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.
On Lajoie's final trip around the bases, he reached safely due to an umpiring error, officially ending his at-bat without a hit and reducing his batting average. O'Connor and Howell attempted to persuade the scorer to change the call to a hit, offering to purchase her new wardrobe.