Spoke

One of the greatest centerfielders ever, Tris Speaker’s career was full of colorful moments on and off the field. This biography chronicles his career spent with the Boston Red Sox, the Cleveland Indians, the Washington Senators, and the Philadelphia Athletics. It also follows his years as a minor league manager and part owner, civic activist, Indians coach, and general promoter of baseball. Every significant major league game is described in detail, along with the careers of Speaker’s teammates and opponents and the changing baseball landscape around them. This title is now available as a paperback and ebook exclusively from McFarland.

Charles C. Alexander, Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, Ohio University, has written 14 books, the last eight of which have dealt with American baseball history. He lives in Hamilton, Ohio.

Charles C. Alexander
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 384
Bibliographic Info: 18 b&w photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6247-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2244-6
Imprint: McFarland

Foreword: “No Place for Me”  xv

1. “I Played Baseball and Drove the Cows to Pasture”  1
2. “By No Means a Finished Outfielder”  17
3. “Well, There Goes Your World Series”  39
4. “For God’s Sake, Men, Take the Money Away”  59
5. “Baseball Is a Business” 83
6. “New Life into a Half-Dead, Despondent City”  105
7. “The Inspiration of Speaker’s Leadership”  135
8. “I Knew My Team”  153
9. “I Will Never be a Bench Manager”  177
10. “We’ll Finish in the League Anyway”  205
11. “A Veritable Judas”  233
12. “A Sort of Twilight to His Career”  253
13. “My Name Is Tris Speaker”  277

Afterword: “Let Your Voices Soften to a Mere Whisper” 305
Notes  311
Bibliography  327
Index  337

• “Spoke is a first-rate biography of one of the most important and intriguing, but today largely overlooked, figures in baseball history.”—C. Paul Rogers III, co-author of The Whiz Kids and the 1950 Pennant