[Timothy M. Gay]Tris Speaker : The Rough-And-Tumble Life Of A Baseball Legend(pdf){Zzzzz}

All serious baseball fans know the name of Tris Speaker. A Hall of Fame hitter, Speaker compiled a career batting average of .345-career--5th all-time best and tallied more doubles than anyone in history. But Speaker was so much more than just a Hall of Fame hitter. As baseball historian Richard Johnson says, "Speaker was Willie Mays before there was Willie Mays." Regarded by his peers as the greatest center fielder of all time, Speaker's range was so great that his outfield area was known as the place "where triples went to die." He still holds the all-time records for assists, double plays, and unassisted double plays by an outfielder. A World Series winner as both a player and a player-manager, Speaker devised the modern-day platoon system and also the infield rotation play. The Texas native and descendant of Confederate soldiers would also go on to tutor Larry Doby, the first black man to play in the American League. The author offers an honest look at Speaker's larger-than-life, roughshod, frontier-forged personality. Simply stated, Tris Speaker is the long-overdue biography of one of the best players of all time.

Publisher: Lyons Press (March 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1599211114
ISBN-13: 978-1599211114

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Tristam "Spoke" Speaker sits, statistically, alongside baseball's greatest sluggers and fielders, but his story and name have largely been forgotten. Gay, in his first book, has unearthed the colorful history of this ne'er say die Texas cowboy, giving baseball fans a fresh look at the Hall of Fame center fielder whose colorful personality and remarkable talent were overshadowed by contemporaries like Ty Cobb and Cy Young. (Even the Speaker-Cobb-Wood-Leonard betting affair of 1919 was eclipsed in disgrace by the Black Sox gambling scandal.) Speaker still holds the mark for most career doubles-792, as a member of the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians-and the shallow position he occupied just behind second base revolutionized the way outfield was played. From 1910-15, Speaker centered Boston's Golden Outfield of Duffy Lewis and Cat Hooper, and nearly 30 years after their final game together (the Golden boys shared the Sox outfield for nearly six seasons), scribe Grantland Rice called the trio "the greatest defensive outfield I ever saw." The phrase "where triples go to die" was originally penned of Speaker's glove, but history somehow misplaced the attribution to Joe Jackson. Gay has insured the righting of history with this biography. A worthwhile read for any sports fan.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Hall of Fame outfielder Speaker was a contemporary of Ty Cobb and Shoeless Joe Jackson. He wasn't quite their equal as a hitter, but he was far superior in the field. Off the field, however, he had nothing to match Cobb's psychotic, racist personality or Shoeless Joe's involvement in the Black Sox scandal and, thus, remains relatively forgotten. Gay hopes to change that with this first serious biography of Speaker. It's carefully researched and documented, engagingly written, and very illuminating. Speaker was both saint and sinner but never long enough to have either term permanently affixed to his name. At one time, he was every bit as racist as Cobb but was seldom outspoken, and, in later years as a Cleveland Indians coach, he tutored the American League's first black player, Larry Doby. And like Jackson, he most likely had a hand in a few shady gambling deals, but he was smart enough to not get caught. Gay has filled a serious gap in baseball history, and his effort compares favorably with Charles Alexander's acclaimed biographies of John McGraw and Ty Cobb. Wes Lukowsky

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

A Home Run Gift for the Lover of Baseball or History
By Pat M on December 15, 2005
A few years ago David McCullough brought John Adams out from the shadows of such better-known patriots as Jefferson, Washington, and Franklin. In much the same way Timothy M. Gay has cast a brilliant light on Tris Speaker, who has, unfortunately, languished in obscurity behind such greats as Cobb, Ruth, and even Shoeless Joe Jackson. In his chapters on Tris's playing days, Gay's language captures perfectly the voice of the early 20th century sports pages, and his well-researched and lively account of the gambling cloud that hovered over our National Pastime in its early years makes it clear that the Black Sox were just the tip of a corrupt iceberg. While he appropriately glorifies Tris's exploits on the field and at the plate, Gay's book is no hagiography. He brings important new research to the scandal that drove Speaker and Ty Cobb out of managing in the big leagues. He also addresses Speaker's undisguised jealousy of such younger stars as Babe Ruth and Joe Dimaggio. Gay not only gives us Speaker the player, he give us Tris Speaker the man, with all his contradictions. Gay explores how Tris's upbringing in a Texas town that revered its Confederate forefathers shaped his views on race and religion, leading to membership in the Klan and open warfare with his Irish-Catholic Red Sox teammates. Yet Speaker married an Irish Catholic girl and served as a mentor to Larry Doby, the American League's first African-American player. Whether you are a lover of baseball or a lover of American history, Timothy M. Gay's "Tris Speaker" will pull you in the way Spoke himself pulled in fly balls to center field.

Baseball History and One of the Game's Greatest Players
By Bill Emblom on February 11, 2006
A biography of Tris Speaker has been long overdue. However, the wait has been worth it. Autor Timothy Gay has provided us with the definitive biograhy of one of baseball's immortals. Speaker's best years were spent chasing down fly balls for the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians. The phrase "where triples go to die" was originally written regarding Speaker and later attributed to Willie Mays of the Giants. As were many ball players at the turn of the 20th century Speaker was a product of his environment and times. Many players such as Cobb, Hornsby, and Speaker were from the south and displayed attitudes that were anti-African American. To his credit Speaker served as a defensive tutor to the American League's first black player, Larry Doby of the Cleveland Indians. The author does a thorough job in covering the unfortunate death in 1920 of Ray Chapman, Speaker's teammate when player/manager Speaker led the Tribe to the pennant and World Championship over the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1919 Speaker, teammate Joe Wood, along with Ty Cobb and "Dutch" Leonard of the Tigers met under the stands at Navin Field supposedly to discuss letting the Tigers win a game that would ensure the Tigers of third place money. Since Leonard refused to face those he accused Commissioner Landis dismissed the case although both Cobb and Speaker were to retire quietly to avoid any controversy and not serve as either a player or coach of any major league team. Both Cobb and Speaker did later play one forgettable year together with Connie Mack's Athletics in 1928 when both players missed several games due to injuries