1910 Chalmers Award

The 1910 Chalmers Award scandal was an incident in which a Major League Baseball team tried to give Nap Lajoie the batting title over Ty Cobb.

Before the 1910 Major League Baseball season, Hugh Chalmers of the Chalmers Automobile Company announced a promotion in which a Chalmers Model 30 automobile would be given to the batting champions for Major League Baseball's American and National Leagues.

At the start of the final day of the season, Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers held a slim lead in the race for the American League batting title, just a few percentage points ahead of the Cleveland Naps' Nap Lajoie. Cobb was generally disliked by opponents, whereas Lajoie was more popular.

Cobb did not play in the Tigers' final two games of the season, and he finished with a batting average of .385.

Lajoie played in a doubleheader on the last day of the season against the St. Louis Browns. Browns manager Jack O'Connor ordered rookie third baseman Red Corriden to play on the outfield grass. This all but conceded a hit for any ball Lajoie bunted. Lajoie had eight hits in eight at bats and finished the season with a .384 batting average (227 hits in 591 at bats). His final at bat resulted in a wild throw to first base, which was scored as an error.

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