His form recovered in the second half of the season and he finished the year with a batting average of .288 and 20 doubles, both career highs. As the 1947 Chicago White Sox season began, Tucker remained in his center field position after hitting .400 in the last month of the 1946 season, while rookie Dave Philley played in left field and Taffy Wright and Bob Kennedy platooned in right field. However, he started the year by missing some playing time due to a stomach ailment, and did not play regularly for the White Sox until the middle of May. After returning to regular play, Tucker alternated playing time with Philley, and he finished the season with a .236 batting average in 89 games. On January 27, 1948, Tucker was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Ralph Weigel; the Indians front office regarded Tucker as "the finest defensive player in baseball." He started off the year as the starting center fielder for the Indians, and in one early matchup against the Detroit Tigers, was the only player not to record a hit in an 8–2 victory. He missed three weeks of playing time in June after breaking a finger when he was hit by a pitch. Upon returning to the lineup, Tucker spent most of the second half of the season as a fourth outfielder, splitting time with Allie Clark and playing in the outfield alongside Larry Doby and Dale Mitchell. He finished the season with a .260 batting average and 52 runs in 83 games, and ended the season with a perfect fielding percentage of 1.000. Tucker participated in game six of the 1948 World Series, scoring a run in the sixth inning on a walk en route to a 4–3 win for the Indians. The Indians planned to use Tucker as their fourth outfielder for the 1949 season when he served mostly as backup to Doby. He was relegated mostly to pinch hitting duties, and finished the season with a .244 batting average in 20 games and under 200 at-bats. Due to his hitting struggles, Indians manager Lou Boudreau tried converting Tucker to a switch hitter to start off the 1950 season. Tucker was again set to be a backup outfielder in 1950. His performances during the year included hitting a home run, the only one he hit that season, in an 8–5 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers; the teams raised $60,000 in that game to benefit sandlot teams in Cleveland. Tucker finished the season with a .178 batting average in 54 games, the lowest mark of his career. Tucker and Allie Clark both attempted to make the Indians roster to begin the 1951 season, as the additions of Harry Simpson and Minnie Miñoso made it likely that one or both of them would be traded or released.