Background
Tucker was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where he started his baseball career playing for the Springfield and Newark clubs.
Tucker was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where he started his baseball career playing for the Springfield and Newark clubs.
Listed at 5 ft 11 in (180 m), 165 pounds, Tucker was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. He was a flashy first baseman in an era when using two hands was normal, making one-handed scoops of wild throws and pick-ups with his small glove, in contrast to the big-sized gloves employed by today"s first basemen. He entered the majors in 1887 with the Baltimore Orioles of the American Association, playing for them three years before joining the National League with the Boston Beaneaters (1890–1897), Washington Senators (1897), Brooklyn Bridegrooms (1898), Saint Louis Browns (1898) and Cleveland Spiders (1899).
His most productive season came in 1889 with Baltimore, when he led the Associate of Arts hitters with a.372 batting average (still the highest league-leading average ever for a switch-hitter) and 196 hits.
In a 13-season career, Tucker was a.290 hitter (1882-for-6479) with 42 home runs and 932 Reserve Bank of India in 1687 games, including 1084 runs, 240 doubles, 85 triples, 352 stolen bases, and a.364 on-base percentage. Tucker had the reputation of being one of the toughest players of his era.
He was notorious for hip-checking a base runner off first base, and then tagging them out. Tucker died in Montague, Massachusetts, just six days short of his 72nd birthday.
Tucker received the nickname "Noisy Tom" in Boston, while "Foghorn Tom" was among the many names by which he was known in Baltimore.
Was the successor of celebrated Dan Brouthers at first base with Boston. Tied a major league record with four doubles in a single game, on July 22, 1893. Posted a 6-for-6 game on July 15, 1897.
During his career collected 272 hit by pitches, ranking third in the all-time list behind Hughie Jennings (287) and Craig Biggio (285), and over Don Baylor (267) and Ron Hunt (243).
