On May 31, 1902, during Armour's first season at Cleveland, the club signed future Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Nap Lajoie as a free agent; Lajoie compiled a .379 batting average for Cleveland in 1902. Armour announced that Lajoie would be paid the largest salary ever paid to a baseball player: "For his services with our club he will receive $28,000 for four years, every cent of which he will he paid, play or not, as the courts may direct. This is the largest salary ever paid a base ball player, and beats by $3000 the figure paid by Boston several years for pitcher Clarkson." Armour also engineered the mid-season acquisition of pitcher Bill Bernhard, who Armour called "the best pitcher in present day baseball." Bernhard ended up with a 17-5 record for Cleveland in 1902 (and a 23-13 record in 1904).