Ray Chapman

Infobox MLB retired
bgcolor1=#023465
bgcolor2=#990000
textcolor1=white
textcolor2=white
name=Ray Chapman


caption=Ray Chapman
birthdate=January 15, 1891
city-state|Beaver Dam|Kentucky
deathdate=death date and age|1920|8|17|1891|1|15
city-state|New York|New York
position=Shortstop
bats=Right
throws=Right
debutdate=August 30
debutyear=by|1912
debutteam=Cleveland Indians
finaldate=August 16
finalyear=by|1920
finalteam=Cleveland Indians
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.278
stat2label=Stolen bases
stat2value=233
stat3label=Runs
stat3value=671
teams=
*Cleveland Indians (by|1912-by|1920)
highlights=
* 334 career sacrifice hits is 6th on all-time list
* Led the American League in walks (84) in by|1918
* Led the American League in runs (84) in by|1918

Raymond Johnson Chapman (January 15, 1891 – August 17, 1920) was an American baseball player, spending his entire career as a shortstop for Cleveland.

He is the second of only two Major League Baseball players to have died as a result of an injury received in a game (the first was Mike "Doc" Powers in 1909); [Merron, Jeff (June 22, 2002). [http://espn.go.com/mlb/s/2002/0622/1397956.html "Major Leaguers Who Died In-Season"] . espn.com] Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by Yankees pitcher Carl Mays. His death led Major League Baseball to establish a rule requiring umpires to replace the ball whenever it became dirty. His death was also one of the examples used to emphasize the need for wearing batting helmets (although the rule was not adopted until over thirty years later). His death was partially the reason MLB banned the spitball after the season.

Career

Chapman was born in Beaver Dam, Kentucky. He grew up in Herrin, Illinois. [cite book|last=Gay|first=Timothy M. |title=Tris Speaker: The Rough-and-tumble Life of a Baseball Legend|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|year=2006|pages=174|isbn=0-803-22206-8] He broke into the Major Leagues in 1912 with the Cleveland team, then known as the Naps. [cite book|last=Poremba|first=David Lee |title=The American League: The Early Years|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2000|pages=125|isbn=0-738-50710-5]

Chapman led the American League in runs scored and walks in 1918. A top-notch bunter, Chapman is 6th on the all-time list for sacrifice hits. Only Stuffy McInnis has more sacrifices for right-handed batters. Chapman was also an excellent shortstop who led the league in putouts three times and assists once. He batted .300 three times, and led the Indians in stolen bases four times. In 1917, he set a team record of 52 stolen bases, which stood until 1980. He was hitting .303 with 97 runs scored when he died.cite book|last=Goodman|first=Rebecca |coauthors=Brunsman, Barrett J. |title=This Day in Ohio History|publisher=Emmis Books|year=2005|pages=250|isbn=1-578-60191-6]

Death

At the time of Chapman's death, "part of every pitcher's job was to dirty up a new ball the moment it was thrown onto the field. By turns, they smeared it with dirt, licorice, tobacco juice; it was deliberately scuffed, sandpapered, scarred, cut, even spiked. The result was a misshapen, earth-colored ball that traveled through the air erratically, tended to soften in the later innings, and as it came over the plate, was very hard to see." [cite book|last=Ward|first=Geoffrey C. |coauthors=Burns, Ken|title=Baseball: An Illustrated History|publisher=Knopf |year=1996|pages=153|isbn=0-679-76541-7]

This practice is believed to have contributed to Chapman's death. He was struck by a pitch by Carl Mays on August 16, 1920 in a game against the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds. Mays threw with a submarine delivery, and it was the top of the fifth inning, in the late afternoon. Eyewitnesses recounted that Chapman never moved out of the way of the pitch, presumably unable to see the ball. "Chapman didn't react at all," said Rod Nelson of the Society of American Baseball Research. "It was at twilight and it froze him." The sound of the ball smashing into Chapman's skull was so loud that Mays thought it had hit the end of Chapman's bat, so he fielded the ball and threw to first base. Chapman died twelve hours later in a New York City hospital, at about 4:30 a.m. He was replaced by Harry Lunte for the rest of the game.cite web|url=http://espn.go.com/classic/s/quiz/5/21.html|title=Classic Box Score: August 16, 1920|last=Caple|first=Jim|date=2001-05-21|publisher=espn.com|accessdate=2008-05-09]

In tribute to Chapman's memory, Cleveland players wore black arm bands, with manager Tris Speaker leading the team to win both the pennant and the first World Championship in the history of the club. [cite book|last=McNeil|first=William|title=The Single-Season Home Run Kings: Ruth, Maris, McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds|publisher=McFarland|year=2002|pages=24|isbn=0-786-41441-3] Rookie Joe Sewell took Chapman's place at shortstop, and went on to have a Hall of Fame career (which he, ironically, concluded with the Yankees). [cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEED61F31F930A25753C1A96F948260|title=Sports of the Times; When Sewell Replaced Ray Chapman|last=Berkow|first=Ira|date=1989-10-13|publisher=New York Times|accessdate=2008-05-09]

Ray Chapman is buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.

Plaque

Not long after Chapman died, a bronze plaque was designed in his honor. The plaque features Chapman's bust framed by a baseball diamond and flanked by two bats, one of them cradling a fielder's mitt. At the bottom of the tablet is the inscription, "He Lives In The Hearts Of All Who Knew Him." The plaque was dedicated and hung at League Park and later at Cleveland Municipal Stadium before being taken down for unknown reasons.cite web|url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2007-03-29-4134806677_x.htm|title=Hidden diamond: Indians uncover lost Ray Chapman plaque|last=Withers|first=Tom |publisher=usatoday.com]

Jim Folk, a former vice president of Indians operations, said, "It was in a store room under an escalator in a little nook and cranny. We didn't know what we were going to do with it, but there was no way it was just going to stay there when we moved to Jacobs Field. We had it crated up and put on a moving truck and it came over along with our file cabinets and all the other stuff that came out of the stadium."

In February 2007, the neglected plaque was re-discovered by workers cleaning out a storage room at Jacobs Field. Covered by years of dust and dirt, the bronze surface had oxidized a dark brown; the text was illegible. The plaque was refurbished and hung in Heritage Park, an exhibit of Indians history at Progressive Field. [cite web|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2818187|title=Indians uncover lost Chapman plaque|date=2007-03-29|publisher=espn.com]

ee also

* List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
* Mike Coolbaugh

Notes

References

The book "The Pitch That Killed", by Mike Sowell, is a history of the Chapman-Mays tragedy.

The historical novel, "The Curse of Carl Mays", by Howard Camerik, also recounts the Chapman-Mays incident.

The Dan Gutman novel "Ray & Me", tells the story of the Chapman incident with a fictional touch as the main character Joe Stoshack travels back in time to try to prevent his death.

External links

*
* [http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/sports/year_in_sports/08.17.html The Death of Ray Chapman] - "NY Times", 18 August 1920
*

Persondata
NAME= Chapman, Ray
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Chapman, Raymond Bradley Sherman
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Major league baseball player
DATE OF BIRTH=January 15, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH= Beaver Dam, Kentucky, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH= August 17, 1920
PLACE OF DEATH= New York City, New York, U.S.