August 16 and 17, 1920: The Beaning and Death of Ray Chapman

 

August 16, 1920: The New York Yankees, now in their 1st season with Babe Ruth, are playing the Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds in New York. These 2 teams are in a 3-way American League Pennant race with the Chicago White Sox.

Submarine-style hurler Carl Mays hits Indian shortstop Ray Chapman in the head with a pitch. The impact makes such a sound, and the ball comes back to Mays with such force, that Mays thinks Chapman actually hit the ball -- shades of the Roger Clemens-Mike Piazza incident 80 years later -- and throws to 1st base.

This backs up Mays' claim, which he held for the last 51 years of his life, that he did not intentionally hit Chapman, who was known at the time for hanging over the plate.

The audience gasped at the sound -- no batting helmets in those days -- and Chapman got up, and told Yankee catcher Wally Schang, "I'm all right. Tell Mays not to worry." He took some steps, then collapsed, with his left ear bleeding. He never regained consciousness, and died the next day. He was 29 years old.

Aside from the possibility of Mike "Doc" Powers of the 1909 Philadelphia Athletics, whose death may not have been caused by an on-field injury, but was surely worsened by it, Chapman is the only Major League Baseball player to die as the result of an on-field incident.

The Indians won the game, 4-3, and went on to win the World Series in spite of Chapman's death, with rookie Joe Sewell taking his place, and building a Hall of Fame career. They dedicated a monument to him at League Park, but it got lost in the move to Cleveland Municipal Stadium. It was placed in a trunk, and, without anyone still with the team knowing it was in the trunk, it got moved to Jacobs (now Progressive) Field, and was found, and became the centerpiece of the Indians' version of the Yankees' Monument Park, their Heritage Park behind the center field fence.

So the only uniformed person ever to kill another person on a Major League Baseball field, intentionally or otherwise, was a Yankee. Amazingly, this is not often cited by Yankee Haters (Flushing Heathen, Chowdaheads and others) as a reason why they hate the Yankees. It's been 100 years, and pretty much everybody who cared about Chapman and the Indians at the time is gone. But it's still a dark day in Yankee history.

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August 16, 1920 was a Monday. Writer Charles Bukowski was born. And this was the day of the Miracle of the Vistula, which saved Poland, and allowed it to win the Polish-Soviet War. I have a separate entry for that event.

It was the off-season for the NHL. The NFL was one month away from being founded. The NBA was 26 years away. And, including the contest in which Ray Chapman was mortally injured, there were only 4 games played in what would eventually be called Major League Baseball. Here are the other 3:

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-4 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 9-1 at Cubs Park in Chicago. It was renamed Wrigley Field in 1926.

* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

On August 17, actress Maureen O'Hara was born. Only the Yankees-Indians game was postponed in Chapman's memory. Also not playing were the Chicago White Sox, the Philadelphia Athletics, the Boston Braves and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Here's everybody else: 

* The Red Sox and the Tigers split a doubleheader. The Red Sox won the opener, 4-3; and the Tigers won the nightcap, 3-1.

* The Reds beat the Cubs again, 3-2.

* The Pirates beat the Cardinals again, 10-6.

* The New York Giants split a doubleheader with the Philadelphia Phillies at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. The Phils won the 1st game, 3-2; and the Jints won the 2nd game, 8-7 in 10 innings.

* A doubleheader was split at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The St. Louis Browns won the 1st game, 7-2. The Washington Senators won the 2nd game, 10-9 in 11 innings.