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Tristram E. Speaker (April 4, 1888 - December 8, 1958) was a star player in Major League Baseball, and is generally regarded as the best defensive center fielder to ever play the game. Speaker was born in Hubbard, Texas. He batted and threw left-handed.
Speaker played for the Boston Red Sox (1907-15), Cleveland Indians (1916-26), Washington Senators (1927) and Philadelphia Athletics (1928). He was the seventh player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937, receiving 165 votes of 201 ballots cast.
Despite spending most of his career in Ty Cobb's considerable shadow, Speaker's .344 lifetime batting average and revolutionary defensive play made him one of Cobb's few rivals as the greatest player of the 1910s. Twice in 1918, he executed an unassisted double play at second base.
Duffy Lewis, Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper - Boston's famous "Million-Dollar Outfield". Photo: The Boston Globe archives. Between 1910 and 1915, Speaker teamed in Boston with Duffy Lewis (LF) and Harry Hooper (RF) to form one of the finest outfield trios in baseball history.
Speaker's specialty was hitting doubles—he led the league eight times and still holds the career mark with 793. His shallow play in center field enabled him to record 450 assists, placing him comfortably atop the all-time list. One of baseball's most successful player-managers, he guided Cleveland to a World Series victory in 1920.
Speaker is the only major league player to have three batting streaks of 20 or more games in a single season (1912). He played outfield for the Red Sox and the Indians, 1907-26, managing the Indians, 1919-26. His lifetime average was .344 with 3,515 hits in 22 years. He appeared in the films The Ninth Inning (1942) and The Kid From Cleveland (1949).
Tris Speaker died in Lake Whitney, Texas, at age of 70. He is buried in Section 1, Block 2 of the Fairview Cemetery, Hubbard, Hill County, Texas.
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