The Storytellers Ch. 13

"A few more drinks bought me all the information I needed, and the following Saturday I wuz in Woonsocket, eyeballing this kid named Napoleon Lajoie.

"It wasn't long before I discovered he wuz the youngest of eight kids; wuz French-Canadian, and lost his father when he wuz only five forcing him to leave his formal education after only eight months and take a job as a card-room sweeper in a local textile mill. . "About the same time the young lad was seized by the baseball craze sweeping the country. His mother did not approve of his ball playing and so his teammates gave the dark-haired Lajoie the nickname Sandy to hide his presence on the diamond. By 1894 Lajoie was clerking for an auctioneer named C.F. Hixon and playing part time with the semi-pro Woonsockets. As word of his ability spread, Lajoie discovered that other semi-pro teams wanted him to play for them in critical games.

He obliged them all, and his rate of pay ranged from $2 to $5 per game, plus round-trip carfare. Off the diamond, Nap followed in his father's footsteps and became a teamster. He drove a hack out of the Consolidated Livery Stable, providing him with the nickname The Slugging Cabby.

"He didn't play that Saturday mainly because the rain washed the game out, but I did get to see him fielding ground balls and tossing the ball around. He had big leaguer written all over him, but could he really hit? I needed to see something special in that regard; and so I hung around another day. Lajoie's team played another semi-pro team from Providence on Sunday. Apparently the Red Sox were in Cleveland and their players were unavailable to help me in my decision.

"The kid went four for five, denied a fifth hit by a great stop by the third baseman. He played flawlessly in the field, but wuzn't really challenged with any tough chances. Did I mention he wuz 6' 1" and weighed in at 195 pounds, all muscle.

"I talked to some of his team mates about him and ran into some difficulty. I had misjudged them in that they wanted the kid to stick with them. The mill paid bonuses' to them if they won their league and while they had it locked up, they were already thinking about the next season and wanted Lajoie with them again.

"But I went after the kid anyway, and while I wuz talking up the possibility of trying out for a professional team, two of his teammates started shoving me around. We had us a nice scuffle with several punches thrown, but none landed where they'd do any harm. Several other players stepped in and separated us. My willingness to fight it out with them made an impression on young Mr. Lajoie.

"You handle yourself pretty good," he said. "I sucked in my belly and professed to having sparred with the Great John L. Sullivan."

I gave Bill a dubious look and he quickly came up with: "Well I did, it wuz in Philadelphia in the fall of '82. The Great One wuz in Philly to fight an exhibition against some minor pugilist from Hoboken, New Jersey and jokingly asked for volunteers to spar with him. Bob Ferguson pushed me forward and I wuz afraid of backing down, so I got into the ring with him."

"Bare-knuckled?" I asked, still doubtful, but beginning to become convinced he was being truthful.

"We used gloves, and I only danced around while he threw some jabs at me, never rushed me like he did to most opponents. He didn't even try to hit me. He could have if he'd wanted to, I wuzn't no match for him, no sir.

"Anyway, Lajoie wuz impressed and even more so when he found out I wuz a major leaguer.

"I told him I wuz a scout and wanted to know if he wanted to try out for the Fall River team in the New England League.

"He jumped at the chance. He took me home with him to meet his family. He wuz the youngest of eight children; his father had passed on when he wuz only five. Mrs. Lajoie was most cordial, and professed wanting nothing more than to have her son get away from the cotton mill. I had my doubts, but kept quiet as she didn't protest his visiting Fall River with me. She also knew that Fall River would offer more money in six months than the mill paid in a year, even though no one had offered him a dime as yet.

"The following morning we boarded the train for Fall River. I switched bodies when the train wuz rolling into Fall River. I wanted to be part of him at the tryout.

I'm sure it helped him get rid of the jitters. He certainly impressed the manager and club owners, for they tendered a decent contract following the workout, $500 for the upcoming season.

"We and I mean me as Lajoie and Bill as Bill without me, returned to Woonsocket, with the good news. Bill spent the night and the next morning returned to his wife in Philadelphia. I did see him several times thereafter, but never took possession of him again.

