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."

November

Who is this legendary center fielder?

I was born -- with an operatic first name and an oratorical last name -- on April 4, 1888, in Hubbard, Texas.

I was known by two nicknames throughout my 22-year playing career: the Grey Eagle and Spoke.

As a youngster, I fell from a horse and broke my right arm, forcing me to start throwing left-handed, which I continued to do even after my right arm healed.

I made my major league debut with the Boston Americans (later Red Sox) in 1907. I stayed in Beantown through the 1915 season, helping the Red Sox to two World Series titles as part of the "Million Dollar Outfield" with Duffy Lewis and Harry Hooper.

Following a salary dispute after the 1915 season, I was traded to the Cleveland Indians, where, in 1916, I hit .386. Take that, Lannin! (Boston's owner)

In the tragic 1920 season in which teammate Ray Chapman died after being hit in the head by a pitch, I -- as player-manager -- led the Indians to their first World Series title.

I retired in 1928 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1937.

I died on Dec. 8, 1958, in Lake Whitney, Texas, at age 70.

You Can Call Him Al

Al Simmons

Aloysius "Al" Simmons is one of those ballplayers who, though a big star in his day, is not much remembered today. After his playing days ended in 1944, he coached with Connie Mack's A's from 1945 to 1949 and the Cleveland Indians in 1950.

In a 1976 article appearing in Esquire, sportswriter Harry Stein came up with five all-time ethnic all-star teams. Simmons was the right fielder on the Polish team.

In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him no. 43 on its list of the 100 greatest players of all time. That same year, he was selected as a nominee on Major League Baseball's all-century team.

"Baseball doesn't owe me a thing," Simmons once said. "It was wonderful to me, and I owe everything I've got to the game. ... No other business or fame could have given me so many happy years."

October

Who is this "bucketfoot" slugger?

I was born to Polish immigrants on May 22, 1902, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with the surname Szymanski.

I changed my name after seeing an ad for a hardware store in the newspaper.

I made my major league debut in left field with the Philadelphia Athletics on April 15, 1924. In all, I played for seven teams during my 20-year career.

But my best years were with Connie Mack's A's. I won consecutive batting titles in 1930 (.381) and 1931 (.390), and the A's won World Series titles in 1929 and 1930.

I had an unorthodox style of hitting. A right-handed hitter, I would stride toward third base (or "step in the bucket") as I prepared to swing. That's how I earned the nickname "Bucketfoot."

Concerning my swing, Mack told me: "My boy, as far as I'm concerned, you can walk to the plate on your hands and swing standing on your head ... as long as you hit safely ... and often!"

Fortunately, I did just that. My career batting average was .334. I had a total of 2,927 hits (most by a right-handed hitter in the A.L. until Al Kaline came along), 307 home runs, and 1,827 runs batted in. I hit .300 and drove in 100 runs in eleven consecutive seasons and hit .329 with 6 homers and 17 RBIs in 19 World Series games.

I was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953.

I died of a heart attack in Milwaukee on May 26, 1956, four days after my 54th birthday.

September

Okay, so this month it's a no-brainer. No need for clues. Is there any mug more well known in the world of sport than the Babe's?

It's a curiously round face, with a flat nose and thick eyebrows. And (in this picture, at least) reflective eyes, perhaps even a little sad.

Perhaps he just had a bad batch of his favorite dessert: eels and ice cream.

Of course, the stories about Babe Ruth -- on and off the field -- are legion. I won't even begin to recount them here. In describing the Babe, one of his roommates probably summed it up best when he said, "I roomed with his suitcase."

In honor of him appearing on my calendar, I believe I will read Robert Creamer's biography of the Babe sometime this month. Published in 1974, it is considered the authoritative work on the legendary ballplayer's colorful life.

It was a relatively short life, ending at 53 in 1948. But, considering the way he lived, a surprise to nobody.

He was one of the first five to go into the Hall of Fame in 1936, and with a career batting average of .342 (with 714 homers) and a career ERA of 2.28 (with a record of 94-46), he was probably the most versatile player ever to don a major league uniform.

Matty

Christy Mathewson

Yes, that is the third nickname for Christy Mathewson, the legendary proponent of the fadeaway in the early part of last century. Perhaps no other pitcher in the history of the game has such a recognizable name, to fans and non-fans alike.

A little-known fact about Mathewson is that he played professional football briefly for the Pittsburgh Stars in 1902, the only year of the team's existence.

In 1905, he turned in possibly the greatest World Series performance by a pitcher. In the span of just six days, he pitched three complete-game shutouts, allowing only 14 hits, as the Giants defeated the Philadelphia Athletics.

Familiar with jubilant times on the field, off the field Mathewson was also acquainted with grief. He had three brothers, and all died before he did: one died as an infant, Nicholas committed suicide in 1909 at age 19, and Henry died of tuberculosis in 1917.

Christy Mathewson Day is celebrated in his hometown of Factoryville, Pennsylvania, every year on the Saturday closest to his birthday. At Bucknell, his alma mater, the football stadium is named in his honor, as are the baseball fields at Keystone College (in Factoryville) and in Taunton, Massachusetts, where Matty played before joining the Giants.

He has also been widely celebrated in poetry, prose, and song. Ogden Nash wrote in 1943:

M is for Matty,

who carried a charm

in the form of an extra

brain in his arm. 

August

Who is this "Christian gentleman"?

I was born Aug. 12, 1880, in Factoryville, Pennsylvania, and started playing semi-pro baseball when I was 14.

I attended Bucknell University, where I was the Big Man on Campus, playing baseball and football and also serving as class president.

During my 17-year career in the majors (16 with the N.Y. Giants and one with the Reds), I won 373 games (still a National League record), had a career E.R.A. of 2.13, and posted 79 shutouts.

My out pitch was called a "fadeaway," which today we call a screwball. My manager, John McGraw, gave me high praise when he said I knew "as much about hitters as [he did]."

I had three nicknames: "Big Six," "the Christian Gentleman" (I never pitched on Sundays), and ... well, I can't tell you the third because it would give me away.

I retired as a player in 1916 and, two years later, during WWI, I enlisted in the army and was sent overseas. During a training exercise, I was accidentally exposed to poison gas and later developed tuberculosis.

I died on Oct. 7, 1925, in Saranac Lake, New York, at age 45.

I was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1936 as one of the famous "First Five," along with Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, and Walter Johnson. I was the only one of the five not there.