Game 161

October 9, 1910 – St. Louis Attempts to Hand the Batting Title to Nap Lajoie to Spite Ty Cobb

At the beginning of the 1910 season, Hugh Chalmers of the Chalmers Automobile Company pledged to give a Model 30 car to player with the best batting average in either league. 

Going into the last day of the season, Ty Cobb was leading the batting race by a healthy, but not insurmountable margin of .385 to Nap Lajoie’s .376. Cobb was sitting out the final game of the season for Detroit claiming an eye ailment. The Naps and Lajoie would play a double-header at Sportsman’s Park against the Browns. 

Prior to the first game, St. Louis manager Jack O’Connor told third baseman Red Corrigan to play back on the outfield grass. He reportedly told Corrigan, “one of Lajoie’s line drives might kill you.”

During the first game of the day, Lajoie bunted three times up the third base line, reaching safely each time. He also hit a triple, but it was not enough as the Browns broke the 4-4 tie with a walkoff hit in the bottom of the ninth. 

In the second game, O’Connor returned to his spot behind the cut of the infield grass. Knowing a good thing when he saw it, Lajoie put three more bunts up the line to go along with another infield single. In his fifth at-bat of the second game, Browns shortstop Bobby Wallace misplayed the ball. Lajoie beat his throw to first, but the play was scored as an error on Wallace. 

Coach Harry Howell then sent a bat boy with a note to the official scorer, a woman named E.V. Parrish, with an offer of a bribe. Howell offered up a new suit of clothes if she would change her call and give Lajoie a 9 for 9 double-header. Miss Parrish declined. 

The Naps won the second game of the doubleheader to finish the season 71-81 in fifth place in the American League. 

The next day, newspapers posted a wide variety of unofficial batting averages and declared Lajoie the winner. Critics of the cruel and impersonal Cobb rejoiced. 

However, once The Sporting News crunched all of the numbers for the season, they put Cobb ahead .3850687  to Lajoie’s .3840947. Commissioner Ban Johnson conducted an investigation and confirmed the result–Cobb was the batting champion. Ban Johnson insisted that both O’Connor and Howell be fired from the Browns. They were both effectively blacklisted from professional baseball for their tampering in the batting race. 

Chalmers delivered Model 30s to both players, effectively calling the batting race a tie. However, even Chalmers may have had a preference for the more affable Lajoie.  “I’ve always understood,” Nap later said, “that the automobile I got ran a lot better than the one they gave to Ty.” 

Baseball Reference Summary

Game 151

September 27, 1914 (Game 1) – Nap Lajoie Notches His 3000th Hit

Honus Wagner became the first player in modern baseball history to record 3,000 hits on June 9, 1914 for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Some historians also recognize Cap Anson of the Chicago Colts as a member of the 3,000 hit club, but all of his hits came in the nineteenth century under significantly different rules. 

Napoleon “Nap” Lajoie’s star power helped to make the early American League a success. When he signed with the Cleveland club in 1902, his former team disputed the validity of the contract. As a result, Lajoie did not travel to Pennsylvania for two years (missing all away games against the Athletics). In 1902, his .378 average led the American League. To start the 1903 season, local media held a poll to rename the team that had been the Blues and the Bronchos in its first two campaigns. “Naps” was the runaway favorite. 

1902 was the first of 10 years LaJoie would hit above .300 for Cleveland. He led the league in hits in 1904 (208 hits), 1906 (214), and 1910 (227 hits). All of those hits piled up into quite a career.

The Yankees were visiting League Park on the second-to-last weekend of the baseball year. In Game 1, Guy Morton and his abysmal 1 and 13 win-loss record was on the mound for Cleveland. He was facing off with Marty McHale.

The play-by-play account of this game has been lost to history, but we know that one of Cleveland’s seven hits on the day was Lajoie’s 3000th. The Cleveland Press reported that, “Lajoie, of Cleveland, made his three-thousandth big league hit in the first game. It being a two-base hit, the ball being taken out of play and presented to Lajoie as soon as he reached second.”

The Cleveland club went on to win 5-3. However, they would finish the season with only 51 wins–dead last in the American League. 

Twenty-nine players have joined the 3,000 hit club since Wagner and Lajoie reached the milestone in 1914. However, none have been so dominant or so beloved that the team was re-named in their honor. Lajoie finished his career with 3,243 hits, 2,052 of those came with the Naps. He remains the all-time franchise hits leader, 87 ahead of Tris Speaker. Modern, long-tenured stars like Omar Vizquel and Kenny Lofton are more than 400 hits behind Lajoie. The Indians active hits leader is Carlos Santana 1,143.

