This day in baseball: And the winner is…
Posted: March 25, 2015 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Ban Johnson, Baseball, Chalmers Motor Car Company, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, history, Hugh Chalmers, Major League Baseball, MLB, Nap Lajoie, sports, Ty Cobb 3 CommentsOn March 25, 1910, Hugh Chalmers, president of Chalmers Motor Car Company in Detroit, announced that one of the company’s Model 30 automobiles would be awarded to the ballplayer with the highest batting average for the season. On the last day of the season, however, Cleveland’s Nap Lajoie put down seven bunts, going 8-for-9 in a double header against a Browns infield that was intentionally playing deep. The performance raised Lajoie’s average to .384, and Ty Cobb, who was also in the running for the batting title, complained about the circumstances to American League President Ban Johnson. In the end, Chalmers awarded cars to both Lajoie and Cobb, and the true winner of the 1910 AL batting title remains disputed.
Nap Lajoie (Library of Congress)
I’m surprised they awarded a car to Cobb. Nobody could stand the S.O.B. when he was alive, so they should have told him to stick it! 🙂
From what I’ve read, the reason Lajoie had such a glaring opportunity to raise his batting average was due to the Browns’ hatred for Cobb. They pulled their infield back intentionally to try to give Lajoie a shot at the title!
[…] dominated the first half of the decade. Meanwhile, the saga of Ty Cobb continues, from his 1910 race for the batting title against Nap Lajoie to Cobb’s suspension from organized baseball for beating the snot out of a […]