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.
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.
Understandably, despite his protests of non-intent, Mays was vilified by all and sundry, partly because he already had a reputation as a difficult man. People wanted to believe he did it on purpose. It's probably the biggest reason why, despite a career record of 207-126, he's not in the Hall of Fame.
Does Carl Mays deserve election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in spite of this?
Does Carl Mays deserve election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, in spite of this?
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Carl William Mays was born on November 12, 1891, in Liberty, Kentucky. When he was 12 years old, his father died, and the family moved to Kingfisher, Oklahoma. He internalized his grief, and never made an effort to make friends. He quit high school to play baseball, even though he seemed not to have a personality that was well-suited to a team sport. He might have been better off as a boxer.
Apparently, though, he couldn't explain it: "I always have wondered why I have encountered this antipathy from so many people, wherever I have been. And I have never been able to explain it, even to myself."
He played for a Class D team in Boise, Idaho in 1912, then a Class A team in Portland, Oregon in 1913. The manager was Joe McGinnity, a star pitcher for the New York Giants, who would make the Hall of Fame. Supposedly, McGinnity taught Mays the underhanded "submarine" delivery. In 1914, he was signed by the Providence Grays of the International League. The nearby Boston Red Sox took notice of him, and signed him after the season.
He helped the Red Sox win the World Series in 1915, 1916 and 1918. So did Babe Ruth, and a few other players who would help build the Yankee Dynasty of the 1920s.
They also have "Similarity Scores," comparing players, usually at the same positions. Their top 10 most similar pitchers to Mays are Stan Coveleski, Lon Warneke, Chief Bender, Urban Shocker, Jack Chesbro, Art Nehf, Eddie Cicotte, Jesse Tannehill, Babe Adams and Freddie Fitzsimmons.
So that's 3 guys who are in the Hall (Coveleski, Bender and Chesbro), 2 guys who may also deserve it (Warneke and Shocker), and another guy who might have had a good shot had he not been one of the White Sox players who threw the 1919 World Series (Cicotte).
His 6 Pennants and 4 World Series wins should help his cause. The testimonies as to his character may hurt him, though.
It could be argued that Mays is better than some pitchers in the Hall. And, given that he was still an All-Star quality pitcher in 1926, after the introduction of the Lively Ball, we can say with some certainty that his success on the mound was not a product of a certain era.
His career winning percentage was .622. Or, more accurately, .6216. Hall-of-Fame starting pitchers under the 60-feet-6-inches pitching distance who top this are Whitey Ford, Pedro Martinez, Lefty Grove, Christy Mathewson, Roy Halladay, Sandy Koufax, Lefty Gomez, Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, Randy Johnson, Dizzy Dean, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Mike Mussina, Jim Palmer, Joe McGinnity, Juan Marichal, Eddie Plank, Bender and Addie Joss. So that's just 18 guys. It's matched by Carl Hubbell. Were they in the Hall, it would also be topped by Roger Clemens, Ron Guidry, Dwight Gooden, Andy Pettitte and Don Newcombe.
His career ERA was 2.92. 1893-2014 HOF starters topping that are Ed Walsh, Joss, Brown, Mathewson, Rube Waddell, Walter Johnson, Plank, Alexander, Cy Young, Vic Willis, McGinnity, Chesbro, Ford, Koufax, Palmer, Tom Seaver, Marichal, Coveleski and Bob Gibson. 19 guys.
His ERA+ was 119, meaning that he was 19 percent better at preventing runs than the average pitcher in his time. 1893-2014 HOF starters topping that are Pedro, Grove, Walter Johnson, Walsh, Joss, Brown, Young, Mathewson, Alexander, Randy Johnson, Waddell, Ford, Maddux, Dean, Halladay, Koufax, Hubbell, Hal Newhouser, Coveleski, Gibson, Seaver, Gomez, Palmer, John Smoltz, Dazzy Vance, Marichal, Mussina, Bob Feller, Plank, Drysdale, Clark Griffith, McGinnity, Red Faber and Bob Lemon. 34 guys. Suddenly, his candidacy looks less compelling.
His career WHIP was 1.207. 1893-2014 HOF starters topping that are Joss, Walsh, Pedro, Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Brown, Marichal, Waddell, Koufax, Bender, Plank, Seaver, Alexander, Young, Catfish Hunter, Fergie Jenkins, Don Sutton, Greg Maddux, Don Drysdale, Chesbro, Hubbell, Robin Roberts, Randy Johnson, Smoltz, Halladay, Jim Bunning, Palmer, Gaylord Perry, McGinnity, Gibson, Mussina, Warren Spahn, Bert Blyleven and Dean. 34 guys.
