 In June of the 1907 season , Lajoie 's .296 average , " an average even now that scores of players would be glad to accept , " put him at risk for hitting below .300 for the first time in his career . He also missed 15 games due to a recurrence of sepsis which he contracted during the 1905 season . Lajoie and Naps first baseman George Stovall got into an argument in a hotel lobby and Stovall broke a chair over Lajoie 's head . " George didn 't mean anything by it " , Lajoie said , and the two maintained a working relationship . He finished the season with an average of .299 . Naps owner Charles Somers received a trade offer from the Detroit Tigers for the Naps ' Elmer Flick and Tigers ' Ty Cobb . Tigers manager Hughie Jennings called Somers and told him he was offering the trade because Cobb was not getting along with several teammates . Somers decided to retain Flick , saying , " We 'll keep Flick . Maybe he isn 't as good a batter as Cobb , but he 's much nicer to have on the team . " The Naps finished the regular season in second place to the Tigers with a 90 – 64 record , a half @-@ game behind the Tigers ( who finished 90 – 63 and were not forced to make @-@ up a rained out game in accordance with league rules ) . Lajoie was partly blamed for the Naps ' second @-@ place finish . Author Fred <unk> described an instance during the season between Naps catcher Nig Clarke and Lajoie . 
