Tris Speaker interview from 1948

[trdcrdkid]

Here's a six-minute radio interview that sportscaster Bob Wolff did with Tris Speaker in 1948. There's some really interesting stuff in there: Speaker talks about how he learned to play center field as a rookie by having Cy Young hit him fungoes, and lists Dale Mitchell and Larry Doby as the most promising players on the Cleveland Indians, for whom he was working at the time. I love hearing audio of old deadball-era stars like this. I don't think I had ever heard Speaker's voice before listening to this.

https://www.nytimes.com/video/multim...s-speaker.html

[timn1]

Interesting he doesn't sound at all like a Texan (at least my idea of a Texan speaking)-

[rdixon1208]

Originally Posted by timn1

Interesting he doesn't sound at all like a Texan (at least my idea of a Texan speaking)-

Tris left Texas in 1907 when he was 19 years old. We still claim him (at least I do) as a Texan, but by the time of this interview he was 60 years old and had been living up north for 40 of those years. That being said, we don't all sound alike...

[rdixon1208]

Duplicate post

[trdcrdkid]

Ty Cobb didn't have much of a Georgia accent either in the recordings I've heard, all from after his playing days, though you can sometimes hear a bit of a twang.

From 3/19/30:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqnH5BrRWnk&t=332s

From 12/1/55:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYDkBuyveiA

Some people retain strong accents even after living for many years in an area with a different accent, but most people adapt their speech to their surroundings (mostly unconsciously).

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by rdixon1208

Tris left Texas in 1907 when he was 19 years old. We still claim him (at least I do) as a Texan, but by the time of this interview he was 60 years old and had been living up north for 40 of those years. That being said, we don't all sound alike...

Nah, you just tend to duplicate your posts