Tris Speaker, Boston Americans, 1907
Image Source: Carl Horner.
Image Subject: The image is from a cabinet card photo by Carl Horner of a young Tris Speaker in what I believe is 1907, his rookie year with the Boston Americans. In 1908, the Boston Americans became the Boston Red Sox, with the uniform colors changing from a blue to red.
Fun Fact: His fielding glove was known as the place "where triples go to die." The triple-killing catch that inspired the comment may have come from a catch Tris Speaker made off of a ball hit by his rival “Shoeless” Joe Jackson to win the pennant for the 1920 Indians in a season-ending game against the Chicago White Sox. According to Wikipedia, while moving at [a] "dead run, Speaker leaped with both feet off the ground" and "caught a screaming line drive hit to deep right-center field" before "crashing into a concrete wall." Although the impact knocked him unconscious, Speaker "still had a viselike grip on the ball."
Tristram E. Speaker first tried to break into baseball as a pitcher, but without much success. Pitching for Cleburne of the Texas League, he lost six straight games and once reportedly gave up 22 straight hits, all for extra bases. Let’s just say that for his baseball career it is a good thing he could field and hit.
Speaker was considered to be the best defensive outfielder of his day. He was famous for playing incredibly shallow and going back on the ball rather than playing deep and coming in on it. If you go to his Hall of Fame page, you’ll find the following quote from teammate Smoky Joe Wood,
“At the crack of the bat he’d be off with his back to the infield, and then he’d turn and glance over his shoulder at the last minute and catch the ball so easy it looked like there was nothing to it, nothing at all.”
Painting Detail: Printed on 8½” x 11” canvas and painted using Schmincke Mussini and Marshall’s oil paints. Finer details were made using Prismacolor pencils.
Acknowledgement: Tris Speaker, Society for American Research, Don Jensen.