Before 1926, when it became traditional for a Championship ring to be presented to each winning member and coach of the World Series, teams were given an allocation from the league, with the option to decide how to best commemorate their crowning achievement. The 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates and 1921 New York Giants, among others, chose gold and diamond charms. The 1913 Philadelphia Athletics and 1923 Yankees selected gold pocket watches. And in 1920, in one of the strangest twists of fate that led to a World Championship, the Cleveland Indians, led by legendary Hall of Famer Tris Speaker, received cufflinks.
It's incredible that the 1920 Cleveland Indians even made it to the World Series at all! In his first full season as manager, the 32 year old Speaker was still an elite hitter, batting .388 with 107 RBI, and coupled with Jim Bagby's league leading 31 wins, positioned the Indians to challenge the defending Champion White Sox and rising New York Yankees for the pennant. But on August 16th, tied with the White Sox and just a 1/2 game ahead of the Yankees, the Indians traveled to New York, needing a win or potentially dropping to third place. In that game, starting shortstop Ray Chapman was hit by a Carl Mays spitball, and died the next morning, becoming the only player to sustain a fatal injury from a pitched ball. The Indians won that game 4-3, but the grieving team, now just 5-12 in its last 17 games, was soon overtaken by the streaking White Sox, falling two games back. As August turned into September, the Indians recovered and all but erased Chicago's lead. With the American League pennant on the line and both teams locked in a virtual tie, Chicago's participation in the "Black Sox" scandal the previous season had finally caught up to them, and eight players were suspended with just a few games left. Playing without most of their stars, the White Sox lost two of their final three games, while Cleveland won four of their final six, finishing two games ahead of Chicago and three games ahead of the Yankees to win their first pennant.
The 1920 World Series was a best of nine affair and featured several memorable moments; the only unassisted triple play in World Series history, the first World Series grand slam, and the first World Series home run by a pitcher. After falling behind two games to one, the Cleveland Indians took four straight from the National League Champion Brooklyn Robins, winning the series 5 games to 2 and earning Cleveland its first World Championship. Leading the way was Tris Speaker, as "The Grey Eagle" batted .320 and scored six of the team's 21 runs. To commemorate their stunning victory, the members of the 1920 World Championship team used their league allocation to choose diamond cufflinks as their prize. Years later, as a member of St. Henry’s Parish in Cleveland, Ohio, Speaker met Father Raymond J. Smith, an associate pastor at the time. The men developed a close friendship, and when Tris passed away on December 8th, 1958, Father Smith officiated at the funeral and burial. In a show of gratitude, Speaker’s widow gave the cufflinks as a gift to Father Smith, an avid baseball fan. Smith kept them as a prized possession for almost 50 years, until his passing in 2007 at age 84.
Clearly one of the most intriguing pieces of sports memorabilia to surface in years, Mile High Card Company is pleased to offer the diamond cufflinks presented to legendary Hall of Famer Tris Speaker for winning the 1920 World Series. With platinum tops engraved and enameled with 18K white gold backs, the cufflinks contain four diamonds, each burnished into the platinum tops, and approximately .25 to .30 cts. each in size, with early modern brilliant cuts indicative of the time period, VS-2 clarity and near colorless (H,I,J) averages. The cufflinks weigh 12.9 grams, and are both engraved “To Tris Speaker, 1920” on one side and “From Cleveland Indians” on the other. LOA from Mile High Card Co.