Tinkers to Evers to Chance

September Classic Moments

Sept. 15, 1902: A baseball legend begins on this day. Shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers and first baseman Frank Chance turn their first double play for the Cubs in a 6-3 victory over Cincinnati in Chicago. The three infielders couldn't stand each other off the field but worked with consummate smoothness on the diamond. They would help the Cubs win four pennants (and two World Series), from 1906 through 1910.

They were the snappiest double-play combo of their time and were immortalized in a poem by New York sportswriter Franklin Adams:

These are the saddest of possible words:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.

Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double --
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

First publication date: New York Evening Mail, July 10, 1910 (From Baseball's Sad Lexicon)

Interestingly, Greatest Teams points out that

While the Tinker-Evers duo never led the NL in double plays, and it has become fashionable of late to question their Hall of Fame selections, the fact is that when you look at the number of baserunners allowed by the Cubs' superlative pitching staff, this keystone combination was the finest of its era. For instance, from 1906 to 1911, the duo turned 491 double plays; that puts them third in the National League. But if you adjust for the number of runners who made it to first base (thereby controlling for the chances the team had to turn a double play), they rank first for this period.