Jake Stahl

Garland "Jake" Stahl (April 13, 1879 – September 18, 1922) was an American first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball with the Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, and New York Highlanders. A graduate of the University of Illinois, he was a member of the Kappa Kappa chapter of Sigma Chi. He started off as a catcher before being traded to the Senators, where he moved to first base full-time, with occasional stints in the outfield. He was regarded as a good fielder and an average hitter, although he did lead all hitters in the American League in home runs with 10 in 1910. He also struck out 128 times that year, a record that would stand until 1938.

As a player-manager, he led the Senators to two seventh-place finishes, and in his second managerial stint led the Red Sox to the 1912 World Series title. His success was short-lived, as he had a falling-out with his teammates and resigned midway through the 1913 season. His successor, Bill Carrigan, would win two more World Series titles for the Sox. Stahl died of tuberculosis in Monrovia, California at age 43.

Stahl has a measure of immortality as the acknowledged eponym of the term "jaking it", a baseball phrase for faking an injury to stay out of the lineup, or otherwise loafing.

Stahl was not related to Red Sox teammate Chick Stahl, despite contemporary accounts erroneously listing them as brothers.