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The Chalmers Race: Ty Cobb, Napoleon Lajoie, and the Controversial 1910 Batting Title That Became a National Obsession
In 1910 auto magnate Hugh Chalmers offered an automobile to the baseball player with the highest batting average that season. What followed was a batting race unlike any before or since, between the greatest but most despised hitter, Detroit’s Ty Cobb, and the American League’s first superstar, Cleveland’s popular Napoleon Lajoie. The Chalmers Race captures the excitement of this strange contest—one that has yet to be resolved.
The race came down to the last game of the season, igniting more interest among fans than the World Series and becoming a national obsession. Rick Huhn re-creates the drama that ensued when Cobb, thinking the prize safely his, skipped the last two games, and Lajoie suspiciously had eight hits in a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns. Although initial counts favored Lajoie, American League president Ban Johnson, the sport’s last word, announced Cobb the winner, and amid the controversy both players received cars. The Chalmers Race details a story of dubious scorekeeping and statistical systems, of performances and personalities in conflict, of accurate results coming in seventy years too late, and of a contest settled not by play on the field but by human foibles.
The race came down to the last game of the season, igniting more interest among fans than the World Series and becoming a national obsession. Rick Huhn re-creates the drama that ensued when Cobb, thinking the prize safely his, skipped the last two games, and Lajoie suspiciously had eight hits in a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns. Although initial counts favored Lajoie, American League president Ban Johnson, the sport’s last word, announced Cobb the winner, and amid the controversy both players received cars. The Chalmers Race details a story of dubious scorekeeping and statistical systems, of performances and personalities in conflict, of accurate results coming in seventy years too late, and of a contest settled not by play on the field but by human foibles.
328 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 5, 2022
One of the closest, and most controversial, baseball batting titles took place in 1910 when two future Hall of Fame hitters, Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers and Napoleon Lajoie of the Cleveland Naps (later Indians, now Guardians) battled for the title down to the last day of the season when Lajoie, thanks to some help by the St. Louis Browns, collected eight hits in a double header to edge out Cobb for the title – or so it appeared. The stories of these two men as well as others and the craziness of the entire episode is captured in this well-researched and detailed book by Rick Hahn.
The title is so stated because 1910 was the first year in which the hitting leader in each major league would be awarded a new automobile from the Chalmers Motor Company, a generous offer by Hugh Chalmers who saw the tremendous advertising potential by donating a car to the winner. The book starts off with short biographies of Chalmers, Cobb and Lajoie, followed by how both of the players fared for most of the 1910 season. This part of the book is informative and very detailed, requiring careful reading to fully understand the complexities of all three men.
Once the final week of the 1910 season comes, which is about a third of the way through the book, that is when things get more interesting and Hahn's attention to detail really assist the reader in gaining a clear picture of not only what happened on the field, especially in that St. Louis-Cleveland doubleheader but also why Cobb really took the last two days off instead of playing. He was accused of doing so in order to not lose the title to Lajoie, but that was not what he or anyone else was stating. While that was part of the interest and controversy, that was minor compared to Lajoie.
Hahn here does his best work in the book, taking the reader to the field that day when the Browns let Lajoie bunt down the third base line as the rookie third baseman played deep on each at bat so that Lajoie would easily reach base on a base hit. Immediately it was questioned if Lajoie, the Browns players or their manager Jack O'Connor, were part of a plan to make sure that Lajoie won the Chalmers. There was also some bad history between O'Connor and Cobb (something both men denied) that fueled this speculation.
More good writing is done when the final determination after gathering all official scorekeeper sheets is done when American League President Ban Johnson, who at the time was considered the most powerful man in baseball, declared Cobb the winner of the title. That didn't end the controversy, however, and it lasted well into 1912, when O'Connor sued the Browns over his dismissal following the 1910 season when he contended that his contract stated he would have the job in 1911 as well. Some felt he was fired because of the Cobb-Lajoie batting race controversy, and the court case did nothing to dispel that even though the judge ruled in O'Connor's favor.
Hahn finishes the book by showing that this was not the only time at batting title ended in controversy, most notably the 1976 American League title won by George Brett of Kansas City over teammate Hal McRae, who claimed that racism played a factor in that title. There was also a study in 1981 by the Sporting News that questioned some of the calculations and concluded that Lajoie was indeed the batting title champion. However, this again was never fully concluded and today, more than a century later, the 1910 American League batting championship is still cloudy. Also, it should be noted that thanks to the generosity of Hugh Chalmers and his wish to put any controversy aside that would tarnish his or his company's name, both players received automobiles.
