Sad story. Chapman's numbers weren't incredibal but given the time period he played in he was on his way to a Hall of Fame career.

A terrible tragedy- there's a fantastic book called "The Pitch that Killed" by Mike Sowell about this- it's among the ten best baseball books I've ever read. Chapman, 29, was among the best shortstops in baseball at the time. Mays, a notorious headhunter, had a mean personality similar in some ways to Cobb's, though incidentally they loathed each other...Chapman may have made the HOF, and Mays, a 5 time 20 game winner, was one of the best AL pitchers in the late 1910's and early 20's, only Ruth and for 1 year Wood were probably better with the Red Sox, and Mays was better actually than any Yankees 20's/ early 30's pitcher who did make it in until maybe Ruffing- and Ruffing was terrible before he came to NY. Urban Shocker, also isn't in the Hall, but IMO was also better than Hoyt, Pennock, Bush, Jones, etc... this, and the fact that he was a prick, must be why he's not in...

By most accounts, Mays was a distinctly unpleasant man. A sidearmer with a blazing fastball, good control, and a mean streak that bordered on psychotic, there is little doubt that he meant to hit Chapman. (He pretty much admitted it later.)

I doubt that he was trying to kill him, however. Throwing at batters was a pretty accepted part of the game at the time, and Chapman was a very aggressive batter who crowded the plate to take the outside corner away. It was late in the afternoon, the ball was dirty, and Chapman froze, the ball hitting him in the temple. He lived a few hours and died in hospital. The biggest effect of this incident, apart from possibly denying Mays a spot in the Hall, was the practice of introducing new white balls into the game as others got discoloured.

One of the most underrated and underappreciated moments in the game's history. This event began the big-hitting era because the baseballs now had to be spotless-white. . .pitchers used to dirty-up baseballs so much that batters would lose them in the creeping shadows at dusk. . .can't do that today (watch the ump look at fouled-off baseballs and how they are replaced quickly). . .this ended the dead-ball era and changed the game forever.

It happened in 1920, Chapman was having a great yearand there is conjecture that had he lived, he was destined for the Hall of Fame. His place, in the line-up and in the field, was taken by a young prospect of a shortstop named Joe Sewell, who did make the Hall of Fame. I believe Tris Speaker was the manager of the Inidans, and they won their first world championship that year.