Retrosheet Box Score

Game 145

September 19, 1917 – Stan Coveleski, Ace of the Deadball Era, Throws a One-Hitter

The Indians were visiting the Yankees at the Polo grounds as the end of the 1917 campaign was approaching. Sophomore spitballer Stan Coveleski took the hill against Slim Love and the Yankees. 

The play-by-play details of this game have been lost to history, but Coveleski mowed through the Yankee lineup. The pinstripes managed only one hit–a single by third baseman Fritz Maisel. He walked two and struck out five on the way to a league-leading ninth shutout of the season. 

Tris speaker drove in Ray Chapman with a double and catcher Steve O’Neill drove in Bill Wambsganss to score the only two runs that the Indians would need. 

He once explained, “I wouldn’t throw all spitballs. I’d go maybe two or three innings without throwing a spitter, but I always had them looking for it.” Sounds familiar to a another doctored-ball Indians great–Gaylord Perry. 

Coveleski was an anchor of the Indians rotation throughout the late teens and twenties. His biggest moment came in the 1920 World Series. He recorded three wins in the best-of-nine format, including a complete game shutout in Game 7 that earned the Indians the title. His ERA for the World Series was 0.67.

Retrosheet Box Score 

Game 109

August 24, 1919 – Ray Caldwell Struck by Lightning, Completes Game for Win

Tris Speaker took a chance on Ray Caldwell mid-season. Caldwell had recently been cut by the Boston Red Sox due to his declining performance and issues with alcoholism. His former manager Miller Huggins later wrote of Caldwell, “[He] was one of the best pitchers that ever lived, but he was one of those characters that keep a manager in a constant worry. If he had possessed a sense of responsibility and balance, Ray Caldwell would have gone down in history as one of the greatest of all pitchers.”

Caldwell showed his ability to pitch brilliantly on this August afternoon against Connie Mack’s Athletics. He also showed incredible fortitude after a crazy turn of events.

In the bottom of the fourth, Rollie Naylor walked Indians shortstop Ray Chapman. Player-manager Tris Speaker drew a second walk. Joe Harris hit a sacrifice fly that moved both runners over. Third baseman Larry Gardner grounded out, but plated Caldwell. With two outs, Bill Wambsganss hit a sharp grounder to the shortstop. The As Joe Dugan fielded it, but blew the throw to first. As the ball skipped away, Speaker was able to score from third on the error. 

Ray Caldwell

In the top of the fifth, George Burns of the As reached on a hit by pitch, and then was driven home by a Cy Perkins grounder. This cut the Indians’ lead to 2-1, but Caldwell was pitching confidently and efficiently. 

A slight but steady rain had been falling for most of the game, as dark clouds scudded off Lake Erie in the way that they often do in late summer, but the game continued. Caldwell had the As down to their final out. With Joe Dugan at the plate, there was a sudden crack of thunder and a blinding flash. Players and fans alike dove for cover. 

After a moment, others had recovered but Caldwell lay sprawled on the mound. 

The shock knocked off Indians catcher Cy Perkin’s helmet and mask. Several players later said that they felt the shock in their legs, conducted upward by their metal cleats. “We all could feel the tingle of the electric shock running through our systems, particularly in our legs,” umpire Billy Evans later reported. 

Caldwell slowly got up from the mound and assessed the damage. He had slight burns on his chest and tingling all over. Witnesses speculated that the lighting had struck the metal button on top of his cap, run through his body, and exited out his metal spikes. Caldwell described the experience to the Cleveland Press, “felt just like somebody came up with a board and hit me on top of the head and knocked me down.”

After a few minutes to shake off the mighty shock, the players re-took their positions–including Caldwell–to get the final out. Dugan hit a grounder to Larry Gardner at third base, who completed the throw to first and sealed the complete game win for Caldwell. 

Caldwell’s overall pitching line: nine innings, three strikeouts, two walks, and one near-death experience. 

Baseball Reference Box Score

Honorable Mention: 2011 – Masterson 4 Ks in Inning

Baseball Reference Box Score

Honorable Mention: 2018 – Kluber Throws a Maddux

Kluber used 98 pitches–64 of them strikes–to blank the Angels. A home run by Leonys Martin provided the winning run. 

Baseball Reference Box Score