Spoke: A Biography of Tris Speaker

by Charles C. Alexander, C. Paul Rogers

Overview

Charles C. Alexander's biography of Tris Speaker chronicles the twenty-two-year career of arguably the greatest centerfielder ever to play the position. It follows the colorful ballplayer through his years with the Boston Red Sox, the Cleveland Indians, the Washington Senators, and the Philadelphia Athletics, and on into his later years as minor league manager and part owner, civic activist, Indians coach, and general promoter of the National Pastime. Alexander describes not only every significant major league game in which Speaker played, but also the careers of his teammates and opponents, the baseball of their day, and the way it changed within the context of the larger world around them. Tris Speaker's reputation receives new luster in Alexander's even-handed biography of one of baseball's greats. Published by Southern Methodist University Press, this title is now available in a limited quantity exclusively from McFarland.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780870745171
Publisher:	Southern Methodist University Press
Publication date:	08/28/2007
Series:	Sport in American Life Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.76(d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

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

What People are Saying About This

C. Paul Rogers III

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

Editorial Reviews

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.

From the Publisher

Spoke is a first-rate biography of one of the most important and intriguing, but today largely overlooked, figures in baseball history.

co-author of The Whiz Kids and the 1950 Pennant - C. Paul Rogers III