1909-11 / T206 White Border - NAPOLEON "NAP" LAJOIE (Cleveland Naps) (Throwing) (Second Base / Manager) (PSA) (Baseball Hall of Fame 1937) (1909 Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Overprint Back) Tobacco / Cigarette Baseball Card (#263)

Napoléon "Nap" Lajoie (b. September 5, 1874 – d. February 7, 1959 at age 84), also known as Larry Lajoie and nicknamed "The Frenchman", was a professional baseball second baseman and player-manager. He played in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Athletics (twice), and Cleveland Naps between 1896 and 1916. He managed the Naps from 1905 through 1909.

Lajoie was signed to the National Leagues's Phillies in 1896. By the beginning of the twentieth century, however, the upstart American League was looking to rival the supremacy of the NL and in 1901, Lajoie and dozens of former National League players joined the American League. National League clubs contested the legality of contracts signed by players who jumped to the other league but eventually, Lajoie was allowed to play for Connie Mack's Athletics. During the season, Lajoie set the all-time American League single-season mark for the highest batting average (.426). One year later, Lajoie went to the Cleveland Bronchos where he would play until the 1915 season when he returned to play for Mack and the Athletics. While with Cleveland, Lajoie's popularity led to locals electing to change the club's team name from Bronchos to Napoleons ("Naps" for short), which remained until after Lajoie departed Cleveland and the name was changed to Indians (the team's present-day name).

Lajoie led the AL in batting average five times in his career and four times recorded the highest number of hits. During several of those years with the Naps he and Ty Cobb dominated AL hitting categories and traded batting titles with each other, most notably coming in 1910, when the league's batting champion was not decided until well after the last game of the season and after an investigation by American League President Ban Johnson. Lajoie in 1914 joined Cap Anson and Honus Wagner as the only major league players to record 3,000 career hits. He led the NL or AL in putouts five times in his career and assists three times. He has been called "the best second baseman in the history of baseball" and "the most outstanding player to wear a Cleveland uniform." Cy Young said, "Lajoie was one of the most rugged players I ever faced. He'd take your leg off with a line drive, turn the third baseman around like a swinging door and powder the hand of the left fielder." He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.

MLB statistics:
Batting average - .339
Hits - 3,252
Home runs - 82
RBI - 1,599

Managerial record 377–309
Winning % - .550

Teams - As player:
Philadelphia Phillies (1896–1900)
Philadelphia Athletics (1901–1902)
Cleveland Naps (1902–1914)
Philadelphia Athletics (1915–1916)

As manager:
Cleveland Naps (1905–1909)

Career highlights and awards:
Triple Crown (1901)
5× AL batting champion (1901–1904, 1910)
AL home run leader (1901)
3× RBI leader (1898, 1901, 1904)
Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame
Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Inducted 1937

Link to all of his issued baseball cards - www.tradingcarddb.com/Person.cfm/pid/3269/col/1/yea/0/Nap...
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Sweet Caporal - Back scarcity rankings provided courtesy of T206 RESOURCE:

Sweet Caporal 150 – factory 25 (32/39)
Sweet Caporal 150 – factory 30 (34/39)
Sweet Caporal 150 – factory 649 overprint stamp (27/39)

Sweep Caporal 350 – factory 25 (37/39)
Sweet Caporal 350 – factory 30 (38/39)

Sweet Caporal 350-460 – factory 25 (19/39)
Sweet Caporal 350-460 – factory 30 (33/39)
Sweet Caporal 350-460 – factory 42 (23/39)
Sweet Caporal 350-460 – factory 42 overprint stamp (28/39)

The Sweet Caporal 150's with the factory 649 had the red bar and factory 649 line printed above later to make factory 30 cards ok to be issued from factory 649.

Checklist for SWEET CAPORAL 150 Factory No. 649 (overprint) - 34 cards:

Alpermann
Bates
Bransfield
Bresnahan (portrait)
JJ Clarke (Cleveland)
G. Davis (Chicago)
H. Davis (A's)
Delehanty (Washington)
Ewing
Gilbert
Goode
Griffith (portrait)
Johnson (portrait)
Tom Jones (St Louis)
Killian (pitching)
Lajoie (throwing)
Lake (New York)
Liebhardt
Manning (bat)
Marquard (hands down)

Mathewson (white cap)
McIntyre (Brooklyn))
McQuillan (ball in hand)
O'Leary (portrait)
Owen
Pastorius
Powers
Ritchey
Schlei (catching)
Schmidt (throwing)
Sheckard (no glove)
Spencer
Wagner (bat on left)
Wilhelm (hands at chest)

Taken on: August 14, 2021

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Sets appears in: • 1909 T206's Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Overprint Back • T206 White Border Tobacco / Cigarette Baseball Cards

Groups appears in: • Cleveland Indians • Cigarette Cards more » • Baseball Hall of Fame « less

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