His strikeout-to-walk ratio was 1.174. That's not especially impressive: He's barely in the top 1,000 of all time.
But how many of those 60-footer HOFers are ahead of him in all of these categories? 9: Mathewson, Koufax, Brown, Alexander, Palmer, McGinnity, Marichal, Plank and Joss. And only 4 -- Koufax, Alexander, Palmer and Marichal -- also pitched after the introduction of the Lively Ball in 1920. And, due to the injury that cut short the career of Koufax, only Alexander, Palmer and Marichal won more games.
Still, that's a lot of comparisons that have to be thrown in. I have to say that, if I get a vote, then, based on what I've seen, Carl Mays does not get into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Not because of any perception of his character, but because the numbers just aren't quite sufficient.
As for his life beyond and after baseball, he married twice, and had a son and a daughter. He later worked as a scout for several teams. Ironically, the 1st team to hire him as such was the Indians. He was scouting for the Braves when they moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966, and was part of the original scouting team for the Kansas City Royals in 1969. He died on April 4, 1971. A distant cousin, Joe Mays, pitched for the Minnesota Twins, making the All-Star Game in 2001.
He first appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot in 1958, and got only 2 percent of the vote, dropping off. In 2008, following the reformatting of the Baseball Hall of Fame's procedure for voting on the candidacies of long-ago retired players, the Veterans Committee considered him, but he was named on only 25 percent of the ballots. That's the closest he's ever come to election. It had been 88 years since the death of Ray Chapman, so it's unlikely that factored into the voting.
Apparently, though, he couldn't explain it: "I always have wondered why I have encountered this antipathy from so many people, wherever I have been. And I have never been able to explain it, even to myself."
He played for a Class D team in Boise, Idaho in 1912, then a Class A team in Portland, Oregon in 1913. The manager was Joe McGinnity, a star pitcher for the New York Giants, who would make the Hall of Fame. Supposedly, McGinnity taught Mays the underhanded "submarine" delivery. In 1914, he was signed by the Providence Grays of the International League. The nearby Boston Red Sox took notice of him, and signed him after the season.
He helped the Red Sox win the World Series in 1915, 1916 and 1918. So did Babe Ruth, and a few other players who would help build the Yankee Dynasty of the 1920s.
While he was at Spring Training in 1919, his farm house in Missouri burned down. He believed it was arson. He began the 1919 season with a 5-11 record. In a game in Philadelphia, home fans at Shibe Park pounded on the roof of the visitors' dugout, and Mays reacted to this by getting up and throwing a ball into the stands, hitting a fan in the head.
On July 13, against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park, Eddie Collins tried to steal 2nd base. Catcher Wally Schang tried to throw him out, and hit Mays in the head by mistake. When the inning ended, Mays walked off the field, walked into the clubhouse, changed his clothes, went to the train station, and headed back to Boston. He told Burt Whitman, a Boston sportswriter:
I’m convinced that it will be impossible for me to preserve my confidence in myself as a ballplayer and stay with the Red Sox as the team is now handled. The entire team is up in the air and things have gone from bad to worse. The team cannot win with me pitching, so I am getting out…
Maybe there will be a trade or a sale of my services. I do not care where I go.
His teammates had turned against him. One (I can't find a record of which one) said, "He has the disposition of a man with a permanent toothache." In modern parlance, he was "a clubhouse cancer."
Sox owner Harry Frazee was eager to get rid of him. The Yankees, needing pitching, were willing to make the trade. So, on July 30, 1919, the Sox traded Mays to the Yankees for pitchers Bob McGraw and Allen Russell, and $40,000.
But between his "jumping the club" on the 13th and the trade on the 30th, Frazee had suspended Mays. And Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson, President of the American League, and one of its co-founders, ruled that Mays could not be traded while he was suspended.
Sox owner Harry Frazee was eager to get rid of him. The Yankees, needing pitching, were willing to make the trade. So, on July 30, 1919, the Sox traded Mays to the Yankees for pitchers Bob McGraw and Allen Russell, and $40,000.
But between his "jumping the club" on the 13th and the trade on the 30th, Frazee had suspended Mays. And Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson, President of the American League, and one of its co-founders, ruled that Mays could not be traded while he was suspended.
"Baseball cannot tolerate such a breach of discipline," Johnson said. "It was up to the owners of the Boston club to suspend Carl Mays for breaking his contract, and when they failed to do so, it is my duty as head of the American League to act."
