Nap Lajoie became a rebel before he became a star. After establishing himself with the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League in the late 19th century, Lajoie joined a group of players who made the jump to the upstart American League. That set the stage for him becoming a beloved star, first with Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics and then with Cleveland.
How beloved? Fans in Cleveland thought so highly of Lajoie that they changed the name of the team from the Cleveland Bronchos to the Cleveland Naps while Lajoie played there from 1902 to 1914.
The second baseman was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 1937, where he is described as “the first superstar of the American League.”
Nap Lajoie’s Early Life and Career
Napoleon Lajoie was born Sept. 5, 1874, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. His father, Jean Baptiste, was a French-Canadian who immigrated to the United States. Unfortunately, he died while Lajoie was still young, forcing young Napoleon to drop out of school and go to work to support his family.
He did just that, working at a textile mill. But he also started playing semi-professional baseball, something he excelled at almost immediately. But he had to play under a fake name – “Sandy” – so his Mom wouldn’t find out (his Dad had told him earlier that all baseball players were bums). He got paid $2 to $5 a day.
It turned out to be a smart move, despite the deception. He later joined the Fall River Indians of the New England League and ended up leading the team in hits, homeruns, doubles, triples and batting average. It was 1896, and Lajoie was just 21. The Phillies bought out his contract with the Indians in August of that year.
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Nap Lajoie’s Major League Career Highlights
Lajoie exploded onto the scene in Philadelphia, where he played second base. He hit .326 in 39 games and drove in 42 runs. The next year, his first full season, Lajoie drove in 127 runs and scored 107. He followed that in 1898 by driving in 127 again and scoring 113.
According to the Hall of Fame, Cy Young said this about Lajoie: “Lajoie was one of the most rugged hitters I ever faced. He’d take your leg off with a line drive, turn the third baseman around like a swinging door, and powder the hand of the left fielder.”
That’s high praise. But in 1901, Lajoie elevated his game even further. In the offseason, he joined a group of players that rebelled against the “reserve clause” that kept them tied to National League teams and joined teams in the upstart American League. Lajoie decided to make the move after the Phillies declined a request for a salary increase. The Athletics offered Lajoie $24,000, more than $700,000 in today’s dollars.
Lajoie had the season of a lifetime. In 1901, he won the Triple Crown, leading the American League in average (.426), RBI (125) and home runs (14). He also led the league in runs scored (145), hits and doubles.
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The Move to Cleveland
The crafty Ben Johnson, who ran the American League, is the reason that Lajoie came to Cleveland. He feared that a Philadelphia court might force Lajoie to return to playing for the Phillies in the National League because of the reserve clause.
A lawyer working for the American League found that the clause was only enforceable in Pennsylvania, so Mack, working in tandem with Johnson, traded Lajoie to Cleveland. During the 1902 season, he did not travel with the team to Pennsylvania, instead spending time in Atlantic City in New Jersey while the team played the Phillies.
The two leagues resolved the issue with an agreement in 1903 that ended all the legal filings, allowed the players to remain in the American League and created the World Series.
In that year, the Cleveland team name changed to the Naps. In 1905, Lajoie became the manager. In a sense, Nap Lajoie was the Cleveland team, although he later said he wished he had not become manager because it hurt his production as a player.
Battling Ty Cobb for Batting Title
In 1910, he participated in one of the most famous baseball contests of all time. Both Lajoie and Ty Cobb battled all season long to lead the AL in batting average. The Chalmers Company, a precursor to Chrysler, had promised a new car to whoever won the batting title.
Cobb ended up taking the last two games of the season off, thinking his batting average was safe. But Lajoie, playing a double header, went 8-for-8 and claimed the batting title – that is, until Ben Johnson found a discrepancy in Cobb’s statistics and said that Cobb, not Lajoie, had won the batting title. Years later, baseball historians question whether Johnson truly found a discrepancy. Some also claim Lajoie deserved credit for a hit that was ruled a sacrifice.
At any rate, Chalmers gave both players a car.
Lajoie eventually left Cleveland, playing his last season in Philadelphia for the Athletics. In his last game, at the age of 41, he hit a triple that helped pitcher Joe Bush win a no-hitter. He ended his career with a lifetime .338 average, 3,243 hits, 657 doubles, 1,504 runs scored and 1,599 RBI. He went into the Hall with the second group inducted in 1937, and received more votes than Tris Speaker and Cy Young.
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Lajoie died in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Feb. 7, 1959, of complications from pneumonia. The Miami News reported at the time that he appeared to be recovering and was ready to get discharged when his health took a turn for the worse.
The newspaper wrote: “Lajoie, a rawboned man of French-Canadian descent, had lived quietly in this area for many years. He was retiring and reticent about publicity although at one time a major league club was nicknamed for him.”
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