|
Napoléon "Nap" Lajoie (; September 5, 1874 – February 7, 1959), also known as Larry Lajoie and nicknamed "The Frenchman", was an American professional baseball second baseman and player-manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Athletics (twice), and Cleveland Naps between 1896 and 1916. He managed the Naps from 1905 through 1909. Lajoie was signed to the National Leagues's (NL) Phillies in 1896. By the beginning of the twentieth century, however, the upstart American League (AL) was looking to rival the supremacy of the NL and in 1901, Lajoie and dozens of former National League players joined the American League. National League clubs contested the legality of contracts signed by players who jumped to the other league but eventually, Lajoie was allowed to play for Connie Mack's Athletics. During the season, Lajoie set the all-time American League single-season mark for the highest batting average (.426). One year later, Lajoie went to the Cleveland Bronchos where he would play until the 1915 season when he returned to play for Mack and the Athletics. While with Cleveland, Lajoie's popularity led to locals electing to change the club's team name from Bronchos to Napoleons ("Naps" for short), which remained until after Lajoie departed Cleveland and the name was changed to Indians (the team's present-day name). Lajoie led the AL in batting average five times in his career and four times recorded the most number of hits. During several of those years with the Naps he and Ty Cobb dominated AL hitting categories and traded batting titles with each other, most notably coming in 1910, when the league's batting champion was not decided until well after the last game of the season and after an investigation by American League President Ban Johnson. Lajoie in 1914 joined Cap Anson and Honus Wagner as the only major league players to record 3,000 career hits. He led the NL or AL in putouts five times in his career and assists three times. He has been called "the best second baseman in the history of baseball" and "the most outstanding player to wear a Cleveland uniform." Cy Young said, "Lajoie was one of the most rugged players I 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."〔 He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937. ==Early life== Lajoie was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, to Jean Baptiste and Celina Guertin Lajoie. The elder Lajoie was French Canadian and had emigrated to the United States. Upon arrival to the U.S. he first settled in Rutland, Vermont, but then moved to Woonsocket, where Lajoie, the youngest of eight surviving children, was born. Throughout his childhood Lajoie received little formal education. The elder Lajoie, who worked as a teamster and laborer, died not long into the younger Lajoie's childhood, which forced him and his siblings to work to support the family. Lajoie dropped out of school to work in a textile mill. He also began playing semi-professional baseball for the local Woonsocket team under the alias "Sandy", because his parents did not approve of their son playing baseball. He earned money as a taxi driver with a horse and buggy and locally was called "Slugging Cabby."〔〔 "When I told my father I had decided to take the job he was very angry. He shouted that ball players were bums and that nobody respected them, but I was determined to give it a try at least one season," Lajoie later said. He also received the nickname "Larry" from a teammate who had trouble pronouncing Lajoie.〔 Lajoie admired baseball players such as King Kelly and Charles Radbourn. When word of Lajoie's baseball ability spread, he began to play for other semi-professional teams at $2 to $5 per game ($ to $ in current dollar terms). Meanwhile, Lajoie worked as a teamster.〔 He left Woonsocket and his $7.50 ($ in current dollar terms) working as a taxi driver and joined the Class B New England League's Fall River Indians in 1896 played as a center fielder, first baseman and catcher where he earned $25 weekly ($ in current dollar terms).〔 He recorded 163 hits in 80 games, and led the team in batting average, doubles, triples, home runs and hits. Lajoie was "widely regarded as an outstanding prospect" and Indians owner Charlie Marston rejected an offer from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Lajoie in exchange for $500 ($ in current dollar terms). He was also scouted by the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Beaneaters.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nap Lajoie」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|