Baseball's Sad Lexicon

"Tinker to Evers to Chance" redirects here. For the 1990 compilation album by Game Theory, see Tinker to Evers to Chance (album).

Baseball's Sad Lexicon
by Franklin Pierce Adams
A man with brown hair wearing a grey baseball uniform with a blue collar and the word "CUBS" on his chest in front of a red background
Joe Tinker
A man with blonde hair wearing a grey baseball uniform with a blue collar and the word "CUBS" on his chest in front of a green background
Johnny Evers
A man with brown hair wearing a grey baseball uniform with a blue collar and the word "CUBS" on his chest in front of a red background
Frank Chance
The three Chicago Cubs of the poem
Original titleThat Double Play Again
Subject(s)Baseball
PublisherNew York Evening Mail
Publication dateJuly 12, 1910 (1910-07-12)
Lines8
Full text
Baseball's Sad Lexicon at Wikisource

"Baseball's Sad Lexicon," also known as "Tinker to Evers to Chance" after its refrain, is a 1910 baseball poem by Franklin Pierce Adams. The eight-line poem is presented as a single, rueful stanza from the point of view of a New York Giants fan watching the Chicago Cubs infield of shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers, and first baseman Frank Chance complete a double play. These three players helped the Cubs win four National League championships and two World Series from 1906 to 1910.

"Baseball's Sad Lexicon" became popular across the United States among sportswriters, who wrote their own verses along the same vein. The poem only enhanced the reputations of Tinker, Evers, and Chance over the succeeding decades as the phrase became synonymous with a feat of smooth and ruthless efficiency. It has been credited with their elections to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.