Talk:Tris Speaker/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Secret (talk · contribs) 05:19, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Will review this, with the hope that my laptop doesn't fry on me like it been doing lately, turning off for no reason. I do have one major question however, why hardly any usage of baseball historian Timothy Gay outstanding biography on Speaker here. All I see is two citations from the book, and I personally believe that it should be the main source for such an heavy topic like this. That is more of a WP:FAC matter concern if you ever want to go that far, but I will be checking some of the more suspect newspaper sources with the book however. Thanks Secret ^account 05:19, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Thank you for picking this one up, Secret. I certainly understand laptop issues. I share your thoughts about the Gay biography. In fact, I ordered it, expedited delivery, a couple of days ago and I expect it by the weekend. However, I happened upon this article in decent shape and was able to tighten up the referencing using other sources. FA is really not "my thing", but I'd like to make the article as complete as possible. If it's not comprehensive enough for GA, I can certainly add material from Gay over the weekend. I can also access portions of it via Google Books if we're looking for specifics. Thanks again! EricEnfermero ^Howdy! 05:50, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Ok, do you want to hold until the weekend at least so you could have the Gay book before doing a complete review? Or do you want me to do a partial review first? Thanks Secret ^account 19:05, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

We can begin. Thanks! EricEnfermero ^Howdy! 23:08, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Ok reviewing...

• "Spoke" was a rarely used nickname, even in present sources, I recommend to remove it from the lead.

 Done - I originally left it because I saw it was the name of one of his biographies.

• The lead itself is rather long per WP:LEAD, and there are some parts that can easily be covered in the main body, but not significant enough for the lead, like where he grew up.

 Done - Let me know if it works now.

• "and still holds the record of 792 career doubles..." wikilink double and still should be replaced by currently or presently as he probably had no idea he held the record when he retired.
  • Rewrote this a bit. I generally avoid the use of currently or presently, since that can quickly become dated.
• "Defensively, his career records for assists, double plays, and unassisted double plays by an outfielder still stand." Wiki-links are needed for people unfamiliar with baseball, also stand for what?

 Done - No unassisted double play entry, but I think it can be sorted out from the assists and double plays entries. Let me know if I missed wikilinks on other jargon. "Records still stand" is standard usage to indicate that a record is current.

• No mention of the "infield rotation play" in the body, also needs a wikilink as even I am confused what that means.
  • Removed. Just wasn't bold enough to remove it when I first got to the article.
• "season average dropped to .322 from .338 the previous season" Better as "batting average", hardly anyone uses "season average" unless they are discussing a player in the middle of baseball season.

 Done

• "but released by their teams." Redundant as the same sentence mentioned Speaker resigning when the allegations surfaced, remove.

 Done - He resigned, was cleared by baseball officials to rejoin the team, and was then released by the team, but that's a lot of explanation for just a minor point. Removed.

• "He finished his tenure in Cleveland with a 617-520 win-loss record as a manager." Not that important to be mentioned in the lead, main body is fine.

 Done

• "His Hall of Fame membership has been recently criticized.." I don't recall it being a huge controversy, Gay mentions that Speaker mentioned in a newspaper interview that he was a member back in the early 1910s and had a childhood friend who was later a head wizard of the Klan, but doesn't touch the subject after. Cobb was way worse, I don't think its important for the lead.
  • Removed from lead.
• "but others point out..." Who are the others? Only one name is mentioned in the body, reword or expand later in the article.
  • Removed from lead.
• "breaking his right arm in a fall from a horse." Grammar
  • I'm a grammar nerd but couldn't find the issue. Rewrote into a more basic structure. Let me know what you think.
• Gay, Mike Sowell and other modern day historians, and journalists from about 1960 and on dispell the football injury as a story Speaker likely made up, the source using the information is too outdated and more as a trivia section reword accordingly.

 Done

• "...Doak Roberts, then owner...." Remove then

 Done

• "and wanted to be a" wanted should reworded to decided

 Done

• but his mother opposed his being “sold into slavery”. Grammar, needs source as a quotation
  • Not sure what happened, but lost the source for the direct quote. Replaced with a similar idea from a different source.
• "Even after he had had success on the Houston club in the same league in 1907..." Awkward sentence, maybe "In 1907 Speaker had a second successful season with Houston of the Texas League, but his mother stated....
  • Rewrote with straightforward structure.
• When expanded with the Gay book, the main reason why his mother refused to let her son participate in baseball should be given.
  • Will do. Still haven't received it, but I'm able to find some things via Google Books excerpts.
    • I believe I've found it. Let me know if I've covered it sufficiently.
• "...seven games for the Red Sox in 1907, with three hits in 19..." Be consistent in numbers under 20.
  • I get confused because WP:NUMERAL suggests that numbers up to nine should be words. Two instances of at-bats in the section, both of which are double or triple digits, are consistently written as numerals.
• "...center fielder in 1909 and light-hitting Denny Sullivan..." And should be as
  • Since as sometimes suggests "because", I think and is more appropriate here. The cause-and-effect was likely the reverse.
• " Because of his quickness, Speaker could play as shallow as 50 feet behind second base." While I understand the sentence, nearly everyone else who doesn't follow baseball won't. Also the sentence feels random in that section. Rephrase.
  • Reworked this a bit. Let me know.

To be continued...

Thank you for your work so far! EricEnfermero ^Howdy! 04:02, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

Sorry I'm behind on this, I found out I managed to get my old job back a few days later plus now I have school to deal with (three semesters left). I'm likely going to be inactive for a extremely long time soon as a result. However I haven't forgotten the review and hopefully I can finish it tomorrow night, or Thursday. Secret ^account 02:55, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

No problem. My copy of the Gay biography appears to have been lost in transit, but I was able to add a couple of specifics mentioned in the review by accessing excerpts through Google Books. EricEnfermero ^Howdy! 03:37, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

Any update on getting the biography? Wizardman 15:40, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Wizardman, I think the real problem here is that Secret, the reviewer, hasn't edited on Wikipedia in three weeks, and based on the comment made about being inactive for a very long time due to job and school, it seems unlike that Secret will be finishing this review. It's probably time to request a new reviewer to take this over. BlueMoonset (talk) 12:59, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Good point, didn't check his contribs. I'll put it back in the queue. Wizardman 16:07, 30 September 2013 (UTC)