April 9, 1916: The Boston Red Sox trade center fielder Tris Speaker to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher "Sad" Sam Jones, 3rd baseman Fred Thomas, and $55,000.
Thomas was a throw-in: He hadn't yet reached the major leagues, and would play only 247 games, batting .225. Jones had just had a rough rookie year for the Indians, going 4-9. Although he would win 229 games in the major leagues, no one knew that at the time. Basically, this deal was meant to get rid of Speaker, get what would then have been considered a lot of money for him, and get 2 players back, with Red Sox manager Joseph Lannin not especially caring who those players were, just so it looked like it wasn't only about the money.
It was about the money, on both sides. In 1915, as in 1912, the Red Sox had won the World Series, and Speaker was a key part of it. Along with Ty Cobb, he was 1 of the 2 best hitters in baseball. Like Cobb, he was also an expert base stealer. And, unlike Cobb, he was a great fielder, regarded as the best defensive outfielder in baseball at the time. That line in the movie Field of Dreams, where Kevin Costner quotes Cobb as calling Shoeless Joe Jackson's glove "the place where triples go to die"? Jackson was an exceptional left fielder, but Cobb actually said it about Speaker's glove.
Nevertheless, from 1914 to 1915, Speaker's batting average dropped. Not much, from .338 to .322. His RBIs dropped, from 90 to 69. His home runs, not yet considered a big deal, dropped, from 4 to 0. So Lannin decided to cut Speaker's salary from $15,000 to $9,000. Enraged, "the Grey Eagle" refused to accept this, and told Lannin he would except no lower than $12,000.
Lannin made the trade, as the Indians had just been bought from the bankrupt Charles Somers by James Dunn, who could afford it. With the season beginning in 3 days, Speaker demanded $10,000 as part of the purchase price. Dunn agreed, and Speaker played on Opening Day, as the Indians lost to the St. Louis Browns, 6-1 at League Park in Cleveland.
As a lefthanded hitter, hitting no longer in a home park with a close left-field fence, but in one with a close right-field fence, Speaker had a rebound year in 1916, leading the American League in batting average (.386), on-base percentage (.470), slugging percentage (.502), hits (211) and doubles (41). He also had 2 home runs and 79 RBIs.
Can't blame this one on Harry Frazee, Sox fans: He didn't buy the team from Joseph Lannin until the following November 2.
At first, it didn't look like that bad of a trade for the Red Sox, as Jones blossomed into a good pitcher, and Babe Ruth, one of the best pitchers in baseball, turned into a great hitter. The Sox won the World Series in 1916 and 1918. In 1919, Ruth hit a record 29 home runs. They didn't miss Speaker, even as he was named Indians manager in 1919, and, as both manager and center fielder, he led them to win the 1920 World Series, their 1st title.
But in 1919, Frazee began to break up the Red Sox' sort-of dynasty, by trading pitcher Carl Mays to the Yankees. He would end up trading Jones, Waite Hoyt, "Bullet" Joe Bush and Herb Pennock to the Yankees, too. That would have been enough to wreck the Red Sox for a generation, had he not also sold them Ruth. There would be no new Pennant in Boston until 1946.
Meanwhile, Speaker went on to bat .345 lifetime, collecting 3,514 hits, a record 792 of them doubles, 222 triples, 117 home runs (hardly a low total for his time), 1,531 RBIs and 436 stolen bases. He would remain the defensive standard for center fielders until first Joe DiMaggio, and then Willie Mays, came along.
A native of Texas, Speaker belonged to the Ku Klux Klan. Nevertheless, when Bill Veeck bought the Indians in 1947, he made Larry Doby the 1st black player in the AL, and asked Speaker to coach him in playing center field, a position Doby had not played before. Speaker did so, putting on a uniform for the 1st time since retiring after the 1928 season. With Speaker's help, Doby was able to spark the Indians to win the 1948 World Series.
On that uniform, Speaker wore a number for the 1st time, 43. The Indians, now known as the Cleveland Guardians, have never retired that number. But Speaker was part of the 2nd class of inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937, and attended the Hall's opening ceremony in 1939, along with fellow former Cleveland baseball greats Cy Young and Nap Lajoie -- and fellow former Boston baseball greats Young and Ruth. (Cobb, famously, was the one living member of the Hall who did not attend the ceremony, for reasons that are still debated.)
The Cleveland franchise of the American League won the World Series in 1920, with Speaker managing and playing center field; and in 1948, with Speaker coaching. In their 1st 121 seasons of existence, they have never won a World Championship without Tris Speaker in uniform. And Speaker has been dead since 1958, so you do the math.
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April 9, 1916 was a Sunday. The baseball started 3 days later. Football was out of season. Professional basketball barely existed. And the hockey season ended 10 days earlier, when the Montreal Canadiens beat the Portland Rosebuds for the Stanley Cup. The Rosebuds, Champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, were the 1st American-based team to play for the Cup. The following season, the PCHA Champion Seattle Metropolitans beat the Canadiens, and became the 1st U.S.-based team to win it.
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