1908 Napoleon Lajoie
Photographer: Louis Van Oeyen
Source: The A. G. Spalding Baseball Collection, New York Public Library
Image Subject: Hall of Fame baseball player Nap Lajoie sitting in the dugout with bat.
Fun Fact: 1902 was the year that Napoleon Lajoie (pronounced lazh-uh-way) first played for Cleveland, and for the next twelve years was so popular that they named the team after him – the Cleveland Naps. But getting there was half the fun.
In the prior year, Lajoie was playing for the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League, but was enticed by Connie Mack of the American League Philadelphia Athletics to jump ship. In 1902, the Phillies sued and to their pleasant surprise, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed with them. Since this was a state decision, the court’s jurisdiction only applied within Pennsylvania. So, the Athletics chose to transfer Lajoie to Cleveland where he could play in the American League as long as he never ventured into Pennsylvania to play against the A’s - but that is not the end of the story.
Lajoie had a banner first year with Cleveland batting .378 with 371 official at-bats, which was sufficient to win the batting title over Washington Senator Ed Delahanty. Since then, Hall of Fame rules required a minimum of 424 plate appearances, and Delahanty was acknowledged as the 1902 batting champion. Still, some sources overlooked this rule interpretation and cite Lajoie as the American League batting champion for 1902.
Painting Detail: Printed on 13” x 19” canvas and painted using Schmincke Mussini and Marshall’s oil paints. Finer details were made using Prismacolor pencils.
Acknowledgement: Nap Lajoie: Rhode Island’s Baseball Batting Title King, New England Historical Society.