A book that illustrates not only the batting title but the state of baseball in the early twentieth century, this is a book that requires careful reading but will leave the reader much more knowledgeable about the entire controversy.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
The title is so stated because 1910 was the first year in which the hitting leader in each major league would be awarded a new automobile from the Chalmers Motor Company, a generous offer by Hugh Chalmers who saw the tremendous advertising potential by donating a car to the winner. The book starts off with short biographies of Chalmers, Cobb and Lajoie, followed by how both of the players fared for most of the 1910 season. This part of the book is informative and very detailed, requiring careful reading to fully understand the complexities of all three men.
Once the final week of the 1910 season comes, which is about a third of the way through the book, that is when things get more interesting and Hahn's attention to detail really assist the reader in gaining a clear picture of not only what happened on the field, especially in that St. Louis-Cleveland doubleheader but also why Cobb really took the last two days off instead of playing. He was accused of doing so in order to not lose the title to Lajoie, but that was not what he or anyone else was stating. While that was part of the interest and controversy, that was minor compared to Lajoie.
Hahn here does his best work in the book, taking the reader to the field that day when the Browns let Lajoie bunt down the third base line as the rookie third baseman played deep on each at bat so that Lajoie would easily reach base on a base hit. Immediately it was questioned if Lajoie, the Browns players or their manager Jack O'Connor, were part of a plan to make sure that Lajoie won the Chalmers. There was also some bad history between O'Connor and Cobb (something both men denied) that fueled this speculation.
More good writing is done when the final determination after gathering all official scorekeeper sheets is done when American League President Ban Johnson, who at the time was considered the most powerful man in baseball, declared Cobb the winner of the title. That didn't end the controversy, however, and it lasted well into 1912, when O'Connor sued the Browns over his dismissal following the 1910 season when he contended that his contract stated he would have the job in 1911 as well. Some felt he was fired because of the Cobb-Lajoie batting race controversy, and the court case did nothing to dispel that even though the judge ruled in O'Connor's favor.
Hahn finishes the book by showing that this was not the only time at batting title ended in controversy, most notably the 1976 American League title won by George Brett of Kansas City over teammate Hal McRae, who claimed that racism played a factor in that title. There was also a study in 1981 by the Sporting News that questioned some of the calculations and concluded that Lajoie was indeed the batting title champion. However, this again was never fully concluded and today, more than a century later, the 1910 American League batting championship is still cloudy. Also, it should be noted that thanks to the generosity of Hugh Chalmers and his wish to put any controversy aside that would tarnish his or his company's name, both players received automobiles.
A book that illustrates not only the batting title but the state of baseball in the early twentieth century, this is a book that requires careful reading but will leave the reader much more knowledgeable about the entire controversy.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
February 28, 2017
I've always been fascinated by baseball history, especially the Dead Ball era (early 1900s). When I saw this book, it was "right in my wheelhouse" and I knew I had to read it and soon! If a book has the names Cobb & Lajoie on the front cover, I'm probably reading it. Unfortunately, though shedding some light on a very interesting topic, there were too many sections of the book that I ended up just skimming through for me to consider it a really great read.
For a basic summary, this book tells the story of the hotly contested 1910 American League batting title race between Ty Cobb & Nap Lajoie. In that year, an automobile (still a relatively newfangled device in U.S. history) from the Chalmers corporation would be award to the top batsman. Predictably, the race between two of the game's greatest hitters comes right down to the wire, with an ending that has been under the microscope of historians since that fateful day.
Probably the hallmark of this book is that even though I'm a fan of that era, I really hadn't read anything to this point delving into this exact topic. I already knew a lot about the two principles and the players around them, but this exact batting race and kind of "slipped through my historical cracks". I was fascinated by the race itself, the public's perception to baseball at that time, and the nonchalance given to official scoring back in those days. It was most definitely not like today's stat-obsessed culture. Back then, not too many people attached significance to one's exact stats/averages. That is why the Chalmers car angle is so fascinating, as it was the first time a notorious prize was given to a personal, rather than team, experience.
