Boston A.L.

1937: Elected to the BaseballHall of Fame

1912: Hit 52 doubles (#1ML-season--#2 all-time season record)

Lifetime:793 doubles (#1All-time)

TRIS SPEAKERSpeaker, 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==============================================================================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        .1581908   Bos-A     31    116    12    26    2    2    0     9     4        .2241909   Bos-A    143    544    73   168   26   13    7    77    38        .3091910   Bos-A    141    538    92   183   20   14    7    65    52        .3401911   Bos-A    141    500    88   167   34   13    8    70    59        .3341912  *Bos-A    153    580   136   222   53   12   10    90    82        .3831913   Bos-A    141    520    94   189   35   22    3    71    65    22  .3631914   Bos-A    158    571   101   193   46   18    4    90    77    25  .3381915  *Bos-A    150    547   108   176   25   12    0    69    81    14  .3221916   Cle-A    151    546   102   211   41    8    2    79    82    20  .3861917   Cle-A    142    523    90   184   42   11    2    60    67    14  .3521918   Cle-A    127    471    73   150   33   11    0    61    64     9  .3181919   Cle-A    134    494    83   146   38   12    2    63    73    12  .2961920  *Cle-A    150    552   137   214   50   11    8   107    97    13  .3881921   Cle-A    132    506   107   183   52   14    3    75    68    12  .3621922   Cle-A    131    426    85   161   48    8   11    71    77    11  .3781923   Cle-A    150    574   133   218   59   11   17   130    93    15  .3801924   Cle-A    135    486    94   167   36    9    9    65    72    13  .3441925   Cle-A    117    429    79   167   35    5   12    87    70    12  .3891926   Cle-A    150    539    96   164   52    8    7    86    94    15  .3041927   Was-A    141    523    71   171   43    6    2    73    55     8  .3271928   Phi-A     64    191    28    51   22    2    3    30    10     5  .267------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total  22      2789  10195  1882  3514  792  222  117  1529  1381  ?220  .344

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Considered by the people who saw him play as the "world's greatest outfielder", Tris Speaker is trulyone of the legends of the game. He once explained how Tristram became 'Tris'. Coming from Texas, it was quicklygiven to him by his family so that he was already 'Tris' at the time of his christening. However, when he cameto 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 lefthand 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 outfieldwhen he made it to professional ball. His defensive style of play was trend-setting as he played a 'shallow' centerfieldand would anticipate the flight of the ball by the batter's stance and where the pitch was thrown. Tris creditsHall 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 hemade two unassisted double plays, catching low line drives in the outfield and beating the runner on second backto the bag. His style of play made people call him the 'fifth infielder'. Even up to his dying day, when askedabout his style of play, Tris said that more games are won by singles dropping over second base than by triplesover the heads of outfielders. What many call the catch that won the pennant for the 1920 Indians, player-managerSpeaker, his team playing a season-ending game with the White Sox, caught a screaming line drive hit to deep right-centerfieldby legendary Shoeless Joe Jackson . On the the dead run, Speaker leaped with both feet off the ground and snaredthe ball before crashing into a concrete wall. Laying unconscious from the impact, Tris still had a viselike gripon the ball. Tris truly loved to hit and would always get a thrill when getting a 'clean' hit that travelled overan 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' greatestthrill was the 1912 World Series against the NY Giants. In the deciding game of the series, the Giants were ahead2-1 in the tenth inning at Boston. In Boston's home tenth, withClyde Engle in scoringposition after the famous muff byFred Snodgrass(actually a very difficult catch tomake, according to Speaker), Tris, facing legendary Christy Mathewson, lofted a toweringfoul ball towards first base whereFred Merkle was expecting to catch the ball. For somemysterious reason, Mathewson yelled for the catcher,Chief Meyers, to grab it except Meyersdidn'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 andthe World Series. Many pundits believe that when mentioning an all-time outfield, Tris Speaker is right there withTy Cobb and Babe Ruth.TheUnofficial Ty Cobb-Tris Speaker- Joe Wood Page