Duffy Lewis was a find of John I. Taylor, the owner of the Red Sox, who went to California in September 1909 and signed the outfield prospect from the Pacific Coast League’s Oakland Oaks.
Lewis debuted with the Red Sox the following spring and for eight seasons manned left field for Boston, with the slope in front of the left field wall at Fenway Park earning the name “Duffy’s Cliff,” per the Society for American Baseball Research in honor of the skill he displayed playing it.
For six years, he teamed in the Boston outfield with Hall of Famers Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper, a trio that was often considered the greatest outfield in baseball history.
Lewis eventually settled into the cleanup spot behind Speaker in the Boston order and as a solid run producer, driving in a career-best 109 runs in 1912 and finishing in the top-10 in home runs four times, including a second-place finish with eight long balls in 1910.
Lewis missed the 1918 season while serving in the Navy during World War I, missing out on what would have been his fourth World Series championship.
In December 1918, he was traded with Dutch Leonard and Ernie Shore to the New York Yankees for four players and $15,000 cash.
In eight seasons with the Red Sox, Lewis hit .289/.340/.735 in 1,184 games, with 27 home runs, 629 RBI and 102 steals, while scoring 500 runs with an OPS+ of 117.
In three World Series — all Boston wins — Lewis turned in a slash line of .299/347/.810 with a homer and seven RBI while scoring eight runs in 18 games.
He played two seasons in New York before being traded to the Washington Senators prior to the 1921 season. Released by the Senators in mid-June of that year, Lewis spent another six years in the minors as a player-manager.
Lewis was later a coach for the Boston Braves and then became their traveling secretary, a role he held until 1961, after the club had moved to Milwaukee. He died June 17, 1979 at the age of 91, alone and penniless in Salem, New Hampshire.