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Show I MANAGER TRlS SPEAKER WAS USED I FOR SETTLEMENT OF GROUND RENT It Is a long call from being turned over ns ground rent to being the manager man-ager of a pennant-winning ball team, but such Is the story of Trls Speaker. The Boston T.ed Sox bought Speaker in 1907 from Houston, Texas, and trained the' following spring nt Hot Springs. It frequently happens that a 'major league team gets its ground rent for training purposes in an agreement to leave a player when the training season ends. Tlmt was the system followed by the Boston club of 1908. When the Bed Sox started for home Speaker was singled out to remain In Little Rock. Mike Finn, later a scout for the Giants and Tigers, was managing man-aging the Little Rock Travelers of the Southern association. Finn, got many offers that year for Speuker, who developed rapidly into a star, and though he had no written agreement with Boston about returning the player, Finn felt that Boston should have first call on Tris. He turned down all offers, Tut the case up to John I. Taylor, then the owner of the Red Sox, and Speaker was repurchased. So the ground rental paid by the Boston owner In 1008 developed Into the 1 manager of a world's series winner. 1 |