Joe Tinker #3 in the Cracker Jack set

[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

Born in Muscotah Kansas in 1880, Joe Tinker made his MLB debut for the Chicago Cubs in 1902. He was a member of the Cubs dynasty from 1906 to 1910 that won 4 pennants and two World Series. After playing one season in Cincinnati in 1913 he was one of the first players to jump to the new Federal League in 1914 playing for the Whales until jumping back as a player-manager in his last season for the Cubs in 1916.

He was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1946 the same year as Johnny Evers and Frank Chance his famous double-play teammates immortalized as Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance in the poem "Baseball's Sad Lexicon".

Tinker and Evers didn't like each other too much and on September 14, 1905, Tinker and Evers engaged in a fistfight on the field because Evers had taken a cab to the stadium and left his teammates behind in the hotel lobby. They did not speak for years following this event.

Despite having an ordinary career batting average of .268 he loved hitting Christy Mathewson batting .350 over his career off the Hall of Famer. Mathewson's 1912 book, Pitching in a Pinch, he referred to Tinker as "the worst man I have to face in the National League.

Would love to see your favorite Tinker!