The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-12-13
Yrs Speaker Had
 His Start In Texas
Boston American Star Learned to Play Ball on Panhandle
 Ranch

AS an aOVertiSlIlS IedIure a DuSineSS concern recently published a series of pictures of ball players, offering prizes to those who should be first to identify them, giving their "full'' names. The contest developed that many of the games best known ath- 1etes were known only by nick-names or at best shortening of the names by which they were christened. Many of them in fact sign their contracts with these names that have been gfv- the priest blessed upon them. One of the puzzles was "Tris'' Speaker and the Boston outfielder was appeal ed to for information as to what his 'full' name might be. This was his answer and explanation:
 'I have often been asked how ] came to be named Iris. Many peo- Texas, no doubt thought it was a giv- en name of local origin.
 Down in my part of the country they have way of carving a long name into something crisp and, spicy so the old English name of Trfstram was simply abbreviated to Iris, and I was forced to be satisfied with about the shortest prefix a young man was ever handed out at a christening
 'I found there was one advantage to the name Iris; it absolutely pre- vented the "oys at school from fur nishing me VI ith a nickname. After coming to Boston, however, I was doomed, for they have turned Speaker into Spoke
 While I have never heard of an- other Speaker connected with base ball, there may be some, but I feel quite sure am the. only Iris in the game
 'I was born at Hubbard City, Tex, and ever since I can remember was fond of a ball-not always a regula- tion ball, but anything that I could throw about, and while at grammar school I was always anxious to get into any scrub game that the older boys would stand for.
 When but ten years old I was thrown from a broncho, and had my collarbone and right arm broken. I CT, but was forced to use my left hand after the accident, and finally used my left hand for throwing alto- gether I was a right-handed bat ter, but found my left arm the stronger, so changed to batting from the left side.
 'As I started very young and work ed hard. by. the time I entered the high school everything came easy, ,and I have worked left-handed ever since. I was captain of our high school team and during the summer months cap- tained the independent team that played weekly games in the surround ing country.
 "I was the pitcher of our school team, and pecked up the outcurve without a book or a teacher; in fact, found it much easier to send in curve than a straight ball, and to this day.. in throwing from the out field I always allow for a curve, as it's almost impossible for left hand thrower to send a ball any great dis tance without making the ball curve.
 'I never paid any attention to out fielding; all I scared for was to pitch to the batterS, and then take my turn at the bat. I must confess that always liked to hit, and even to this day the greatest satisfaction that I get out of baseball is to meet the ball clean and see it travel over the out felders' heads.
 "All the ball fields around Hubbard City had skin diamonds, and the balls would get fuzzy after playing a while. This would give the pitchers better chance to curve the ball, and the av- craze player was handicapped, but it never seemed to bother me, as we had that was one reason why I was suc- ceSsful as a pitcher.
 There was no time in the year that we could not play ball in Texas and about the only let-up that I had af- ter went to the high school was the weeks that I spent on a relatives s ranch. My playing on the high school team must have attracted the atten- tion of the scouts, for I was offered fine inducements at several institu- tions of learning in Texas. and finally decided to go to the Polytechnic school Just outside of Fort Worth, where I remained one year, playing on the team.
 "The next year. 1906, I decided to take a chance with the professional end of the game and wrote to several Texas managers for a position. Doke Roberts was handling the Cleburne Club of North Texas League. and I signed up with that club sfor the princely salary of $65 per month. Gle burne won the championship and the league busted up.
 s'I received my pay in full and re- turned to Hubbard City that fall with a scrapbook of clippings from the pa pers around the circuit, which I prize highly to this day.
 "Doke Roberts purchased the Hous- ton franchise and I signed up with that club for the following season for double the figures I pulled down for my first year, out and my baseball career really began at Houston.''