Very First AZL Player Retires
Nap Lajoie, selected first in the 1901 draft, spent his entire career playing for the Jerome Copper Miners
Nap Lajoie had more than 2,000 hits
The very first player chosen in the very first Arizona League player draft has chosen to hang it up after 14 seasons.
Nap Lajoie, who spent his entire career as a second baseman for the Jerome Copper Miners, finally decided that age 40, he's had enough. He played sparingly in his final season, and Jerome actually released him in July. But fittingly for the warrior that he was, Lajoie got a hit in the final at-bat of his career.
"With these old legs, it was tough to get to first, but there was no way I was going to be denied on that one," Lajoie said. "It knew it was over after that, and I appreciate how gracious Jerome was to me to let me have that one last AB."
It's questionable whether Lajoie will end up in the Arizona League's brand new Hall of Fame (which as of yet, has no inductees). But here is some of his resume to ponder:
• 2,081 hits, with a career .282 batting average
• 519 doubles
• 111 triples
• 841 RBIs
• 978 runs scored
• .320 OBP
• .410 slugging
• .731 OPS
Lajoie was named to the All-Star game nine times. For his entire career he only missed two stretches with serious injuries (each about a month). He never won any of the major awards but was honored with a Field General Award for his stellar play at 2B five different times. He had five hits in a game five different times and had a 23-game hitting streak back in 1910...
Jerome only made the post-season twice, in 1902 and 1913, and didn't win the Cactus Champions Cup either time. But Lajoie did his part, batting .312 in 17 post-season contests, with three doubles, a homer and six RBIs.
He leaves the game fourth all-time in career hits, 15th in RBIs, second in career doubles and seventh in career runs.
Most of all he leaves a big hole in the hearts of his fans in Jerome and across the Arizona League. The first pick of the AZL draft was definitely a success story all the way around.
•••Any thoughts on whether he should be in the Hall of Fame??? He falls below the cut based on default standards but was pretty solid all-around.
Here are his year-by-year stats:
Code:
Year G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS Teams
1901 127 495 164 36 9 2 53 59 33 44 42 11 .331 .373 .453 .826 ,NL
1902 147 606 166 45 10 6 76 90 27 34 43 9 .274 .305 .411 .716 JER,NL
1903 153 574 176 44 9 11 87 82 44 23 49 12 .307 .356 .472 .828 JER,NL
1904 153 572 153 30 7 5 72 70 46 32 42 10 .267 .322 .371 .693 JER
1905 154 607 170 44 10 10 81 77 33 28 45 9 .280 .317 .435 .752 JER,NL
1906 152 562 171 40 7 10 75 82 46 34 37 8 .304 .357 .454 .811 JER,NL
1907 148 570 147 43 7 6 57 71 27 37 41 10 .258 .291 .389 .681 JER,NL
1908 143 555 139 36 9 5 45 60 26 28 43 8 .250 .284 .375 .659 JER
1909 142 557 150 41 10 3 44 70 23 27 20 3 .269 .298 .395 .693 JER,NL
1910 126 487 121 38 9 3 49 58 24 28 18 5 .248 .284 .382 .666 JER
1911 142 605 206 51 5 3 82 95 27 51 32 9 .340 .369 .456 .825 JER,NL
1912 148 604 170 44 7 2 55 99 32 53 21 4 .281 .318 .387 .705 JER,NL
1913 141 547 138 25 12 2 59 62 27 61 13 8 .252 .287 .353 .640 JER
1914 12 35 10 2 0 0 6 3 1 6 0 0 .286 .289 .343 .632 JER
Total 1888 7376 2081 519 111 68 841 978 416 486 446 106 .282 .320 .410 .731