Curse Of A Different Era!

Happy Thursday Everyone! 

A very interesting day for anniversaries, births and deaths in the sports and musical world. Hard to believe 35 years have now passed since the passing of Elvis Presley. You can almost double that and reach the same fate for Babe Ruth in 1948. The very same day that Mike Jorgensen was born. 

It was also a birth date for people like Brad Sham, Madonna, Frank and Kathie Lee Gifford, day 2 of Woodstock, and a tragedy that some fans believe still haunts a team today.

1920 was an interesting year in baseball. Babe Ruth signed big money to be a Yankee from Boston. Many a ballplayer has made the transition from the Red Sox to the Yankees and vice versa. Derek Lowe one of the very latest. In 1920 Carl Mays also made that transition to New York also. Carl Mays had career numbers that made him very worthy of the Hall Of Fame...all except for 1 pitch! That pitch was thrown this day in 1920.

The Cleveland Indians were the story in the American League that year. They were about to make a trip to New York and play the Yankees at the Polo Grounds. A half game separated the teo squads. The Tribe would win that game 4-3 but what happened in the 5th inning would be the top story.

Ray Chapman was one of the most liked ballplayers in baseball as an Indian. He had a tendency to crowd the plate and crouch like Rickey Henderson.

Getting a strike on him wasn't easy. Carl Mays was known for having a spitball in his attire (the pitch would become outlawed later in the year) in addition to a submarine delivery that could freeze a batter.

On a 1 and 1 pitch from Mays, leadoff batter Chapman took a fastball to the left side of his skull. The sound of the crack when ball met temple sickened many a fan.

Medical attention was given to Chapman as he was taken off the field to a nearby hospital.

Ray Chapman was about to become a Dad. Wife Katie was a few months along in the pregnancy.

Chapman married into a family of wealth and secretly told teammates he would retire from baseball if Cleveland won the World Series that fall. Ray would go to work for Katie's father in his business.

Doctor's operated on what amounted to a fatal skull fracture. Sadly, Ray Chapman passed away in the early morning hours of August 17th. He was only 29 leaving behind a teenage wife and an unborn baby to be. Neither of whom made it past the decade...

It's tough to imagine batting against the pitching we see today as many a player is able to surpass the 100 mile per hour mark. Imagine trying to do that without a helmet. Chapman's death was ruled accidental. The only tragedy of this kind by way of a beaning. 

Cleveland went on to win the World Series in 1920. Bill Wambsganss turned the only unassisted triple play in the post season. Elmer Smith hit the first Grand Slam. Tris Speaker did amazing things as a player/manager. The Tribe would return again in 1948 for another title. Nothing since.

With all the social media at our employ today I now try to imagine how an incident like this would play out if it happened today. Mandatory batting helmets, no doctored baseball, ground rule double (prior to 1931) would be a home run and the term 'designated hitter' takes on new meaning.

Katie Daly was never the same after the passing of her husband. Despite remarrying and moving to California she committed suicide in 1926 at the age of 23. Daughter Rae died of the measles two years later at age 9. Not a happy ending for this family.

Yes, I do like to remember events and birthdays for better or worse. In cases like this I often wonder, 'Why like this?' That's an answer no one will ever have.

RIP Chappie.

Over and out in Big D.

Mr. Will