Highlighted Year: Nap Lajoie, 1902

Second Baseman, Philadelphia Athletics/Cleveland Blues

Age:  28 (Sept. 5)

2^nd season with Athletics

Bats – Right, Throws – Right

Height: 6’1”    Weight: 195 

Prior to 1902:

A Rhode Island native, Napoleon Lajoie (pronounced LAJ-way) was the son of a French-Canadian immigrant (and he thus was said to prefer the French pronunciation of his name as Lah-ZHWA). Due to his father’s early death, Lajoie had to drop out of school to go to work in a textile mill in 1885. Becoming interested in baseball, by 1894 he was playing semi-pro ball in the Woonsocket area while working part-time for an auctioneer. He later became a teamster while playing baseball on the side and became known locally as “the Slugging Cabby”. In 1896 he joined the Fall River Indians of the New England League where he played center field and batted .429 with 15 home runs before his contract was purchased by the Philadelphia Phillies for $1500. Converted to first base by the Phillies he appeared in 39 games and batted .326 with 12 doubles, 7 triples, 4 home runs, 42 RBIs, 7 stolen bases, a .330 on-base percentage, and a .543 slugging percentage. In his first full major league season in 1897 Lajoie led the NL in slugging percentage (.569) and total bases (310) while hitting .361 with 197 hits, 107 runs scored, 40 doubles, 23 triples, 9 home runs, 20 stolen bases, and a .392 OBP. In 1898 he was shifted to second base where the graceful fielder excelled defensively and led the league’s second sackers with 442 putouts. He also led the NL in doubles (43) and RBIs (127) while batting .324 with 197 hits, 113 runs scored, 11 triples, 6 home runs, 25 stolen bases, a .354 OBP, and a .461 slugging percentage. With a smooth swing that allowed him to hit to all fields with decent power while rarely striking out, Lajoie continued his development in 1899, although an injury limited him to 77 games in which he hit .378 with 19 doubles, 9 triples, 6 home runs, 70 RBIs, 13 stolen bases, a .419 OBP, and a .554 slugging percentage. In 1900 he was sidelined for five weeks as the result of a broken thumb suffered during a fight with teammate Elmer Flick. In 102 games he batted .337 with 33 doubles, 12 triples, 7 home runs, 92 RBIs, 22 stolen bases, a .362 OBP, and a .510 slugging percentage. Incensed upon learning that he was being paid $400 less than teammate Ed Delahanty (despite the preseason assurances by Phillies owner John Rogers that they would be paid the same), Lajoie jumped to the American League in 1901, signing with the Philadelphia Athletics. While the Phillies went to court to stop the deal, Lajoie played for the A’s in 1901 while the case made its way through the court system. He had an outstanding season as he won the batting Triple Crown by hitting .426 with 14 home runs and 125 RBIs. He also topped the new circuit in hits (232), runs scored (145), doubles (48), OBP (.463), slugging percentage (.643), and total bases (350). Prior to the 1902 season the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that Lajoie could not play in the state for any other team than the Phillies. While he played in one game for the A’s at the start of the 1902 season, A’s president and manager Connie Mack arranged for his transfer to Cleveland in order to keep him in the American League, although he was forced to sit out any games played in Philadelphia.

1902 Season Summary

Appeared in 87 games (Cleveland – 86 / Philadelphia – 1)

2B – 87

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Batting

Plate Appearances – 385 (PHILA – 4/ CLEV – 381)

At Bats – 352 (PHILA – 4/ CLEV – 348)

Runs – 81 [20, tied with Charlie Hemphill] (CLEV)

Hits – 133 (PHILA – 1/ CLEV – 132)

Doubles – 35 [7, tied with George Carey] (CLEV)

Triples – 5 (CLEV)

Home Runs – 7 [9] (CLEV)

RBI – 65 [15] (PHILA – 1/ CLEV – 64)

Bases on Balls – 19 (CLEV)

Int. BB – N/A

Strikeouts – 7 (CLEV)

Stolen Bases – 20 (PHILA – 1/ CLEV – 19)

Caught Stealing – N/A

Average - .378 [1] (PHILA - .250/ CLEV – .379)

OBP - .419 [2] (PHILA - .250/ CLEV – .421)

Slugging Pct. - .565 [2] (PHILA - .250/ CLEV – .569)

Total Bases – 199 [18, tied with George Carey] (PHILA – 1/ CLEV – 198)

GDP – N/A

Hit by Pitches – 6 [13, tied with eight others] (CLEV)

Sac Hits – 8 (CLEV)

Sac Flies – N/A

League-leading batting average was +.002 ahead of runner-up Ed Delahanty

Midseason snapshot: 2B – 18, HR - 4, RBI – 32, AVG – .406, OBP - .463, SLG - .647

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Most hits, game – 4 on six occasions

Longest hitting streak – 9 games

HR at home – 5

HR on road – 2

Most home runs, game – 1 on seven occasions

Multi-HR games – 0

Most RBIs, game – 4 vs. St. Louis Browns 6/24, at Bos. Americans 8/20

Pinch-hitting – No appearances

 Fielding (Combined)

