October 9, 1910: The Controversial End to the "Chalmers Race"

Nap Lajoie (left) and Ty Cobb, in the back seat

of the model of car to be awarded, a 1911 Chalmers 30.

October 9, 1910: The battle for the American League batting title is decided on the final day of the regular season‚ when Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers edges Nap Lajoie of the Cleveland… Naps. (Seriously, the team was named after their star 2nd baseman and manager. They would be renamed the Indians in 1915.) Cobb's final average is .385, Lajoie's is .384. Or, more precisely, Cobb's was .385069, and Lajoie's was .384095.

Cobb‚ rather than risk his average‚ sits out the last 2 games‚ the Tigers beating the Chicago White Sox in today's finale‚ 2-1 at the new Comiskey Park in Chicago.

Meanwhile, in a doubleheader with the St. Louis Browns‚ at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, Lajoie goes 8-for-8, accepting 6 gift hits on bunt singles, on which Browns rookie 3rd baseman Red Corriden is apparently purposely stationed at the edge of the outfield grass.

The prejudiced St. Louis scorer also credits the popular Nap with a "hit" on shortstop Bobby Wallace's wild throw to 1st. In Lajoie's last at-bat‚ he is safe at 1st on an error call‚ but is credited with a sacrifice bunt since a man was on, and thus is not charged with an at-bat.

The St. Louis Post is just one of the papers to be openly critical of the move against Cobb, then the best, but also the most unpopular, player in baseball: "All St. Louis is up in arms over the deplorable spectacle‚ conceived in stupidity and executed in jealousy." The Browns win the opener‚ 5-4‚ and Cleveland takes the nightcap‚ 3-0, with both managers‚ Jack O'Connor and Jim Maguire, catching in the otherwise meaningless game. O'Connor is behind the plate for just an inning‚ but Maguire goes all the way.

AL President Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson investigates, and clears everyone concerned‚ enabling Cobb to win the 3rd of 9 straight batting crowns. Ty didn't exactly cover himself with glory by sitting it out -- after all, 31 years later, Ted Williams insisted on playing both games of a last-day doubleheader that he went into at .39955, and went 6-for-8 on the day to finish at .406 -- but neither he nor Nap did anything illegal.

The embarrassed Chalmers Auto Company, which had promised a brand-new car to the winner of the batting title, awards cars to both Ty and Nap. Cobb didn't care that Lajoie also got one, as he admired Lajoie: He went on record as saying he badly wanted the car, for the sake of the award, as a measure of respect.

In 1978, baseball historian Pete Palmer uncovered an mistake, which had credited a 2-for-3 game to Cobb twice, that‚ if corrected‚ would have given the batting title, and the "Chalmers Race," to Lajoie, .384 to .383. But the Commissioner's office voted unanimously to leave the stats changed, but not the title. In 1989, The Sporting News looked at the records again, and confirmed Palmer's analysis that one of Cobb's games had been counted twice. In 1991, among other rulings -- including giving Roger Maris full possession of the single-season home run record, and redefining a "no-hitter," the Commissioner's office ruled Cobb's revised totals to be correct.

This reduced Cobb's career hit total from 4,191 to 4,189 (thus meaning that Pete Rose broke the record 3 days before we thought he did, although it was still celebrated when he reached 4,192, due to the number 4,191 being so ingrained in the public memory), and his lifetime batting average from .367 to .366 (although that's still easily a record). Lajoie finished with 3,243 hits, and his lifetime average was .339.

In case you're wondering, in that 1910 season, Cobb had a better on-base percentage than Lajoie, .456 to .445; the higher slugging percentage, .551 to .514; the higher OPS, 1.008 to .960; and the higher OPS+, 206 to 199.

Neither Detroit nor Cleveland seriously challenged the Philadelphia Athletics for the Pennant. The A's finished 14 1/2 games ahead of the 2nd-place New York Highlanders (1 of only 3 times the team that became the Yankees in 1913 finished as high as 2nd before their 1st Pennant in 1921), 18 ahead of the 3rd-place Tigers, and 32 ahead of the 5th-place Naps.

So the Tigers were 14 games ahead of the Naps, meaning that, both stats-wise and standings-wise, Cobb unquestionably had a better season than Lajoie. Lajoie lived until 1959, age 84; Cobb, until 1961, at 74.

The NL Pennant race had no drama in 1910, either, as the Chicago Cubs won their 4th flag in the last 5 years, beating the Giants by 13 games. The Brooklyn Superbas, forerunners of the Dodgers, finished 6th, a whopping 40 games back. So it was A's vs. Cubs in the World Series, and the A's won it in 5 games.

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October 9, 1910 was a Sunday. Professional football was still minor-league at this point. Professional hockey, and basketball in any form, were still in their infancy. There were 2 other games were played that day in what would eventually be called Major League Baseball. The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-1 at the Palace of the Fans in Cincinnati. And the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 at West Side Park in Chicago.