On his last at-bat, Lajoie reached base on a fielding error, officially giving him a hitless at-bat and lowering his average. O'Connor and Howell tried to bribe the official scorer, a woman, to change the call to a hit, offering to buy her a new wardrobe. Cobb won the batting title by less than one point over Lajoie, .385069 to .384095.
As Lajoie's final at-bat concluded, he reached base due to an umpire error, officially recording a hitless appearance and decreasing his batting average. O'Connor and Howell attempted to persuade the scorer to change the decision to a hit, proposing to buy her new clothing.