Player #120: Tristam E. "The Grey Eagle" Speaker. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1927. 3,514 hits, 436 stolen bases and 117 home runs in 22 MLB seasons. 3-time World Series champion (1912, 1915, and 1920). 1912 AL MVP. 1916 AL Batting champion. 1912 AL home run leader. 1923 AL RBI leader. Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame. Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame. 1937 inducted to MLB Hall of Fame. Holds MLB career records for doubles (792) and outfield assists (449). His career OBP is .428. Speaker played center field for the Boston Americans/Red Sox in 1907-1915 and the Cleveland Guardians in 1916-1926. With Hooper and Lewis was member of Boston's "Million-Dollar Outfield". He also managed the Cleveland Guardians in 1919-1926.
Deveaux explains Tris Speaker's brief time in Washington: The Senators did have another (besides Walter Johnson) most distinguished player in their midst for the first time at their training camp in Tampa. Tris Speaker, soon to be 39, seventh all-time in batting average as the 21st century begins, had been signed to a $35,000 contract on January 31. The Cleveland Indians had replaced Speaker as manager and had then cleared him to sign with any team. Speaker had recently been embroiled in controversy. Pitcher Dutch Leonard (this was the lefthanded Dutch Leonard, who was about 17 years older than the righthanded Dutch Leonard who would later pitch for Washington) had accused both him and Ty Cobb of conniving to fix a game between the Indians and the Tigers back in September 1919.
Leonard's charges were never substantiated, but the resulting investigation had a lot to do with finally bringing down Ban Johnson, whose grip on the league's operations had been slipping. Johnson would resign in October after 27 years as president, rather than risk being fired at a general meeting requested by the team owners. Clark Griffith took advantage of the brouhaha surrounding the investigation of the two star players, enticing Speaker with the hefty one-year contract in return for outfield insurance. The pact was sealed four days after Commissioner Landis absolved the two star players of involvement in any wrongdoing. Speaker hit .389 in 1925, but had slipped to .304 in '26.
Griffith could always make room for a career .344 hitter, though. Speaker played a role in shaping the Senators' long-term future in 1927 but, unfortunately, not in a positive sense. "Spoke" was high on a 30-year-old shortstop named Emory "Topper" Rigney, of the Red Sox. Speaker contended that with Rigney, a .270 hitter in '26, at short instead of Buddy Myer, Ossie Bluege could move to second and the Nats would be much improved as a result. Bucky Harris got talked into this and in turn coaxed Clark Griffith into making the trade with Boston.
This, Griffith would admit in later years, was the worst deal ever made under his administration. Within a year and a half, the Nats would give up five players to get Myer back. Topper Rigney batted only .253 in 150 at-bats in 1927, and it was his major-league swan song. He was released after just 45 games with the Senators, while Myer continued to improve and would lead the league in stolen bases in 1928. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)
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