He was born in Hubbard, Texas.
He played for: Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators, Philadelphia Athletics. He was the seventh player elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937, receiving 165 votes of 201 ballots cast.
Despite spending most of his career in Ty Cobb's considerable shadow, Tris Speaker's .344 lifetime batting average and revolutionary defensive play made him one of Cobb's few rivals as the greatest player of the 1910s. Speaker's specialty was hitting doubles—he led the league eight times and still holds the career mark with 793. His shallow play in center field enabled him to record 450 assists, placing him comfortably atop the all-time list. One of Baseball's most successful player-managers, he guided Cleveland to a World Championship in 1920.
Tris Speaker is the only major league player to have three batting streaks of 20 or more games in a single season (1912). He played outfield for the Red Sox and the Indians, 1907-26, managing the Indians, 1919-26. His lifetime average was .344. He made 3,515 hits in 22 years. He appeared in the films The Ninth Inning (1942) and The Kid From Cleveland (1949). He died in Lake Whitney, Texas and is buried in Section 1, Block 2 of the Fairview Cemetery, Hubbard, Hill County, Texas.