100 Greatest Phillies: 36 – Nap Lajoie

Nap Lajoie
Second Baseman
1896-1900

Career w/Phillies: .344 AVG / 32 HR / 458 RBI / 87 SB

Napoleon Lajoie. One of the greats. Maybe the greatest second baseman ever. And he began his career as a Phillie. His Phillies career wasn’t too shabby, either, as he broke in at age 21 and hit .326 in limited time. His big years started in 1897, when he hit .361 and drove in 127 at age 22. The next season he again drove in 127, but hit a pedestrian .324. Though his power would dissipate, his slick hitting would continue, as he’d score a .378 and .337 averages in his final two Phillies seasons. Also a base thief, he accumulated 20 or more steals three times. He was among league leaders in home runs, hits and doubles as a Phillie, before deciding to play for the Athletics in response to a National League salary cap. Playing for the other Philly team he hit .426 (an AL record) in 1901. After that unreal season, the Phillies obtained an injunction to bar Lajoie to play for another team except the Phillies. But the injunction was only valid in Pennsylvania, so Lajoie was sold to the Cleveland franchise, who became popular because of Lajoie. Without Nap, the Cleveland Indians may have never happened.

Comment: Darn. Thanks to a salary cap, the Phillies went without potentially its greatest player ever. Instead, the Phils got a few amazing years out of baseball’s first star. Because of his otherworldly play, Lajoie deserves respectful placement on the list.

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Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.

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