Chances – 573

Put Outs – 272

Assists – 286

Errors – 15

DP – 49

Pct. – .974

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The Blues went 69-67 to finish fifth in the AL, 14 games behind the pennant-winning Philadelphia Athletics, while leading the league in hits (1401), batting (.289), and total bases (1884). The Blues got off to a slow start and were in the AL cellar by the end of May at 11-23. Boosted by the in-season arrivals of Lajoie and first baseman Charlie Hickman, the well-balanced club turned things around and went 58-44 the rest of the way to move up to fifth. Lajoie originally placed second in the AL batting race to Washington’s Ed Delahanty, although later research showed that Lajoie finished with a higher average of .378.

Aftermath of 1902:

The peace agreement between the NL and AL in the offseason ended any claim the Phillies had on Lajoie. To great popular demand the club began to be called the Naps in honor of its star player. He won the 1903 league batting title by batting .344. He also topped the league in slugging (.518). In addition, he produced 41 doubles, 11 triples, 7 home runs, 93 RBIs, 21 stolen bases, and a .379 OBP. In 1904 he topped the circuit in batting (.376), OBP (.413), slugging (.546), hits (208), doubles (49), RBIs (102), and total bases (302). Lajoie, also commonly referred to as Larry, missed some games in 1904 due to being suspended after an altercation with an umpire. He would miss more games in 1905 after a spike wound in one leg led to blood poisoning from the blue dye in his sock which nearly led to amputation. His leg recovered,  and limited to 65 games, he hit .329 with a .377 OBP and .418 slugging percentage. By this point Lajoie was the player/manager of the Naps, a position that would have a negative effect on his batting production over time, although in 1906 he led the AL in hits (214) and doubles (48) while batting .355 with a .392 OBP and .465 slugging percentage. His manner of hand signaling pitches to his outfielders from behind his back was easily discernible to opponents and he lacked the ability to instruct his players in aspects of the game that came easily to him (a commonality with great players who became managers). With a talented club he was unable to win the AL pennant as manager, although Cleveland was typically competitive. In 1907 he hit .301 with a .347 OBP and .395 slugging percentage and in 1908, a season in which the Naps closely contended for the pennant, he hit only .289 with a .352 OBP and .375 slugging percentage. During the 1909 season Lajoie resigned as manager as the club dropped to sixth place. Lajoie the player hit .324 with 33 doubles, 7 triples, a home run, 47 RBIs, a .378 OBP, and a .431 slugging percentage. He returned to top batting form in 1910, a season in which he became embroiled in controversy. Battling Detroit’s Ty Cobb for the AL batting championship late in the season, and with a new Chalmers auto to be awarded to the winner, Lajoie and the Naps played a double-header against the St. Louis Browns on the season’s last day and Lajoie trailing Cobb. St. Louis manager Jack O’Connor, not wanting Cobb to win, ordered his third baseman to play deep which allowed Lajoie to beat out seven straight bunts down the third base line for hits. He also hit a triple and one more bunt was ruled a sacrifice. Despite the effort to assist Lajoie, Cobb was awarded the batting title by the closest of margins although later research showed that Cobb was erroneously credited with two additional base hits. In 1981, following the discovery of the error, Commissioner Kuhn refused to retroactively award Lajoie the 1910 AL batting title even though the adjusted figures put him in front of Cobb, .383 to .382. Chalmers chose to award cars to both players, and although Lajoie initially resisted accepting the vehicle, his wife insisted and he received the car. In 1911 a tendon injury limited Lajoie to 90 games and he hit .365 with a .420 OBP. He stayed with Cleveland through 1914 when his average dropped to .258 due to declining eyesight. Sold to the Philadelphia Athletics, he played two last seasons in 1915 and ’16 as his production continued to drop. For his major league career, Lajoie batted .338 with 3243 hits that included 657 doubles, 163 triples, and 82 home runs. He scored 1504 runs and compiled 1599 RBIs, 380 stolen bases, a .380 OBP, and a .466 slugging percentage. With Cleveland the totals were a .339 batting average with 865 runs scored, 2047 hits, 424 doubles, 78 triples, 33 home runs, 919 RBIs, 240 stolen bases, a .389 OBP, and a .452 slugging percentage. Lajoie never appeared in the postseason. He was a minor league player/manager for a time and commissioner of the Ohio-Pennsylvania League. His record as a major league manager was 377-309. Lajoie was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937. He died in 1959 at age 84.

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Highlighted Years feature players who led a major league in one of the following categories: batting average, home runs (with a minimum of 10), runs batted in, or stolen bases (with a minimum of 20); or pitchers who led a major league in wins, strikeouts, earned run average, or saves (with a minimum of 10). Also included are participants in annual All-Star Games between the National and American Leagues since 1933. This category also includes Misc. players who received award votes, were contributors to teams that reached the postseason, or had notable seasons in non-award years.