, a radio show on which Adams was a panelist in 1938. Evers thanked Adams for writing the poem, which he credited for his being remembered.[12] However, many forgotHarry Steinfeldt, the third baseman who started alongside Tinker, Evers, and Chance from 1906 through 1910.[10][26] Including Steinfeldt, the Cubs infield set a record for longevity surpassed by theLos Angeles Dodgers infield of first basemanSteve Garvey, second basemanDavey Lopes, shortstopBill Russell, and third basemanRon Cey, who played together for eight years, from 1973 through 1981.[27]
Despite their celebrated success at turning spectacular plays in collaboration, relations between the teammates were said to have been often strained. Tinker and Evers feuded for many years.[5] On September 14, 1905, Tinker and Evers engaged in a fistfight on the field because Evers had taken a cab to the stadium and left his teammates behind in the hotel lobby. They did not speak for years following this event.[28] According to some tellings, Tinker and Evers did not speak to one another again following their fight for 33 years, until they were asked to participate in the radio broadcast of the1938 World Series, between the Cubs and theNew York Yankees. Neither Tinker nor Evers knew the other had been invited.[29][30] However, in 1929, Tinker joined Evers in signing a ten-week contract to perform a theatrical skit on baseball in different cities across the United States.[28]
The phrase "Tinker to Evers to Chance," and variations using other names, have been colloquially used to characterize high-caliber teamwork. Examples include:
The poem's title has also been used to characterize any process that happens with smoothness and precision, as a near-synonym to expressions such as "like clockwork" or "a well-oiled machine." For example:
Ogden Nash, in his 1949 poem "Line-Up For Yesterday: An ABC of Baseball Immortals," referred to the trio of players in astanza for the letter "E":[34]
E is for Evers
His jaw in advance;
Never afraid
To Tinker with Chance.
Walt Kelly, in the May 7, 1953 installment of thePogo comic strip, depicted the character Simple J. Malarkey (a caricature of SenatorJoseph McCarthy) advising a preacher that theConstitution "can't guarantee what happensafter you speak up... it don't pay totinker forever withchance, ha ha like the fella says."[35]
MusicianScott Miller, leader of the 1980s bandGame Theory, choseTinker to Evers to Chance as the ironic title of a 1990compilation album of the band's greatest would-be hits which, despite significant critical acclaim, had struck out commercially.[36][37] Like Nash, Miller emphasized the double meaning of the names, creating a visual pun by featuring a piece from aTinkertoy set ("tinker"), apocket watch ("evers"), and adie ("chance") on the album cover.[38]
The poem was set to music and recorded in 2010 by Chicago singer/songwriter guitaristChris McCaughan.[39] The song, also titled "Baseball's Sad Lexicon," appears on the albumWe Chase the Waves by McCaughan's solo project,Sundowner.[40]
