wonder what this statement means?

I like reading period text and was reading the back of T202's and I came across this text on the back of a speaker card. I wonder what the sentence means that states speaker could easily hit 400 if he would leave the automobile alone. Any Ideas?. I love reading old baseball slang such as "he can hit, bunt, push, and Poke" Sorry, my scan is so light.

I guess they mean he needs to excercise more to gain speed - running where he needs to go, instead of driving one of those fancy horseless carriages!

That horseless carriage is gonna be the ruination of the base-ball. It'll make all the players fat and lazy.

Jay "Sofa Softie" Behrens

Im not sure about that interpretation. Speaker is #1 in doubles, lifetime. You don't get there without taking the extra base. And although he doesn't make the SB top 50 cut, he is near that, and still above Frankie Frisch, Willie Mays, and other notables. His SB/CS ratio is better than 75%.

These are not the credentials of a player lacking in ability in getting down the line. However, he is the top hitter who has never finished a season at .400.

Could it be that as good as he was, the feeling is that he had too many other interests, and did not apply himself to the game, as maybe Cobb did? Yeah, Speaker the Slacker.

But that card was not issued yesterday, it was issued in 1912. Speaker only had two full seasons at that time. In 1911 Cobb beat out Jackson .420 to .408. Speaker hadn't hit over .340 yet.

I think that this statement is simply an early recognition of Speaker's potential.

If I had to guess, I would say that that quote might be in reference to the fact that perhaps Speaker missed some playing time due to having been injured in an auto accident. Several of the early deadball players had well documented mishaps with their vehicles.

Patrick