Spoke: A Biography of Tris Speaker

by Charles C. Alexander

Charles C. Alexander's biography of Tris Speaker chronicles the twenty-two-year career of arguably the greatest centerfielder ever to play the position. It follows the colorful ballplayer through his years with the Boston Red Sox, the Cleveland Indians, the Washington Senators, and the Philadelphia Athletics, and on into his later years as minor league manager and part owner, civic activist, Indians coach, and general promoter of the National Pastime. Alexander describes not only every significant major league game in which Speaker played, but also the careers of his teammates and opponents, the baseball of their day, and the way it changed within the context of the larger world around them. Tris Speaker's reputation receives new luster in Alexander's even-handed biography of one of baseball's greats. Published by Southern Methodist University Press, this title is now available in a limited quantity exclusively from McFarland.

Genres: Baseball, Biography

384 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 2007

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not that Tris Speaker was a bad hitter far from it, but if you could have Hall Of Fame entry on fielding
alone Speaker would be number one in the Hall of Fame. Speaker and Joe DiMaggio are considered the
best at playing center field though they played in two different eras of baseball. Speaker played a
very shallow center field in the dead ball era, so shallow that he participated in more than a few infield doubleplays. But balls rarely got by him, he had great instinct like DiMaggio for moving and
knowing exactly where the ball would land in the outfield.

As for hitting that .344 lifetime average is also a guarantee of a ticket to Cooperstown. He managed to
interrupt Ty Cobb's batting title streak in 1916 his first year with the Cleveland Indians after being
sold to them by the Boston Red Sox. In 1920 as player/manager which was not uncommon in those
days he won Cleveland first World Series title. He was also associated with their second and only
other World Series win in 1948 as a coach. He still has the record for career doubles with 792.

Like his rival Ty Cobb, Speaker who was born in Hubbard, Texas was a man of racist views. He was
back in the day a proud member of the Ku Klux Klan. Also with Cobb he ended his playing days under a cloud when accused with Cobb of having fixed a ballgame when both teams were out of
contention to rake in some easy betting money. Charges were never proven and in fact it had been
done before Kenesaw Mountain Landis became Commissioner of baseball.

Unlike Cobb, Speaker showed us all that we can change. Speaker never married and kind of shocked
all who knew him by marrying a girl of the Roman Catholic faith after he left baseball. An absolute no-no for a stout KKK member. In 1948 Bill Veeck hired Speaker as a coach for the Indians and his
special assignment was to make Larry Doby an outfielder. Doby became the first black ballplayer
in the American League only a few weeks after Jackie Robinson broke the color line with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League. Unlike Robinson Doby was no star when he broke in as
a middle infielder.

But Bill Veeck had faith in him and Speaker did his job well. Doby became a star after that, an integral part of the World Series winner Veeck gave Cleveland in 1948. Doby and Speaker became
the best of friends as the former Klansman made a special contribution toward breaking the color
line.

This is why more people should read and know the story of Tris Speaker. When we want to we can
change and change for the better. Tris Speaker, ballplayer and human being, quite the total package.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

the problem with a book on a ballplayer from the early part of the 20th century is the fact that the author is by and large beholden to newspaper accounts and box scores, which is to say they basically have either bowlderized quotes or play by play game accounts to work with.

i read this book to find out more about speaker's role in a game fixing/gambling scandal that also involved ty cobb and smokey joe wood, and which was totally covered up by baseball, as well as to find out if speaker was a member of the ku klux klan, as i'd read asserted by fred lieb. alexander is a sturdy prose writer who gives a clear-eyed, if not particularly vibrant, accounting of speaker's life and times.

[Dan Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other biographers have surpassed his effort, but still Alexander paints a good picture of a baseball hero.

[Jan Finkel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meticulously researched and written. Alexander is a first-rate historian who writes superbly about baseball. His subject here was often overshadowed by Ty Cobb (Alexander has written the definitive of him, as well) but was a brilliant player in his own right.

Alexander's prose is somewhat in an academic vein, but it's clear. In my view, the book is overly documented.

[ACRL]

Read by ACRL Member of the Week Douglas Lehman. Learn more about Douglas on the ACRL Insider blog.