Omaha daily bee., 1914-08-30
LAJOIE SINGING SWAN SONG
Greatest Batsman in Major Leagues
on Eve of His Retirement.
NEVER ON PENNANT NINE
While He Was King at His HandI-
work, Fates Were Against His
Playing on Champion
ship Team.

NEW YORK, Aug. 29-Napoleon
LajoIe, the greatest batsman of them all.
Sc now on the threshold OF retirement
His swan song is being sung. At the
end OF the present season no intends TO
quit the game for good and all. not be-
cause he has tired OF IT.. but because
the punch that made him ono OF the
greatest players in the history OF base
BAH has nearly run it's course and there
is left only she'll OF what was once an
all-conduering force.
For eighteen years Lajoie has played
the game. batting and fielding himself TO
glory but never once In that long span
has he felt tho thrill Of playing with a
team that has won the league champion
ship. Never has he played in IA world
series and never has he had an oppor-
tunity TO place his name alongside those
OF the Mathewsons, Bakers, Collinses,
Planks. Cobbs, Benders and others past
and present who have made everlasting
glory for themselves and their teens by
their deeds in battles for the premier
base ball honors.
Never with Pennant winners.
Some men acquire fame and others
acquired his by hard and brilliant work
covering a period that has seen the rise
ana fall OF many base ball stars. At vari-
GUS times in his wonderful career on the
diamond the honor OF bOlng member OF
a championship team seemed to be
within call, but Il has never arrived.
Today he Is a member OF a team that Is
hopelessly out OF the race and with his
retirement from the game drawing close
there 10 no chance that he will ever be
q member OF a pennant-winning club
In this respect the case OF LaJole 10
distinctive. for there have been few base
ban stars OF equal fame who have not
at one time or other played with u
championship set Virtually all the base
ball celebrities of the present time ex-
cept L4ajoie have been participants In
world series games. Evers. Tinker,
Leach, Wagner, Chance and the others
have enjoyed tho honor and yet It has
been denied to a player whose record
is more wonderful than that OF any one
of those mentioned. Joe" Jackson OF
Cleveland and Walter johnson OF WASH
ington are also exceptions, but these
players are of a younger generation and
there is a chance that both will play In
world series before they retire
Fate Twists CuriOusIy.
II is a curious twist OF fate that keeps
n player like Lajoie off a pennant-win-
ming team through eighteen years OF
splendid achievement and permits play
ers who have been in the game for a
single year TO attain the distinction,
George Burns. Jeff Tesreau and "Ar'
Demaree all were members OF champion
ship clubs the first year they played ma
5or league ball So was owen Bush OF
the Detroit Tigers aud 'wally" Sehang
OF the Athletics. as have been others. Tt
them fame came overnight: TO LajoiS
this particular brand OF glory has never
come, though his record Ia more meritori'
Gus than all theirs put together.
Only twice In his eighteen years as q
player has Lajoie failed 10 finish tho
season with batting percentage Of mor'
than 500 In 1896, his first year in the
big leagues. he hit for SOS and only once
thereafter. outside OF the two years men
toned, was his seasons record under
that. In 1909 Il was Ss4. but that fol
lowed the two years in which he failed
to reach the 800 mark and may be &C
counted for by the fact that he has no
fully recovered from the worry and men
tai strain entailed by his duties as man
ager. II was while he was manager o.
the Maps. in 1907 and 1908. that his bat
ting average dropped below tho 800 class
ne having, respectively for those TIVE
years an average OF 20 and $50. Hi
best season was 1901. when he hit fol
.422, though in most OF the eighteen year
he has been in the game he has enjoye'
an average well over $50
Worst season OF All.
This season has been the worst II
"Larry's" long career In base ball Hi
batting has been only a semblanee o
what II once was. Nothing shows NOR
clearly the hand Of Father Time than hi
present average OF about 225. as con
trasted with the dazzling batting mark
he has set in the past
Lajoie, when he retires, will quit tn
game with a record that has perhap
never been surpassed. In fielding he ha
always been a marvel. the personificatio
OF grace and speed. Ball playing was hi
natural vocation. He was born to pla
the game and he has made the most o
the opportunities with which nature en-
doWed him. There Is not a single un
pleasant chapter in the book OF L.aJOie'
base ball career. either so far as his ski
or he. himself. personally Is concerned
His 5eoord has been clean and his achieve