This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/27/2017
During the deadball era, the last phrase a batter wanted to hear was “Tinker to Evers to Chance”. The turn of phrase, coined by Franklin Pierce Adams in “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon”, referred to the double play aptitude of the slick fielding Chicago Cubs infield triumvirate of Joe Tinker, Frank Chance, and the subject of this questionnaire, Johnny Evers.
Evers was the second baseman of the Cubs sure handed infield, and the fulcrum of this trio of stars, all of whom have been enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Evers was a master of the deadball ideology of “inside baseball”, a style of play characterized by bunts, sacrifices, and strategic dinks and dunks designed to incrementally drive up the score. Evers hit 12 home runs in his career, and never more than three in a season, but racked up 256 sacrifice hits and 324 stolen bases. If the deadball era need a poster boy, the cantankerous “Crab” would have been the first man in line.
Evers and his double-play cohorts led the Cubs to their only two World Series titles of the 20th century, back to back crowns earned in 1907 and 1908. Evers was critical to both championships, anchoring the defense and hitting .350 in each Fall Classic.
In 1914, Evers joined the Boston Braves after 12 seasons with the Chicago ballclub. He claimed the National League MVP award in ’14 while leading the Braves to a World Series sweep over the Philadelphia Athletics. Evers, one of only two regular Braves hitters over the age of 30, put together an outstanding season, hitting .279 with 31 sacrifice hits and 81 runs scored. He played regularly for three more seasons, before managing the Cubs in 1921 and the White Sox in 1924. Evers appeared twice more on the field after becoming a manager, once in 1922 and once at the age of 48 in 1929 for the Braves. In 1946, Chance was honored by the Old Timer’s Committee as a selection for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He entered Cooperstown with some of the greatest stars of the deadball era, including Rube Waddell, Ed Walsh, and his two double play partners, Chance and Tinker.
This questionnaire was filled out in February 17th, 1943, for The Sporting News. Evers included numerous interesting facts about his life, such as his hobbies, his nickname, and his service in the armed forces. Near the bottom, when asked, “What do you consider your outstanding performance in baseball”, he lists “Merkle Play 1908”, a reference to the infamous baserunning mistake of Fred “Bonehead” Merkle that helped the Cubs reach the World Series. Evers, an extremely intelligent ballplayer, realized that Merkle did not advance to second base properly after Moose McCormick scored to end the game. Evers tapped the bag with his foot, and umpire Hank O’Day correctly ruled him out. While this play tarnished Merkle’s legacy, Evers apparently relished his role in the famous blunder. Evers signed the bottom of this single page in black pen. He also printed his full name, “John J. Evers” on a line at the top. This item comes with an LOA from JSA (Z56891).