Why just the three-star rating then? Because after about 100 or so pages, the batting race itself has wrapped up. The next 100 pages or so take place almost exclusively in depositions with league officials (Commissioner Ban Johnson plays a large role in the proceedings) and the key contributors to the potential "fix" (I don't want to give away too many details for those who don't know this story). I ended up skimming most of those pages and seeing my interest dwindle, as it is very dry reading. I suppose it needs to be done to tell the whole story, but I think that maybe even too much detail than needed is gone into.
The ending of the book really picks up again, as there is much discussion about retro-changing of stats of the old-timers (precipitated by the stat technology we now possess) and I found that to be fascinating.
Overall, this is a book that may struggle a bit to find an audience. Most people won't have an interest in the topic to begin with, and those who (like myself) picked up because of the batting race, Cobb/Lajoie angle might be disappointed at how much non-baseball material (courtrooms, backroom meetings, etc.) populates the text. At the very least, however, "The Chalmers Race" is an interesting glance into a fascinating era in American baseball culture, as well as one particular batting race that captivated the baseball-cognizant nation.
For a basic summary, this book tells the story of the hotly contested 1910 American League batting title race between Ty Cobb & Nap Lajoie. In that year, an automobile (still a relatively newfangled device in U.S. history) from the Chalmers corporation would be award to the top batsman. Predictably, the race between two of the game's greatest hitters comes right down to the wire, with an ending that has been under the microscope of historians since that fateful day.
Probably the hallmark of this book is that even though I'm a fan of that era, I really hadn't read anything to this point delving into this exact topic. I already knew a lot about the two principles and the players around them, but this exact batting race and kind of "slipped through my historical cracks". I was fascinated by the race itself, the public's perception to baseball at that time, and the nonchalance given to official scoring back in those days. It was most definitely not like today's stat-obsessed culture. Back then, not too many people attached significance to one's exact stats/averages. That is why the Chalmers car angle is so fascinating, as it was the first time a notorious prize was given to a personal, rather than team, experience.
Why just the three-star rating then? Because after about 100 or so pages, the batting race itself has wrapped up. The next 100 pages or so take place almost exclusively in depositions with league officials (Commissioner Ban Johnson plays a large role in the proceedings) and the key contributors to the potential "fix" (I don't want to give away too many details for those who don't know this story). I ended up skimming most of those pages and seeing my interest dwindle, as it is very dry reading. I suppose it needs to be done to tell the whole story, but I think that maybe even too much detail than needed is gone into.
The ending of the book really picks up again, as there is much discussion about retro-changing of stats of the old-timers (precipitated by the stat technology we now possess) and I found that to be fascinating.
Overall, this is a book that may struggle a bit to find an audience. Most people won't have an interest in the topic to begin with, and those who (like myself) picked up because of the batting race, Cobb/Lajoie angle might be disappointed at how much non-baseball material (courtrooms, backroom meetings, etc.) populates the text. At the very least, however, "The Chalmers Race" is an interesting glance into a fascinating era in American baseball culture, as well as one particular batting race that captivated the baseball-cognizant nation.
March 6, 2015
This book details an important story in baseball, and Mr. Huhn should be commended for the depth of his research.
Sadly, the book suffers from mediocre writing and is a blatant affront to Strunk and White's edict to "omit needless words."
The author, who must have purchased an excellent thesaurus, refers to sportswriters as "scribes" and at one point uses the phrase "in arrears" to indicate that a particular team was several games out of first.
Another passage describes the 1912 World Series with the following unfortunate, and time-traveling analogy:
"...which, much like the Japanese attack on Pearl Jarbor did for Americans thirty years later, created a day for the Royal Rooters that would live in infamy."
While there is some interesting material contained here, it can be painful to get through and certain passages worth skipping entirely. Instead, I would suggest "The Numbers Game" which gives a pretty good description of the Chalmers Race, along with many other delightful (and well written) passages about the history of baseball statistics.
Sadly, the book suffers from mediocre writing and is a blatant affront to Strunk and White's edict to "omit needless words."
The author, who must have purchased an excellent thesaurus, refers to sportswriters as "scribes" and at one point uses the phrase "in arrears" to indicate that a particular team was several games out of first.
Another passage describes the 1912 World Series with the following unfortunate, and time-traveling analogy:
"...which, much like the Japanese attack on Pearl Jarbor did for Americans thirty years later, created a day for the Royal Rooters that would live in infamy."
