Tristram E. Speaker

Tris Speaker

When Tris Speaker arrived in Boston, fresh from his small-town Texas upbringing, he felt a little out of place. So, when asked his name, he got a little creative.

"All I could think about," he said later, "was all the big shots I'd seen and they all had middle initials. I had none, so to add stature to myself, I told them my name was Tristram E. Speaker."

The "E" stuck until after his death.

Arguably the best all-around center fielder before the Mays-Mantle era, Speaker had a career batting average of .345 (6th all-time), 3,514 hits (5th all-time), and 792 career doubles (all-time leader). He is sixth overall in triples and eighth in runs scored.

Defensively, his glove was commonly known as the place "where triples go to die." He still holds the records for career assists, double plays, and unassisted double plays by an outfielder.

Beside being enshrined in Cooperstown, Speaker was also inducted in the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1951, the very first inductee.

Two years earlier, Ogden Nash immortalized him in the poem "Line-up for Yesterday":

S is for Speaker,

Swift center-field tender,

When the ball saw him coming,

It yelled, "I surrender."