“Gay, who spent four years researching Speaker’s life, has crafted a rugged, no-holds-barred look at a player who encompassed all the complex magic of early twentieth century baseball. Speaker’s story exemplifies why baseball holds such an important place in the American imagination. It is our story—a story of sin and expiation, of loyalty and love, of courage and dignity. This should be required reading for any serious baseball fan.”—Sport Literature Association
“There are many passages where Gay captures the spirit of the Gray Eagle as he describes a moment of Speaker in action. These are effective because they are done selectively; this book is anything but prone to monotonous game by game summaries.”—The Inside Game
“[A] richly detailed biography, the first on Speaker to succeed in situating him within an epoch of great promise and of great shame. . . . The ultimate value of this biography resides in its portrayal of personal redemption. . . . This warts-and-all account is true to a rugged individualist and offers insights to a general public often dismayed by the lack of values found in the sports world.”—Library Journal
“Carefully researched and documented, engagingly written, and very illuminating. . . . Gay has filled a serious gap in baseball history and his effort compares favorably with Charles Alexander’s acclaimed biographies of John McGraw and Ty Cobb.”—Booklist
“Tristam ‘Spoke’ Speaker sits, statistically, alongside baseball’s greatest sluggers and fielders, but his story and name have largely been forgotten. . . . Gay has insured the righting of history with this biography. A worthwhile read for any sports fan.”—Publishers Weekly
“An eye-opening look at baseball’s now seemingly prehistoric ‘dead ball’ era, which also was rife with gambling scandals, grudges, amoral team owners and spring training in Hot Springs, Ark., where training regimens included mandatory hikes through the woods.”—Ed Bark, Dallas Morning News
“Fans of the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians will likely enjoy this book. . . . Timothy Gay’s thoughtful biography lays bare the ugly fact that many players were often involved in sketchy gambling arrangements. . . . Speaker is now largely forgotten, and this well-told story bridges the gap between baseball before World War I and its more modern form.”—Mark E. Hayes, The Miami Herald
“Timothy Gay has accomplished something special with this book, recovering a great player and a hallowed time from the deep well of nostalgia and bringing them back to life, not as we wished them to be, but as they really were.”—David Maraniss, author of When Pride Still Mattered: The Life of Vince Lombardi
“Tris Speaker was the prototype for Willie Mays as the best center fielder and most complete ballplayer of the dead ball era. He was also a complex and cerebral figure who straddled two centuries while growing up on horseback in Texas and helping establish the cult of the American sports superstar. Timothy Gay has crafted an enjoyable and important book about one of the most dominant yet underrated players in baseball history.”—Richard A. Johnson, coauthor, Red Sox Century and The Dodgers: 120 Years of Dodger Baseball
“Tim Gay has written a terrific book about a fascinating ball player—a .344+ lifetime hitter who still holds the major league record for unassisted double plays by a centerfielder. Every sports fan ought to read it.”—David Owen, author of My Usual Game