While there is some interesting material contained here, it can be painful to get through and certain passages worth skipping entirely. Instead, I would suggest "The Numbers Game" which gives a pretty good description of the Chalmers Race, along with many other delightful (and well written) passages about the history of baseball statistics.
July 17, 2021
Although kind of dry at times, this is an interesting story of the 1910 batting title race, in which the winner won a new Chalmers car. Individual statistics weren't as big back in 1910, however, gambling and corruption and suspicious play was big. This race was mostly between Ty Cobb of the Tigers and Nap Lajoie of the Naps (Indians). The batting title comes down to the last day (I won't say who wins...in fact I'm still not sure who won) and is day fulled of suspicious play by one of the two players' opponents. I found it interesting, especially not knowing by heart who won the title. I had never heard of this story and how it was still debated for decades and how the outcome actually went to court! But the stuff that happens in court I believe could have been edited down by at least 15-20 pages. The actual season in this book finishes halfway through and as a reader you're wondering, "What are they going to talk about now for 115 pages? It turns out a lot, but I still think it was a little too dry during the middle of the book. But I did learn a lot and for that I commend Rick Huhn.
May 16, 2023
Written and assembled poorly and all over the place without much structure. The parts about the Ty Cobb, Nap Lajoie, and the Chalmers Race could've been a blog article, and he spent way too much time talking about Jack O'Connor and the Browns. Most of the author's negative remarks about Cobb are nothing more than regurgitated and debunked lies originating from Al Stump, who he quotes often. I was hoping the book would've been better, and it certainly could've been because the players, the Chalmers Race, and that era has a great history. But the author throwing together a bunch of random information and trying to turn it into a book was a disappointment.
August 12, 2020
Really loved the in-depth look at both this unique moment in MLB history and the cast of characters involved. Cobb proved to be both fascinating and sad. Ban Johnson and the power he both gained and lost was really engaging. Probably a book for hard-core baseball fans, but a great look at life in the early 1900s as well.
December 30, 2022
I liked this book quite a bit. The history of Chalmers himself was interesting. I thought the background on official scoring and scorers made a good background for what went on. I didn't know Cobb took those last two days off. I thought the part about O'Connor's lawsuit went on too long though. Also a good part about the changing of the records not just Cobb and Jajoie but other players as well.
October 16, 2017
Excellent book. Backdrop provided here with the research that went into it is extraordinary. Many revelations that even the hardest of hardcore baseball fans would be unaware of. Highly recommended.
March 21, 2020
Baseball by the Book 020320
August 31, 2022
A very interesting topic, but a lot of repetition. Still a solid 4 star read even if there’s some parts that seem like a slog.
Read
July 5, 2014This is a great book for baseball fans. Huhn sets up the story with background on all the major participants, gives great details of the 1910 batting race, and then gives a history of the aftermath. This book also gives a history of baseball's early efforts at uniform record keeping and concludes with a section on how modern-day statistical gurus have poured over baseball's records to ensure accuracy or, in many cases, correct errors in the record. Again, a great book for baseball fans.
July 16, 2015
As a baseball fan I appreciated having this century old controversy researched and written. Rick Huhn has given an exhaustive study of baseball's 1910 batting race, a race which remains contested despite efforts to get the history correct.
Ty Cobb and Nap LaJoie were colorful characters who come to life once more in the telling of this controversial story. For a baseball fan this is one you need to read.
Ty Cobb and Nap LaJoie were colorful characters who come to life once more in the telling of this controversial story. For a baseball fan this is one you need to read.
August 24, 2014
I will be forever grateful for the new definition (from 1910) of the term "Hippodrome" that I learned reading this book, as well as debated pronunciations of "Lajoie", but this story didn't need 250 pages worth of telling. The research was scrupulous and interesting, but the length, given what there was to actually tell, was excessive.
February 1, 2017
Loved this historical look at the hotly contested and debated 1910 American League batting race and its repercussions. Huhn does a great job of giving readers the entire story, which spans over 70 years. This book really has it all: baseball action, lies and coverups, accusations of cheating, courtroom drama, even statistical minutiae. I found it hard to put down!
May 9, 2015
A very good book about the 1910 Batting title race (essentially) between Cobb and Lajoie. For Real Baseball Nutters as half the book is about the actual race and the other half is about Stats geeks catching a major statistical error some 70 years later.
Want to Read
July 5, 2014my copy is DRC only
May 10, 2015
Excellent book!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews