Tris Speaker
Tris Speaker was one of the greatest hitters in history, and one of the first great outfielders in the game of baseball.
Tris began his career with the Boston Americans in 1907, the year before they changed their name to the Red Sox. He did not play much in his first two seasons, but became the starting center fielder in his third season, and that year was the first of 10 in a row where he hit above .300.
He improved steadily until 1912, when he won the MVP after leading the league with 53 doubles and 10 home runs, and he also had 222 hits and a .383 average. His Red Sox won the pennant, and Speaker hit .300 in that World Series, winning his first championship as well.
In 1915 the Red Sox added a young pitcher named Babe Ruth, and the star pair led the Red Sox back to the World Series, though Speaker hit only .322 that season, his worst since 1909. The combination of the two was enough to bring home another title to Boston, but Speaker was asked to take a pay cut after the season due to his low batting average, and after refusing, he was traded to the Indians.
Speaker responded to the trade with his best season yet, leading the league in hits, doubles, batting average, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage. For his first 4 seasons with the Indians, he served unofficially as the team's assistant manager, as he was consulted on all in-game moves. When the manager resigned after misunderstanding one of Speaker's signals, he was made the official manager.
His first full season as player/manager was 1920, and he had his very best season that year. Though he only led the league in his specialty, doubles, he had a batting average of .388, 214 hits, a career-high 137 runs scored, and reached 100 RBI for the first time in his career. He also took the Indians to the World Series, where he hit .320 as the Indians beat the Dodgers in 7 games to claim the title, his third in 3 tries.
He led the league in doubles again in each of the next 3 seasons, and also led the league in RBI in 1923, a career first at age 35. Over the course of his 11 seasons in Cleveland, he batted over .350 7 times during the period that bridged the dead-ball era and the live-ball era.
Speaker led the league in doubles 8 times in his career, and his 792 are still the career record. He is #6 in triples, and is the most recent player to reach 200 for his career in that category. His career batting average of .345 is #6 all-time, which is especially great since he played half of his career in the deal-ball era, and he was solid in all 3 of his World Series appearances, finishing his career with 3 titles, and a place among the greatest baseball players of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment