Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves America’s Pastime.

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Today’s story is about a sneaky trade for one of the greatest players of all time.

During the first half of the 1910s, Tris Speaker was a big f**king deal in Boston.

He was the Red Sox’s star center fielder - winning the MVP and helping the team capture two World Series championships in 1912 and 1915.

During the second run, Tris hit .322 with 69 RBIs and an OBP of .416.

At 27 years old, he was considered the best outfielder in the game.

The Red Sox responded to his amazing season by offering to cut his salary from $14,000 to $9,000.

According to the Red Sox owner, Joe Lannin, Speaker had been "overpaid” to keep him from jumping to the newly-formed Federal League in 1914.

But that league went belly up, so Lannin felt like he had the leverage again.

Lannin was telling people he would trade Speaker before paying him anything over $10,000.

Tris was requesting $15,000.

This wasn’t a time where information travelled quickly, so Tris had no idea that Boston was even considering trading him.

A sportswriter named Ed Bang got word that there might be “trouble in paradise” between Speaker and Lannin, so he told Bob McRoy (Cleveland’s GM) about what was going on.

McRoy got ahold of Jim Dunn (the Indians’ owner at the time), and Dunn called Lannin to talk business.

That Spring, Tris was still playing with Boston, and it looked like the two were going come to a deal for the $15,000 per year Speaker originally requested.

After hitting a game-winning home run one night, Speaker came back to his hotel and unexpectedly got a call from McRoy, who was downstairs in the lobby.

When they met, he asked Tris “How would you like to come to Cleveland”

To which Speaker responded:

"Well, we've made a deal for you. We bought you."

Yikes.

Speaker was outraged and he even threatened to retire.

The Indians sent $55K, pitcher Sam Jones, and infielder Freddie Thomas to the Red Sox.

At that point, $55,000 was the most ever paid for a player as part of a trade.

But Speaker refused to go to Cleveland.

Now he was requesting his $15,000 per year salary, and a $10,000 bonus, but he wanted the cash directly out of Lannin’s pocket.

He demanded the $10K come straight out of the $55,000 the Red Sox were getting from the trade; Lannin refused.

According to Franklin Lewis, who was a sportswriter and friend of Tris, the Sox eventually caved and paid Speaker the $10,000; sweet revenge.

The rest is history.

Speaker went on to have a .345 career batting average, win a World Series, and get inducted into the Hall of Fame.

BASEBALL TRIVIA

Look for the answer in the bottom of this email!

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Merlin Nippert was an All-American kid from Magnum, Oklahoma.

Basically, the middle of nowhere.

He wasn’t an overpowering pitcher, but he had a nasty curve.

Merlin’s numbers in the minor leagues were pretty good, and he earned the obvious nickname “Merlin the Magician.”

Unfortunately, his time in the big leagues was pretty short.

After only throwing six innings in ‘62, Nippert didn’t make the 40-man roster the next year.

He fizzled out and eventually went back home to Oklahoma where he established a career in banking.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:

• The Bullet: Hazing saves lives

• The Wild Flight: Mets f**k up a plane

• The World Series Riot: Detroit goes nuts

BASEBALL TRIVIA ANSWER: Johnny Binky Jones