The Chalmers Race - by Rick Huhn (Paperback)

About the Book

The Chalmers Race is the story of Ty Cobb and Napoleon Lajoie and the controversial 1910 batting race.

Book Synopsis

In 1910 auto magnate Hugh Chalmers offered an automobile to the baseball player with the highest batting average that season. What followed was a batting race unlike any before or since, between the greatest but most despised hitter, Detroit's Ty Cobb, and the American League's first superstar, Cleveland's popular Napoleon Lajoie. The Chalmers Race captures the excitement of this strange contest--one that has yet to be resolved.

The race came down to the last game of the season, igniting more interest among fans than the World Series and becoming a national obsession. Rick Huhn re-creates the drama that ensued when Cobb, thinking the prize safely his, skipped the last two games, and Lajoie suspiciously had eight hits in a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns. Although initial counts favored Lajoie, American League president Ban Johnson, the sport's last word, announced Cobb the winner, and amid the controversy both players received cars. The Chalmers Race details a story of dubious scorekeeping and statistical systems, of performances and personalities in conflict, of accurate results coming in seventy years too late, and of a contest settled not by play on the field but by human foibles.

Review Quotes

"A well-researched, entertaining read."--Bob D'Angelo, Tampa Tribune-- (11/5/2014 12:00:00 AM)

"The very best history includes a compelling story replete with seminal characters, provides thorough research (including extensive footnotes and bibliography) and combines a masterful understanding of the era with a vivid style. When a century-old subject continues to inspire debate and controversy, there's no doubt that the reading public anxiously awaits the definitive treatment from just the right author. Rick Huhn is that author, and The Chalmers Race is that subject."--Spitball

"This book goes beyond baseball, also giving readers an understanding of America itself after the turn of the century. An excellent choice."--Library Journal starred review-- (2/19/2014 12:00:00 AM)

"It took more than a century, but we've finally got the book we deserve about baseball's most infamous batting race. Thanks to Rick Huhn, it was worth the wait."--Rob Neyer, host of the weekly podcast, SABRcast

-- (9/20/2013 12:00:00 AM)

"With graceful writing and exhaustive research, Huhn gives life to one of baseball's great untold stories."--Jon Wertheim, executive editor for Sports Illustrated -- (9/20/2013 12:00:00 AM)

"Rick Huhn offers a complete presentation of the details of this episode in baseball history."--Amy Essington, Journal of Sport History

"This is the kind of baseball history we need more of--a book grounded in a great story, shaped by intelligent assessments of the evidence, committed to accuracy and truth-telling, and presented in vigorous prose."--Reed Browning, author of Cy Young: A Baseball Life-- (9/20/2013 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Rick Huhn is the author of The Sizzler: George Sisler, Baseball's Forgotten Great and Eddie Collins: A Baseball Biography. Charles C. Alexander is the author of several baseball books, including Ty Cobb.