Speaker vs Speaker!

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Since The Grey Eagle keeps whipping a$$ on everyone let's have him compete against himself!! Who was better, the Red Sox Tris Speaker or the Indians' Tris Speaker? Now, I realize that Speaker only played seven full seasons with the Red Sox so lets compare his five best seasons in Boston vs his best five seasons in Cleveland.

[torez77]

More appropriately, maybe we should compare the deadball era Speaker to the liveball era Speaker. Just a suggestion. Boston would make up most of his deadball years, Cleveland the liveball years.

The liveball era version was a better slugger, naturally, but looking at OPS+ and Win Shares it appears his best years were in the deadball. Plus, he was younger.

You can compare Boston vs. Cleveland if you want. I just thought I'd do deadball vs. liveball.

[KCGHOST]

It is really like splitting hairs. I gave the Indian years the edge since he played two more seasons with them.

[Cowtipper]

I went with the Indians' Tris Speaker, if only because he was a more developed player by the time he reached Cleveland. He walked more, struck out less, scored more runs, hit more doubles. Granted, his OPS+ with Cleveland is slightly lower than during his time in Boston, but that can be attributed to the extra amount of time he spent with the Indians, plus he was aging toward the end of his tenure in The Forest City (that said, he still hit .389 as a 37-year-old in 1925).

[Sultan_1895-1948]

(that said, he still hit .389 as a 37-year-old in 1925).

Gets ya thinkin'. Was there anyone who experienced the first corked center ball in 1911, then the changes in 1920, and the livening of 1929? Speaker JUST missed all three.

[Cowtipper]

Gets ya thinkin'. Was there anyone who experienced the first corked center ball in 1911, then the changes in 1920, and the livening of 1929? Speaker JUST missed all three.

Only a handful of players played continuously (or near-continuously) from 1911 or before to 1929 and after. Max Carey and Eddie Collins are the big names, with the former playing from 1910 to 1929 and the latter from 1906 to 1930.