"I used the winter months to work on building Lajoie's confidence and strength, and when spring training arrived he established himself as the starting left fielder.

"If you don't mind I'm going to use I or me instead of he or him from now on," Bill said.

"How did you do?"

"Pretty good if I say so myself; I wuz hitting a torrid .429 and had a slugging average of .726 when the Phillies paid $1500 for me and Phil Geier.

When I joined the Phillies, manager Billy Nash installed me at first base, which had been manned on an emergency basis by Ed Delahanty. This allowed Big Ed to return to his best position, left field. I believe I played in about 40 games and hit .326. It wuz the following year I established myself as a player to be reckoned with.

Even so, I learned a great deal about hitting from Ed Delahanty who dominated the 1890's like no other hitter, batting over .400 three times on his way to a lifetime average of .346, the fifth best mark in history. From 1892 to 1901 Delahanty anchored a powerful Philadelphia lineup that featured the likes of Billy Hamilton, Sam Thompson, Elmer Flick, and me. All Hall of Famers, yet we didn't win a pennant.

"Now Roy, I have to say that while Lajoie was about as fine a hitter as ever played the game, he wuz completely undisciplined at the plate, regularly swinging at pitches down at his ankles or up at his eyebrows, and occasionally thwarting attempts to intentionally walk him by reaching out for those pitches, too. For years the conventional wisdom among American League pitchers was to try to upset his timing with off-speed stuff, but no single pitch could fool Lajoie for long.

"But I'm getting ahead of myself again. In 1898 manager George Stallings shifted me to second base, adding to my confidence by saying, 'He'd have made good no matter where I positioned him.'"

"I quickly matured into one of the game's best second basemen, causing Connie Mack to complement me, saying: "He plays so naturally and so easily it looks like lack of effort," and later when I wuz playing for him with the Athletics, "Larry's reach is so long and he's fast as lightning, and to throw to at second base he is ideal. All the catchers who've played with him say he is the easiest man to throw to in the game today. High, low, wide -- he is sure of everything."

I had to ask Bill a key question, and did so. "Bill, how often did you miss games once you got to the big leagues?"

"Hmmm," he replied, giving my question careful thought. "I missed a few games over the years, but the reasons for it wuz anything but typical.

"In 1900 I recall missing about five weeks after breaking my thumb in a fistfight with teammate Elmer Flick. Two years later, legal squabbles between the American and National Leagues cut into my playing time, which I'll come back to in a minute. Oh, in 1905, my leg wuz nearly amputated after the blue dye in my socks poisoned a spike wound. The leg recovered, but the incident led to a new rule requiring teams to use sanitary white socks.

"I also had some infamous run-ins with my friends the umpires. I threw tobacco into umpire Frank Dwyer's eye. That would have been in '04. That incident drew a suspension of several games. Um, the year before that I wuz so pissed off by an umpire's decision to use a blackened ball that I picked up the ball and threw it over the grandstand, resulting in a forfeit.

"But we both know my most famous battle came off the field, when I jumped my contract with the Phillies to join the insurgent American League in 1901. Understand that I did have good and sufficient reason to do it.

"See, prior to the 1900 season, I had been assured by Philadelphia owner John Rogers that me and Ed Delahanty would receive equal pay. After the season began, however, I discovered that my salary of $2,600 was actually $400 less than Delahanty's pay. I saw the fuckin' checks. Incensed, I exacted my revenge on Rogers in the off-season by jumping to Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics when Mr. Mack offered me a contract that nearly tripled my annual salary with the Phillies.

"And in doing so gave the American League legitimacy," I said while Bill nodded vigorously.

"I caused a shit-load of trouble too."

"Care to elaborate, Bill?"

"Not at all," Bill smiled broadly. "My very pissed off owner moved to block the deal, suing for the return of his "property." And while the case worked its way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, I capitalized on the golden opportunity of playing in a newly formed league with a diluted talent pool by putting together one of the most impressive seasons in major league history. I wouldn't be bragging to say that I punished the American League's overmatched pitchers that year and became the third triple crown winner in baseball history with a .426 batting average (the highest posted by any player in the twentieth century), 14 home runs, and 125 Runs Batted In."

