 Lajoie 's dissatisfaction with the Naps ' play worsened . " You can 't win in the major leagues unless you have players who know the game . We don 't have time to teach and train youngsters up here . Our job is to win pennants , not run schools " , he said . Franklin Lewis , sports writer and author , wrote " Lajoie , in spite of his marvelous fielding and tremendous batting , was not exactly a darling of the grandstand as a manager . " Lajoie recommended to Somers on August 17 , 1909 , he find the team a new manager , although he wanted to remain on the club as a player . Somers responded to Lajoie by giving him more time to finalize his decision but when Lajoie came back days later and announced the same decision , Somers acted quickly to find a replacement . Lajoie later described the decision to take on the added duties as a player @-@ manager as the biggest mistake of his career as he felt it negatively affected his play . The highest @-@ paid player in the league , he also offered a $ 10 @,@ 000 ( $ 263 @,@ 370 in current dollar terms ) reduction in salary . Somers promoted Naps coach Deacon " Jim " McGuire to manager . The team finished 71 – 82 while Lajoie 's .324 average was third in the AL and 33 doubles second . The Naps finished 1910 71 – 81 but Lajoie had one of his better seasons statistically as he led the majors with a .384 average and 227 hits , both categories bettered only in Lajoie 's 1901 campaign . His 51 doubles , a career @-@ high , and 304 total bases led the majors , the fourth and final time in his career he would lead the majors in the latter category . Lajoie missed significant parts of back @-@ to @-@ back seasons , the first in 1911 when he appeared in just 90 games . Stovall , the former Naps first baseman , replaced McGuire as the club 's manager and the Naps finished 80 – 73 . Lajoie was forced to sit out six weeks of the 1912 season when he sprained his back in May during a practice session in Chicago . He played in 117 games on the season , an increase of the 90 he played in one season before , but Cleveland , who had hired Joe Birmingham as the team 's fifth manager since Lajoie gave up the role in 1909 , finished 75 – 78 . Lajoie and Joe Jackson tied for the team lead with 90 RBIs . He finished fourth in the AL with a .368 batting average . In 1913 , Birmingham and Lajoie had arguments in the open , including one incident in June when Lajoie cursed Birmingham openly to reporters after being benched during a batting slump . Lajoie hit .335 on the year , the last time he would hit over .300 in his career . 
