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The 1910 Chalmers Award - Brutal Competition To Win A New Car, Featuring Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie


DonRocks

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In 1910, Hugh Chalmers of Chalmers Motor Car Company came up with a promotion that awarded the American League and National League batting champions each a new Chalmers Model 30, which was considered a pretty sweet ride in its day. 
 
Well, needless to say, this meant something to players at the time - in fact, it meant a lot. How much?
 
Ty Cobb sat out the final 2 games of the 1910 season because he was a few points ahead of Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie of the St. Louis Browns, and didn't want to lose his lead.

(Contrast this to what Ted Williams did on the final day of the 1941 season when he batted .406 that year - coming into a double-header, Williams' average was .39955 which would have rounded up to .400. Williams could have sat out and officially hit .400, but elected to play both games - and he went 6 for 8!)
 
But Cobb wanted the car (and the title), so he sat out, and Lajoie - like Williams, playing a double-header on the final day of the season - was purposely played deep by the Cleveland Indians, but he bunted 6 times for 6 hits (with a wink and a nod by the Indians, who wanted him to win the title - Ty Cobb had enemies). And, on top of that, he hit a triple and a single; his only official "out" was on an error by the Indians' shortstop, which made him 8 for 9 on the day. If he had gone 9 for 9, he would have absolutely won the batting title and the car; as it stood, Lajoie and Cobb were just about tied.
 
The owner of Lajoie's team sent out the batboy with a note to the umpire - they tried to bribe him with a new set of clothes if he'd change the ruling from an error to a single, but the umpire honorably declined.
 
Fans around the country were angry that Cobb sat out, but absolutely incensed that Lajoie was essentially being handed base hits, making a mockery of the game. Chalmers calmed things down by giving a car to both players.
 
"1910 Chalmers Award" on baseball-reference.com
"1910 Chalmers Award" on wikipedia.com
"March 25, 1910: Chalmers Award Is Born" by Craig Muder on baseballhall.org
"1910 - A Carload Of Trouble" on thisgreatgame.com
 
1910main.jpg

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