Rick Huhn tells the story of the controversial 1910 batting race between Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie, and the lasting impact it had on Major League Baseball. His book The Chalmers Race: Ty Cobb, Napoleon Lajoie, and the Controversial 1910 Batting Title That Became A National Obsession was a finalist for the Seymour Medal for Baseball History Book of Year from the Society for American Baseball Research in 2014.
1:02 – why winning an automobile was a big deal in 1910
2:12 – remembering Nap Lajoie as one of baseball’s all-time great hitters
4:16 – the history that St. Louis manager Jack O’Connor had with Cobb and Lajoie
8:14 – the suspicious circumstances and contentious aftermath of the season finale
19:52 – how this controversy led to the creation of the modern Most Valuable Player award
22:04 – how new research in 1981 reopened the Chalmers controversy from 1910
29:00 – determining who is the rightful batting champion from 1910
33:41 – how this controversy foreshadowed the Black Sox scandal of 1919
35:42 – comparing standards for official scoring then and now
40:42 – re-evaluating Ty Cobb as a historical figure