Tinker to Evers to Chance

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"Baseball's Sad Lexicon", also known as Tinker to Evers to Chance after its refrain, is a 1910 baseball poem by Franklin Pierce Adams. The poem is presented as a single, rueful, stanza from the point of view of a New York Giants fan seeing the talented Chicago Cubs infield of shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers, and first baseman Frank Chance complete a double play.

1 Text of the poem
- 1.1 Notes on the text
2 History
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Text of the poem

1  These are the saddest of possible words:
2  "Tinker to Evers to Chance."
3  Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
4  Tinker and Evers and Chance.
5  Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
6  Making a Giant hit into a double --
7  Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
8  "Tinker to Evers to Chance."

This work was first published in the New York Evening Mail on July 10, 1910 and is now in the public domain.

[edit] Notes on the text

A gonfalon (Line 5) is a pennant or flag, referring in this context to the National League title.
"Hitting a double" in baseball means a two-base hit, but "hitting into a double" refers to a double play (two outs on a single play).

[edit] History

Adams wrote the poems for his column "Always in Good Humor" in the Evening Mail; he signed it with his nickname, FPA. Adams, a native of Chicago and a former newspaper columnist there, penned the poem on his way to the Polo Grounds to see the Cubs-Giants game. The poem was such a hit that other sportswriters submitted additional verses to it. But it was FPA's that is remembered.

Tinker, Evers, and Chance were all part of the Chicago Cubs' World Series-winning team in 1908. All three players were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946; it has been speculated that the fame they enjoyed through the poem penned by Adams contributed to their selection. The quality of the three players is dubious in respect to their induction, as many much better players have not been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, though this might best be explained by recent changes in the induction process.

Despite their celebrated success at turning spectacular plays in collaboration, relations between the teammates were said to have often been strained. Tinker and Evers feuded for many years, and player/manager Chance was reputed to have had an occasionally combative approach to discipline.

The phrase and double play combination helped inspire the song "O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg" in the 1949 musical film, Take Me Out to the Ball Game.