Tinker to Evers to Chance
Posted by basebal5 on Friday, March 28, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Reading 'Crazy '08' this afternoon and saw the middle part of the book where there is interesting pictures of the 1908 season.
(By the way, I have to take my revenge on Craig from Shysterball, who
told me how the book ended when we discussed it over emails yesterday.
Here it is: Craig, if you ever read 'A Whole Different Ball Game' by
Marvin Miller…well, players get free agency! How's that for a
spoiler?!)
One of the featured teams in this book is obviously the Chicago Cubs who won the World Series that year…never to do so again…
The double-play trio of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance is well-known and I found these baseball cards on the site of The Library of Congress.
But before we get to them, let's see what that poem was again…
These are the saddest of possible words:
“Tinker to Evers to Chance.”
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double–
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
“Tinker to Evers to Chance.”
Joe Tinker finished his career with the following batting line: .262/.308/.353
He made 635 errors at shortstop in 1743 games, for a .938 fielding percentage.
Baseball Library bio – (excerpt)
Tinker had an aggressive, spirited playing attitude, but otherwise was quite an innocuous character. Yet one day in 1905, he argued with Evers over a cab fare, which led to a fistfight on the field. The contentious Evers would not speak to Tinker for decades, and gave him an unrepeatable nickname. Unbeknownst to one another, both were invited to help broadcast the 1938 Cubs World Series, 33 years after their falling-out. When they saw each other, after a moment's strained silence, they hugged and cried for some time.
Tinker first came up in 1902, and remained Chicago's everyday shortstop for 11 years. Always the elegant fielder, he led NL shortstops four times in fielding percentage, three times in total chances, twice each in putouts and assists, and once in double plays (he also led Federal League shortstops in total chances in 1914). He had superior speed, and stole an average of 28 bases a season for Chicago. On July 28, 1910, he tied a major league record by stealing home twice in one game. Though he was a respectable hitter, few pitchers feared his bat. Yet Christy Mathewson had trouble with him. Tinker registered a lifetime mark against the Giants great of almost 100 points better than his career batting average.
He made 423 errors in 1735 games at second base, for a .955 fielding percentage.
Baseball Library bio (excerpt)
The slightly-built but tempermental Evers was nicknamed “The Crab” for the way he sidled up to grounders. He joined the established Tinker and Chance full-time in 1903. Evers had identical .350 World Series averages in 1907 and 1908, knocking in the winning run in the fifth and final game. Ironically, 1910, the year Adams fashioned his poem, was the final season that the trio played together. Evers was hurt for most of 1911, and player-manager Chance had retired as a player to devote his full energies to managing.
Evers and Tinker, despite their on-field teamwork, didn't speak to each other their final years together, the result of some imagined slight, and often traded punches in the clubhouse. Despite the fighting, Evers enjoyed his best season in 1912, when he hit a career high .341, and replaced Chance as manager in 1913. In February 1914, he was traded to Boston, where he formed another slick double-play combination with shortstop Rabbit Maranville. In the Miracle Braves sweep of the Athletics in the 1914 Series, Evers batted .438 and drove in the winning runs in the final 3-1 victory.
He made 135 errors in 197 games at first base, for a .987 fielding percentage.
Baseball Library bio (excerpt)
Chance reached the majors as a catcher and part-time outfielder with Chicago, but when Johnny Kling came along, he shifted to first base. He led the NL with 67 stolen bases in 1903, and with 57 in 1906, when his 103 runs scored were also the league high. In only six seasons (1903-08) did he play in more than 100 games, but he batted better than .300 in the first four of them.
Chance's great success came as a young manager. He was 27 when he took over the Chicago club from Frank Selee in mid-1905; in seven full seasons, he won at least 100 games four times, and never finished lower than third. His .664 winning percentage (768-389) stands as the best in Cubs history. In 1906 the Cubs won 116 games – a major league record – while losing just 36. They lost to the White Sox in the '06 World Series, but defeated the Tigers in the next two. Chance led all participants in the '08 WS with a .421 batting average.
