Talk:Tris Speaker

Criticisms
Low-quality English, little speculative NPOV comments. I'd generally like to see the article written in a more encyclopedic style, this is more like paperback biography. Generally the article is just not very good. Mglovesfun 02:00, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

The article states that Speaker caught a ball hit by Shoeless Joe Jackson in the last game of the 1920 season, but this couldn't be true since Jackson was suspended before that.63.108.139.78 (talk) 21:17, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

When I read this article, I was appalled by its poor quality, and hope my edits have helped.Hushpuckena (talk) 16:24, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Note that the Black Sox grand jury did not convene until late 1920, so Jackson did play in the 1920 season. EricEnfermero  Howdy! 05:37, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Middle name
According to his death certificate, Speaker's middle name is Edgar. Is this a reliable enough source? Adam Penale (talk) 02:15, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

Batting Average
Corrected the batting average rank in the opening paragraph to fifth all time. He's actually sixth, behind Shoeless Joe Jackson, but since Jackson is banned from baseball his rank doesn't count. Used Baseball Reference website to provide the citation.TheKurgan (talk) 15:57, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Records and achievements
Corrected his batting average all-time rank to sixth, following the same link as above under "Batting Average." Also, I originally corrected it to fifth (not counting Joe Jackson's average since Jackson was banned for life), but someone else made it sixth. I actually agree with sixth since Joe's average was earned when he was a player in good standing. So, sixth it is.TheKurgan (talk) 13:13, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Cleaned up some of the criticisms, question the authority of some of the info in article
Originally the article stated Speaker was traded to CLE on April 12; the NYT article I found, which was originally published 9 APR 1916, stated "yesterday", so I went with April 8 in the article. Considering the NYT article was published before April 12th, I'm going with the source I found. Also, the same article stated the Boston Americans got Speaker from HOU for $400, not $800 as it now states in the article (I flagged as dubious). These are two examples of the larger picture: this article is still relatively weak because it cites few sources (and the ones it did reference were not cited in great fashion). Zepppep (talk) 12:06, 23 July 2012 (UTC)

Speaker's Career Hit Total
I'm not sure how to handle Tris Speaker's career hits total. Major League Baseball's official website reports it as 3,515. Yet many other reputable sources (the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Baseball Almanac, Baseball Reference, and FanGraphs to name a few) all report the total as 3,514. I edited the lone "3,515" I found on Speaker's Wikipedia page (in the stat box along with his other basic biographical data), but it was reverted shortly thereafter; this is even though "3,514" is mentioned in two other spots on the page. Should a simple "3,514-3,515" be written, similarly to Cap Anson's "2,995-3,081"? Then again, a disparity of one may not justify that. Regardless, I suggest we choose one of the two figures to use throughout the article, for the sake of consistency.

Philippe277 (talk) 00:30, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

Re:Tris Speaker hit total update
One figure should be decided for his hit total, and I believe 3,514 should be the figure because after MLB, just about all other sources cite 3,514.It will make the page more consistent with one figure, not two. Has 3,515 in inbox but 3,514 in 2 other spots on the page. One stat should be decided.I realize there are small discrepancies in baseball, but this change makes sense. Thanks and have a good day.2601:581:8500:949C:304C:CD3D:3958:6A95 (talk) 23:04, 14 November 2017 (UTC)

Grey or Gray?
This article (also his SABR biography) refers to Speaker as "The Grey Eagle." His Associated Press obituary says "Gray Eagle."

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5228677/tris_speaker_obituary/

Also, the Gay book mentioned above talks about several businesses owned by Speaker - Gray Eagle Liquors, Gray Eagle brands. The book also cited an advertisement that used "Gray."

https://books.google.com/books?id=GbfiWx3VVkMC&pg=PA274&lpg=PA274&dq=tris+speaker+gray+eagle+obituary&source=bl&ots=ufNG61286M&sig=ACfU3U2nICiQXXoh9zCSSTMLhA27_6GeCQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAobSAodHkAhXDFzQIHdJWCjs4ChDoATAPegQICBAB#v=onepage&q=Gray%20&f=false

I don't know about wiki policy, but it seems like Speaker presented himself as The Gray Eagle. Arnold Rothstein1921 (talk) 22:15, 14 September 2019 (UTC)
 * This article argues for Gray as the default American spelling:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences Arnold Rothstein1921 (talk) 03:09, 15 September 2019 (UTC)