It’s no secret that many players, even the great ball players who played in the “Dead-Ball Era” pre-1920s, have forgotten. That goes for “Napoleon Lajoie.” If you need to learn who Nap Lajoie is, I’d love to tell you all about one of the greatest Second Baseman in the history of the game. Nicknamed “The Frenchman,” Lajoie mostly played for the Cleveland Naps, Philadelphia Phillies, and Athletics. 

Career Statistics/Accolades (1896-1916):

.338 BA 3,243 HITS 82 HR 1,599 RBI 1,504 RUNS .380 OBP

  • 5x AL Batting Champion (1901-04; 10)
  • 1901 Triple Crown 

Offensively, he led the league in Hits, Doubles, Runs Batted In, and On Base Percentage multiple times. In an era in which Home Runs were scarce, he produced a lot of RUNS. On a 162-game career average, Lajoie drove in 104 RBI and 98 Runs. In 1901, he had one of the greatest offensive seasons of the dead-ball era. Leading the league with 232 Hits, 14 Home Runs, 125 Runs Batted In, 145 Runs Scored, 48 Doubles, a .463 OBP, and the AL Modern Era record of a .426 BA. Lajoie batted .300 or higher in eighteen but thirteen years consecutively during his twenty-one-year career. While he didn’t Walk a lot, Career-wise, he Walked 516 times only to 347 Strikeouts. Offensively, he ended his career with 3,243 Hits, the second most in MLB History then. To this date, he ranks 8th all-time in Doubles with 657.

“Lajoie was one of the most rugged players 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.” – Cy Young on Nap Lajoie.

Defensively, Lajoie was darn solid at Second Base and spent some time at First Base. Primarily at Second Base, he led all Second Basemans in Double Plays six times, Putouts five times, and Assists three times. Lifetime Lajoie had a .963 Fielding Percentage at Second Base, which was .014 points higher than the average second baseman was league-wide during that time. 

During his time in Cleveland, the team changed its name to the Cleveland Naps from 1903-1914 to honor Lajoie, being the face of the franchise and being one of the first handful of superstars in the game’s young history. Ultimately, if you were to come up with a Mt. Rushmore of the greatest Second Baseman, Lajoie better be one of those names. With Rogers Hornsby being considered the greatest Second Baseman of all time, Lajoie is in the conversation with Eddie Collins and Charlie Gehringer as #2. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937 as part of the second class to be inducted along with Tris Speaker and Cy Young. In 1999, he was ranked #29 on the Sporting News List of 100 Greatest Ball Players.

References:

  1. Nap Lajoie Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lajoina01.shtml
  2. Nap Lajoie via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nap_Lajoie