Napoleon Lajoie spoke to Joseph B. Bowles in 1910 for one of the syndicated journalist’s series of articles called “How I Win.”
Lajoie said:
“It is hard to tell how any man wins a ballgame, because winning depends so much upon other members of the team. I think that the biggest factor in winning, in my case at least, is in having what I think is the baseball instinct. Whether that instinct is natural or acquired, or merely the result of quickness of eye, or what I do not pretend to know. But I believe that a great part of a ballplayer’s success both in batting and in fielding is the result rather of instinct than of anything else. Many times players do things almost without thinking that are exactly right, and many times when they think out a thing carefully they do exactly the wrong thing.”
Napoleon Lajoie
But after saying he wasn’t sure how he won, Lajoie decided he did know:
“As far as I am concerned, I win games by hitting. It seems to me I always could hit, and in spite of the fact that some pitchers think otherwise, I hit almost any kind of ball equally hard. I have often wondered why this was. Perhaps it was natural. I never want to know what a pitcher is going to pitch and would much rather figure out for myself what ball is coming than have a coacher or anyone else tell me.”
Lajoie said he had determined that his ability to hit was “a natural gift” which required practice to refine:
“Position at the bat is a big thing in hitting. A batter should be firmly on his feet, with the balls of his feet holding the ground tightly, and he should not shift position while striking. ..I do not try to hit the ball as hard as possible, but rather to meet it squarely, and in this I think a quick and steady eye helps.”
Lajoie’s eyes
Lajoie said he was “striving always” for an advantage at the plate:
“It is a guessing match between the pitcher and the batter at the best, and experience ought to show a batter just what a pitcher is likely to pitch to him on any given ball. When runners are on bases batting becomes more of an art…I think my position at the bat and long, steady, sweeping stroke helps me very much in the hit-and-run game, for I am able to hit balls that other batters would miss entirely. Even if I am certain of missing the ball I swing at it hard so as to cause the catcher to lose a step or a foot or two of ground in making his throw.”
Lajoie
In the end, the man in the midst of a season in which, at age 35, he led the American League in games, at-bats, hits, doubles, total bases, and batting average, said:
“Keen eyesight, close observation and attention to every detail is necessary to win ballgames. Anyone who grows careless or indifferent ceases to be a winner.”
Baseball History Daily 
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