The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #44 Tris Speaker

Doubling onto the last at #44 is The Gray Eagle Tris Speaker. Speaker’s 792 career doubles make him baseball’s king of the two-bagger. He led the league in doubles a record eight times and holds the record for 30, 40, and 50-double seasons. Few players in history can equal Speaker’s lofty place in the record books where he stands 5th all-time in hits, 6th in batting average and triples, 9th in WAR, and 11th in on-base percentage. He has the most 145-hit seasons and the most consecutive 145-hit seasons in history. He’s the only player in history with at least 1,300 career walks and fewer than 400 strikeouts. He’s the only player in history with 3,000 career hits and 400 stolen bases with fewer than 400 strikeouts. He’s the only player in history with 3,500 hits and 750 doubles, and he’s the only player in history with 3,500 hits and 300 sacrifice hits. No player in MLB history has more seasons with both a .370 batting average and a .460 on-base percentage than Speaker’s six (Babe Ruth also has six). Speaker played in three World Series leading his team to victory on all three occasions.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *