Nap Lajoie
| Birthdate | 9/5/1874 |
| Death Date | 2/7/1959 |
| Debut Year | 1896 |
| Year of Induction | 1937 |
| Teams | Athletics, Indians, Phillies |
| Positions | First Base, Second Base |
Nap Lajoie won 5 batting crowns including four in a row from 1901-1904. His .426 average in 1901 capped the 20th century’s first Triple Crown.
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Nap Lajoie finished his career with 3,243 hits and a .338 lifetime average
Nap Lajoie finished his career with 3,243 hits and a .338 lifetime average
Nap Lajoie broke in with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1896, hitting .326 in 39 games. It was no fluke. In 16 or his first 18 years, Lajoie hit .320 or better. In nine of the 18, his averaged topped the .350 mark.
Consistently excellent, Lajoie hit .345 with a 147 OPS+ in his five seaons with the Phillies. During his four years with the crosstown Athletics, his average was .324. His OPS+ with the A’s stands at 134. Lajoie’s best years came in Cleveland from 1902-1914 where he won four of his five batting championships.
In the five-year run from 1899-1904 Lajoie hit .374 including a career-high .426 in 1901. During that time his on-base percentage was .410, his slugging percentage was .558 and his OPS+ was 177.
Lajoie’s name is littered across the league leaders. His totals in hits, doubles, RBI, batting average, on-base and slugging percentage led the league a combined 23 times.
By the time he retired as a player, Lajoie amassed 3,243 hits, 657 doubles, 1,599 RBI, a .338 average, and 150 OPS+. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the institution’s second year of existence.
In the collection is a government postcard autographed by Lajoie. He penned a date of July 1, 1949 though the postmark is from three days later on the 4th of July.
Ty Cobb and Lajoie battled for the controversial 1910 batting championship
Ty Cobb and Lajoie battled for the controversial 1910 batting championship
In the collection is a letter from Lee MacPhail with interesting content in a letter about the 1910 batting race.
Before the 1910 season Hugh Chalmers, head of the Chalmers Automobile Company announced that the batting champions from both leagues would receive a Chalmers 30 automobile as part of a promotion. Ty Cobb appeared a shoe in to drive away with the new car and chose to sit out Detroit’s final two games.
Nap Lajoie of the Cleveland Indians squared off for a season-ending double header against the St. Louis Browns. Hoping to aid the popular Lajoie, St. Louis skipper Jack O’Connor instructed third baseman Red Corriden to play on the outfield grass, conceding any bunt attempts as base hits. Lajoie went 8-for-8 and a controversy was born.
American League president Ban Johnson declared Cobb the batting champ based on his average of .358069 to Lajoie’s .384059. The controversy was dissolved when Chalmers award each of the players a new car.
In 1978, Pete Palmer discovered a discrepancy in Cobb’s career hit total. He broke the story in The Sporting News in April, 1981.
Cobb’s total was initially recorded at 4,191. Researchers found a Tigers box score counted twice in the season-ending calculations. The statisticians gave Cobb an extra 2-for-3.
Not only did this credit Cobb with two non-existent hits, it also raised his 1910 batting average from .383 to .385. As Lajoie is credited with a .384 average for the 1910 season, the revised figure would cost Cobb one of his 12 batting titles and reduced his career average to .366.
The ensuing mathematical mess was described by one writer as follows: “It could be said that 1910 produced two bogus leading batting averages, and one questionable champion.”
In the above letter, MacPhail backs his fellow American League chief.
“President Ban Johnson certified Ty Cobb as the champion and I am sure he had good reason for it.”
