Now let me just put this out there for those who know me personally, this is not bias just because me and this guy have a lot of similarities (its totally bias)
Tris Speaker, baseball legend, war hero, and the best unknown Baseball Hall of Fame inductee. Now for those that do not know ball, let me riddle off some stats and features of Tristram "The Grey Eagle" Speaker.
Career spanned 22 years from 1907 to 1928
First ballet Hall of Famer in 1937
MVP winner in 1914 when he hit .383, which is not even his career high
3x World Series Champ
3514 Career hits
Career Slash line is .345/.428/.500
135 Career WAR (Baseball Reference)
Ok those are just the big important ones that the meatheads look at before they move on to the next tik tok of a hot chick with big naturals. Tris started his career with the Boston Americans, who are now the Red Sox and was low balled by the then Red Sox owner after he only hit .322 en route to the 1915 World Series. ( I really hope that the cheap Red Sox owner does not trade away another future Hall of Fame player due to his cheapness) Speaker then got traded to the Cleveland Indians, which was known, at the time, as the worst trade in Red Sox history. He immediately led the league in hits, average, OBP, and slugging. Another key feature that Tris Speaker accomplished was a 50/50 Season. And no, not with dingers and stolen bags, but with doubles and stolen bags. He is one of 2 players to ever do this in a season, the other is Craig Biggio in 1998 (Tris did it in 1912).
Lets compare our boy Tris to some other players of his time. Lets take a well known great, Honus Wagner.
ANNNNNDDDDD look at that, Tris Speaker out does the great Flying Dutchman in all but RBIs and Stolen bags. Safe to say that Tris Speaker was one of the best in his era. Oh did I mention that when he got traded to the Indians he was also made assistant manager? no? Because he did that too along with having a Hall of Fame Career.
You're probably asking yourself "If this guy is so good, why have I never heard of him?" well you might go to a basic answer for that time period and say that he wasn't outspoken and he simply showed up and played all summer and went back to his farm in Texas like the rest of the big leaguers back then. And you my meat head friend, are wrong, so go back to watching the hot chicks on tik tok. Tris Speaker was actually not a quiet guy with the media, he was actually accused of throwing a game as a manger, for money with Ty Cobb. In 1926 pitcher Dutch Leonard accused Tigers Manager Ty Cobb and now full time Indians Manager Tris Speaker for throwing at least one game in the 1926 season. This accusation definitely had nothing to do with Dutch Leonard being traded to the Tigers and then sent down to the Minor Leagues by notoriously mean Ty Cobb (Ty Cobb was actually really nice and there are many first hand accounts of him doing a lot for Negro League baseball and helping out communities). It was dropped in court when Dutch Leonard failed to show up in court in the winter of 1927.
But heres the real reason why Tris Speaker is not a household name like Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth.
He was in the Klu Klux Klan... Allegedly... with Ty Cobb... and Cap Anson.... Allegedly
There is a lot of gray area in this because the KKK doesn't have like a roster I can look up year to year, but baseball historians say that they cannot deny that Speaker was in the KKK. but, big but, Speaker was hired by the Indians to help get Larry Doby to sign with the Indians in 1947 to make Larry Doby the first black player in the AL, and second in Major League Baseball history behind legendary Jackie Robinson. So if your gonna be in the KKK for a little bit when you’re younger, you can redeem yourself by helping break the American League color barrier.
The big reason why I believe Tristram Speaker should be more of a household name is this simple stat. HE IS THE CAREER LEADER IN DOUBLES. 792 doubles in a career in the dead ball era. Imagine him with the juiced balls from 2019? We might be looking at Barry Bonds 100 years before Barry Bonds. The next closest is the hit king Pete Rose who is still 46 doubles short even though he had almost 4,000 more plate appearances and 700 more hits. Dude was the standup double king, which in reality for those that have played baseball know are the best kind of hit besides the classic long ball.
So you know The Grey Eagle can hit for average, hit for power, run, and is a smart player, but can he field? Oh buddy, can he play the outfield. They should name the Gold Glove award after him and heres why. He is the All Time Career leader in outfield assist and double plays. 449 assists is 40 more than the next closest guy and 143 double plays is 38 more than the next closest guy. And who is right behind Speaker in both of those categories? Ty Cobb. Not so great now are ya now Georgia Peach who holds the record for most games played in the outfield.
Basically, what I am trying to say, is that not only is Tris Speaker one of the greatest players of all time in all aspect of the game, but he is also a baseball coaches wet dream. Also shout out Baseball Reference for the stats.
And that my friends, is the Tea, with T
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