Napoleon Lajoie: MLB’s Greatest Line Drive Hitter

There have only been two men in MLB history to have an entire baseball franchise named after them; Wilbert Robinson (Brooklyn Robins) and Napoleon Lajoie (Cleveland Naps). Cleveland’s franchise, now named the Guardians, formerly Indians, Naps, Napoleons, Blues and just “CLEVELAND”, debuted as an American League team in 1901. The second year of the twentieth century was the inaugural season of the now familiar American League, which was the new alias of the popular Western League, owned by their president; Ban Johnson. 1901 also had significance for the great Nap Lajoie, as he would set a modern record with a staggering .426 average with the Philadelphia Athletics. While this is mightily impressive, it is just one of the many highlights of “Larry”s” career.

Born on September 5, 1874, to Jean Baptiste and Celina Guertin Lajoie, first-generation French-Canadian immigrants, Nap Lajoie entered the world with few expectations. However, a new game was beginning to gain prominence on the East Coast—one that many had yet to embrace. The slugger was born in Woonsocket, RI, and his birth has been disputed in many instances, but researches can confirm with baptism records that September 5, was most likely correct. Larry was the youngest of eight, and came into the world with a chip on his shoulder. Not much is known about Lajoie’s upbringing, but whoever taught him how to swing should be praised, as the legendary second baseman featured a rather wide, natural swing for the era, which allowed him to dominate the circuit.

In his younger playing days (his teenage years), Lajoie bounced around from semi-pro Woonsocket teams until he finally broke in with a Class B New England League, giving him the opportunity to shine in front of major league scouting. Since Lajoie slated a batting average over .400 pretty much everywhere he went, he gained attention rather quickly, as he was picked up by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1896 for $1,500.  He would go on to have an impressive showing in just 39 major league appearances, as the young new star slashed his way to a 129 OPS+ and drove in 42 RBI’s. The ‘96 Phillies featured some incredible sluggers that Lajoie could embrace and gain knowledge from, as stars like “Big” Ed Delahanty, Dan Brouthers, and Sam Thompson headlined the team, while leading them to a disappointing 62-68 record. 

In his first 5 seasons, Lajoie was always raking, as he once led the league in homers and RBI’s in 1898, but the Phillies made the decision to sell Lajoie to the cross-town Philadelphia Athletics prior to the 1901 season. This is where our story really begins, as Nap took the newly formed American League by storm and hit any and everything. Let’s take a quick look at his 1901 statistics: .426 Batting Average, .463 On Base Percentage, .643 Slugging Percentage, 1.106 On Base Plus Slugging, 198 OPS+, 350 Total Bases, 145 Runs, 232 Hits, 48 Doubles, 14 Homers, 125 RBI’s, and an 8.3 Wins Above Replacement… Oh, I should also mention that he led the league in ALL of these categories. Lajoie was rightfully awarded the MVP, as he won the Triple Crown and made a name for himself as the best natural hitter in the league. 

It turns out, the Athletics would make the same mistake as the Phillies had, by trading Lajoie to the Cleveland Blues in the middle of the 1902 season. A’s manager Connie Mack had been around more Hall of Fame talent than any person in baseball history, and knew that it was a mistake. Cleveland obviously jumped on the opportunity and celebrated by naming the franchise the “Napoleons” in 1903. Lajoie responded by leading the MLB in Wins Above Replacement in three of the next four seasons, while picking up two more batting titles in the process, now giving him a fourth consecutive batting championship. (‘01, ‘02, ‘03, ‘04) 

Lajoie would go on to lead the American League in Wins Above Replacement again in 1907 and 1908, and would carry his momentum through to the 1910 season. Now if you know anything about baseball history, you probably know why 1910 has significance for Napoleon Lajoie. Going into the final games of the season, Cobb led the American League in batting average with a .382 mark, and thus decided to sit out the last two games of the season, as Lajoie was sitting at .373. Of course the public hated this, but then again, they really hated anything Ty Cobb did.  Meanwhile, Lajoie was a “ball-player’s ball-player”, and was loved by almost all he encountered. Well, in a pennant race that was already wrapped up (won by the Philadelphia Athletics), The Naps went into St. Louis for a final doubleheader. The Browns decided to tell the left side of the infield to play in shallow left field, so what did Lajoie do? He BUNTED his way to an 8 for 9 double header. He would have had a 9 for 9 day if the scorekeeper hadn’t ruled one of the hits as an error. Coaches Jack O’Connor and Harry Howell were subsequently banned from MLB for trying to bribe the score keeper to change it to a hit… God people must have really hated Cobb. What did Ban Johnson do? He gave Cobb two extra base hits… Problem solved! Well, not really because the batting title winner would be awarded a brand new Chalmers automobile, so they just decided to give one to both Cobb and Lajoie.

Lajoie played for six more seasons, before retiring after the 1916 season. He finished his career with a 106.9 Wins Above Replacement, and a .338 Batting Average, propelling him to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937 on the second ever ballot. He attended the inaugural induction in 1939, and received enormous rounds of applause from the crowd in Cooperstown. Lajoie passed away after a full life in 1959, and he can rest easy knowing he was baseball’s greatest ever line drive hitter.