Bill shrugged and looked down at the ground.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Shit, with all that hitting, we still finished fourth. Ironically, Connie Mack's team would win the pennant the following year, but they would do so without me. I wuz traded to the Cleveland franchise after Rogers succeeded in getting an injunction from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court which prevented me from playing ball in the state for any team other than the Phillies.

"I wuz able to circumvent the ruling by signing with Cleveland, and skipping all of the club's games in Philadelphia. All the legal wrangling limited me to just 87 games and 352 official at-bats in 1902. Nevertheless, I captured my second consecutive batting title, finishing the year with a mark of .378 and resuscitated a moribund Cleveland franchise; which subsequently honored me by changing its name to the "Naps" at season's end.

"The two leagues brokered an agreement of sorts in '02 and Rogers dropped his claim to me so I could play in Philadelphia again.

With my legal status secured, in 1903 and 1904 I solidified my reputation as the league's best hitter, winning my third and fourth consecutive batting titles. In 1904 I hit .376, led the league in on-base percentage (.413), slugging percentage (.552), hits (208), and RBI (102).

Despite that performance, and despite the considerable offensive contributions of teammates Bill Bradley and Elmer Flick, the Naps finished a disappointing fourth, and in September manager Bill Armour tendered his resignation. After the end of the season, I wuz made the manager of the Cleveland team."

Bill gave me a wide grin and said, "You know, a large part of Lajoie's success can be attributed to the specially designed bat he used. It had two knobs, one of which was partway up the handle; it enabled Lajoie to employ a split-handed grip which offered him superior bat control. As a result, he was usually able to place the ball where he wanted. Cobb had a slightly different split-handed grip and also had unbelievable bat control.

"And let's not overlook his slugging power. He hit the ball as hard as anyone in the game while he played." As if his statement required support, he added,"Cy Young said so, said Lajoie wuz one of the most rugged hitters he 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.'"

"Unfortunately I wuz not a successful manager; I inherited one of the league's most talented rosters for the '04 season. In addition to me, the Naps featured several promising players under the age of 30: Bradley, Flick, shortstop Terry Turner, and center fielder Harry Bay. Their pitching rotation was anchored by a trio of young pitchers, none of whom were older than 25: Addie Joss, Earl Moore (who had won 52 games in his first three seasons), and Bob Rhoads, who would post a record of 38--19 for the Naps in 1905 and 1906.

"Despite this assortment of talent, we only challenged for the American League pennant twice under my leadership; losing out to the White Sox by five games in 1906 and the Tigers by .004 in 1908.

I blame myself for the team's second-place finish in 1908, as I batted just .289 for the season and failed in the clutch in two critical games down the stretch. In fact, there is some evidence to suggest that my managerial responsibilities detracted from my on-field performance.

After winning four consecutive batting titles from 1901 to 1904, I put together only one comparable season during my managerial career when I batted .355 in 1906. In both 1907 and 1908, I failed to clear the .300 barrier."

"Care to elaborate on your managerial weaknesses, Bill?"

"Sure, it's all in the past, can't fix it now. There were those who said my way of relaying signals to the outfielder's wuz foolish. Maybe it wuz; I would wiggle my finger behind my back when the pitcher was going to throw a fastball, and wiggled two fingers for a curve. I guess the opposition in the bullpen could read my signals, and they were never a mystery to Connie Mack. He told me so himself after I quit managing. Someone else, I can't recall who said: "Lajoie knew how to do a thing, but to impart to another how it should be done eluded him."

"Kind of a cruel thing to say about a great player," I said.

"Wuzn't talking about my playing; wuz talking about my managing."

I had no answer that would mollify him on that and so said nothing.

After a while, Bill stood up and turned back to me. "Roy, as far as I'm concerned there are only two other things worth mentioning in the rest of my time as Lajoie."

I waited patiently for Bill to continue.

"Ah shit, let's get us a drink," Bill said, ending the conversation for the time being.

Actually, we wouldn't resume this particular discussion for a few days, but neither of us knew it at the time.