Lajoie, Napoleon
Baseball
b. Sept. 5, 1875, Woonsocket, RI
d. Feb. 7, 1959
Known as "Larry" or "Nap," Lajoie was a hard-hitting, graceful, sure-handed second baseman who batted over .300 fifteen times and led in fielding percentage six times. He used a specially designed bat that had two knobs, one partway up the handle, allowing him to used a split-handed grip for better bat control.
After just three months of minor league baseball, Lajoie joined the Philadelphia Phillies late in the 1896 season. Used mostly at first base, he led the NL with a .569 slugging percentage in 1897. He was then moved to second, where he spent the rest of his career.
Lajoie was the league leader with 43 doubles and 127 RBI in 1898. After batting .378 and .337 during the next two seasons, he jumped to the Philadelphia Athletics in the new AL and had a sensational year, leading the league with 145 runs, 232 hits, 48 doubles, 14 home runs, 125 RBI, a .426 batting average, and a .643 slugging percentage. He was the third player in history to win the triple crown, and his .426 average is a record for the twentieth century.
The Phillies got an injunction prohibiting him from playing for any either Philadelphia team, effective in 1902. After appearing in just one game for the Athletics that season, he went to Cleveland in June. He was so popular in Cleveland that the team became known as the "Naps" while he was there.
Lajoie's .378 in 1902 would have won the batting title, but he didn't qualify because he'd missed so much of the season. However, he did lead the league in hitting and slugging the next two years, with .344 and .518 in 1903, .376 and .552 in 1904, when he also led in hits with 208, doubles with 49, and RBI with 102.
He became Cleveland's playing manager in 1905. Because of spike wound in his foot that led to blood poisoning, Lajoie played in only 65 games that year, batting .329. He bounced back to .355 in 1906, leading the AL with 214 hits and 48 doubles, but his average dropped to .299 and .289 the next two seasons.
Late in the 1909 season, Lajoie resigned as manager, feeling that the pressure was affecting his play. The following year, he won another batting title with a .384 average, also leading the league in hits with 227 and doubles with 51.
After hitting .365, .368, and .335 the next three seasons, Lajoie began to decline. He slipped to .258 in 1914, then spent two seasons back with the Athletics. He left the major leagues after hitting only .246 in 1916 and became a minor league playing manager for two seasons before leaving baseball entirely.