Who Won the 1910 Batting Title, Ty Cobb or Nap Lajoie?

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Who Won the 1910 Batting Title, Ty Cobb or Nap Lajoie?

Many thanks to one of our readers, Vicki Martin, for sending me a great new book, “The St. Louis Browns: The Story of a Beloved Team.” I’ll have a full review when I finish it, but for now, here’s a neat story recounted in the book. I’m sure our many Dead Ball Era fans are familiar with the controversy, but I’ll try to fill in some of the details.

Here’s the setting:

With two games left in the 1910 season, Ty Cobb was leading Nap Lajoie in the batting race .385 to .376. At stake was a new Chalmers Model 30 awarded to the winner. Lajoie and the Indians were at Sportsman’s Park for a double-header against the Browns to close out the season. Meanwhile, Cobb skipped the Tigers’ final two contests to protect his average, claiming an eye ailment.

Before the doubleheader began, Browns’ manager Jack O’Connor ordered rookie third baseman Red Corriden to play in shallow left field, telling Corriden that “one of Lajoie’s line drives might kill you.” Seeing a chance to fatten his average, Lajoie bunted six times down the third base line for six hits. He also added a triple and an infield single, giving him eight hits in nine trips. His lone blemish was reaching base on an error by shortstop Bobby Wallace on his last at-bat.

Doing whatever they could to help Lajoie defeat Cobb, O’Connor and Coach Harry Howell then tried to bribe the official scorer, E.V. Parrish, with a suit of clothes if he changed his call to a hit. Upholding baseball honor, Parrish declined. In spite of all this, Cobb was still the apparent winner by less than one percentage point, .385069 to .384095.

But wait! The next day, unofficial final batting averages in different papers, including The Sporting News, declared Lajoie the winner by anywhere from one to three points. Cobb’s fans howled, led by Tiger president Frank Navin. But many in baseball who detested Cobb were delighted with Lajoie’s apparent victory. Eight of Cobb’s Detroit teammates even sent a telegram to Lajoie, congratulating him on the batting title.

The resulting outcry triggered an investigation by American League president Ban Johnson, who declared Cobb the winner. In a great public relations move, Chalmers made both Cobb and Lajoie fans happy by awarding each player a car. At Johnson’s insistence, the Browns fired O’Connor and Howell and both were informally banned from baseball for life.

The story doesn’t end there. More than 70 years later, in 1981, The Sporting News historian Paul MacFarlane discovered Cobb was mistakenly credited with two extra hits during the season. Take those away and the tile goes to Lajoie with a .384 average to Cobb’s .383. However, then-Commissioner Bowie Kuhn refused to take Cobb’s 1910 batting title away, thereby preserving his string of nine consecutive American League batting titles.

So who won the 1910 batting title? Baseball Reference says Lajoie, Wikipedia says Cobb.  So you tell me!

Gary Livacari

Photo Credits: Featured photo beautifully colorized by Don Stokes; All others from Google search

Information: Excerpts edited from “St. Louis Browns, The Story of a Beloved Team”, and from article on the 1910 batting controversy from Indians.com

Check out my two books, both now available on Amazon in e-book and paperback:  “Paul Pryor in His Own Words: The Life and TImes of a 20-Year Major League Umpire” and “Memorable World Series Moments.” All profits go to the Illinois Veterans Foundation