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Red Sox memories: Boston’s Dead Ball Era All-Star team

By Rick McNair

BOSTON - 1912. Pre game activity in Boston in new Fenway Park in 1912 is depicted on this color postcard from that year.. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images)
BOSTON - 1912. Pre game activity in Boston in new Fenway Park in 1912 is depicted on this color postcard from that year.. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /
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HOT SPRINGS, AR – MARCH, 1912. The speedy outfield for the Boston Red Sox, (L-R) Duffy Lewis, Harry Hooper, and Tris Speaker, pose together at Hot Springs, Arkansas during spring training workouts in March of 1912. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images)
HOT SPRINGS, AR – MARCH, 1912. The speedy outfield for the Boston Red Sox, (L-R) Duffy Lewis, Harry Hooper, and Tris Speaker, pose together at Hot Springs, Arkansas during spring training workouts in March of 1912. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /

Outfield

The best of the greatest outfield in Red Sox history was left-hand hitting Tris Speaker. The Grey Eagle joined Boston as a 19-year-old in 1907 and left after 1915, traded in a salary dispute. In those nine seasons, Speaker hit .337 and left behind a litany of legendary fielding plays.

He played an extremely shallow center field and the end result was Speaker is the career record holder for assists, double plays and unassisted double plays by an outfielder. Speaker retired as the all-time MLB leader in doubles (792) and an MVP Award in 1912. A member of the Hall of Fame.

A second member of the HOF is another left-hand hitter with defensive skills that few could match – Harry Hooper – who played on four championship Red Sox teams.  Hooper hit .272 for the Red Sox in 12 seasons before being traded to the Chicago White Sox and hit .302 in five seasons with Chicago.

The final member of the Golden Outfield is right-hand hitting Duffy Lewis whose remarkable ability to master the slope in left field at Fenway Park in front of the Green Monster led to a term long gone.  The incline became known as “Duffy’s Cliff’ for his ability to traverse the incline and make fielding gems. Lewis played eight seasons with the Red Sox hitting .289 and played on three championship teams – missing out in 1918 severing his country. Lewis joined the exodus to the Yankees in 1919.

Honorable Mention: You have to find a place for a pure slugger and that was Buck Freeman. Freeman was another “jumper” from the Braves who switched to the Red Sox for their inaugural season. Freeman played first base, but eventually went to the outfield and hit a league-best 13 home runs and 104 RBI in 1903. Freeman is a member of the Red Sox HOF.

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