Between
1902 and 1912 the trio of Joe Tinker shortstop, Johnny Evers second base, and
Frank Chance. The trio were elected by the veterans committee in 1946 to the
Baseball Hall of Fame. During their time with the Cubs, they won
1907-1908 World Series, and four National League pennants. The only two World
Series championship in Chicago Cubs history mastering the Detroit Tigers in
both series.
Franklin
Pierce Adams of the New York Evening Post made the trio famous by penning the
poem "Baseball's Sad Lexicon." It was originally titled "That
Double Play Again" when it was published on July 12, 1910. The poem
launched the trio into baseball immortality
.
It
is well documented that Evers and Tinker didn't speak to each other after
September 14, 1905. Evers took a cab to the ballpark leaving Tinker in the
hotel lobby, and they ended up having a fist fight on the field.
Frank
Chance managed the Cubs from 1905-1912, and afterwards managed both the New
York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. He was a lifetime .296 hitter and twice led
the National League in stolen bases. Tinker would be a player-manager for
the Cubs and Cincinnati Reds. He only hit .262 in his career.
Johnny Evers would hit .270 over the course of his long career. In era of
high batting averages, the trio were helped by the famous poem.
Joe Glasgow is
a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play
Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
