10 worst Boston Red Sox trades in team history
By Tim Boyle
5) Worst Red Sox trade: Tris Speaker to the Indians
Tris Speaker began his career with the Red Sox and even took home the MVP in 1912 back when players could win the award only once in their career. He was an early Boston sports legend who would go on to have 3514 career hits. Among them were a major league record 792 doubles.
On April 9, 1916, the Red Sox called or telegrammed or sent a Morse code message to the Cleveland Indians to make a trade. Cleveland would acquire Speaker in exchange for Sad Sam Jones, Fred Thomas, and $55,000.
As superb as Speaker was for Boston, he was even better in Cleveland. His first year assured fans it was the right trade to make. He led the league with 211 hits and a .386 batting average. He’d continue to pummel baseballs in Cleveland for 11 seasons.
Jones would join the Red Sox pitching staff for six seasons where he put up just okay numbers, finishing with a 64-59 record and 3.39 ERA. Thomas spent only one year in Boston before getting purchased away by the Philadelphia Athletics. He didn’t do much while in a Red Sox uniform either.
This trade is probably much worse than we give it credit for. The only thing many of us associate Speaker with is the Hall of Fame. At least he wasn’t sent to the Yankees.