The Yankees went to court, and got an injunction against Johnson's ability to prevent the trade. Mays went 9-3 the rest of the way, finishing the season 14-14. He would win 80 games for the Yankees, helping them win the Pennant in 1921 and 1922, and their 1st World Series in 1923.
The Cincinnati Reds purchased him from the Yankees after the 1923 season, suggesting that, even after 3 straight Pennants and a World Series win, he had worn out his welcome with the now-Bronx Bombers. He had 20-9 and 19-12 seasons with them, and was released in 1928, pitching with the New York Giants in 1929, and then hanging them up.
There was no All-Star Game until 1933. If there had been one during Mays' career, he likely would have been named to it in 1916, 1917, 1918, and, if whoever was voting was judging him solely on his on-field performance, also in 1920, 1921, 1924 and 1926 -- 7 times.
Baseball-Reference.com, a website which is your friend whether you know it or not, and makes writing this blog considerably easier, has a "Hall of Fame Monitor," on which a "Likely HOFer" is at 100. Mays is at 114, meaning he should be in. They also have "Hall of Fame Standards," which is weighted more toward career stats, and on which the "Average HOFer" is at 50. Mays is at 41, which suggests that he falls a bit short.
The Cincinnati Reds purchased him from the Yankees after the 1923 season, suggesting that, even after 3 straight Pennants and a World Series win, he had worn out his welcome with the now-Bronx Bombers. He had 20-9 and 19-12 seasons with them, and was released in 1928, pitching with the New York Giants in 1929, and then hanging them up.
There was no All-Star Game until 1933. If there had been one during Mays' career, he likely would have been named to it in 1916, 1917, 1918, and, if whoever was voting was judging him solely on his on-field performance, also in 1920, 1921, 1924 and 1926 -- 7 times.
Baseball-Reference.com, a website which is your friend whether you know it or not, and makes writing this blog considerably easier, has a "Hall of Fame Monitor," on which a "Likely HOFer" is at 100. Mays is at 114, meaning he should be in. They also have "Hall of Fame Standards," which is weighted more toward career stats, and on which the "Average HOFer" is at 50. Mays is at 41, which suggests that he falls a bit short.
They also have "Similarity Scores," comparing players, usually at the same positions. Their top 10 most similar pitchers to Mays are Stan Coveleski, Lon Warneke, Chief Bender, Urban Shocker, Jack Chesbro, Art Nehf, Eddie Cicotte, Jesse Tannehill, Babe Adams and Freddie Fitzsimmons.
So that's 3 guys who are in the Hall (Coveleski, Bender and Chesbro), 2 guys who may also deserve it (Warneke and Shocker), and another guy who might have had a good shot had he not been one of the White Sox players who threw the 1919 World Series (Cicotte).
His 6 Pennants and 4 World Series wins should help his cause. The testimonies as to his character may hurt him, though.
It could be argued that Mays is better than some pitchers in the Hall. And, given that he was still an All-Star quality pitcher in 1926, after the introduction of the Lively Ball, we can say with some certainty that his success on the mound was not a product of a certain era.
His career winning percentage was .622. Or, more accurately, .6216. Hall-of-Fame starting pitchers under the 60-feet-6-inches pitching distance who top this are Whitey Ford, Pedro Martinez, Lefty Grove, Christy Mathewson, Roy Halladay, Sandy Koufax, Lefty Gomez, Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, Randy Johnson, Dizzy Dean, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Mike Mussina, Jim Palmer, Joe McGinnity, Juan Marichal, Eddie Plank, Bender and Addie Joss. So that's just 18 guys. It's matched by Carl Hubbell. Were they in the Hall, it would also be topped by Roger Clemens, Ron Guidry, Dwight Gooden, Andy Pettitte and Don Newcombe.
His career ERA was 2.92. 1893-2014 HOF starters topping that are Ed Walsh, Joss, Brown, Mathewson, Rube Waddell, Walter Johnson, Plank, Alexander, Cy Young, Vic Willis, McGinnity, Chesbro, Ford, Koufax, Palmer, Tom Seaver, Marichal, Coveleski and Bob Gibson. 19 guys.
His ERA+ was 119, meaning that he was 19 percent better at preventing runs than the average pitcher in his time. 1893-2014 HOF starters topping that are Pedro, Grove, Walter Johnson, Walsh, Joss, Brown, Young, Mathewson, Alexander, Randy Johnson, Waddell, Ford, Maddux, Dean, Halladay, Koufax, Hubbell, Hal Newhouser, Coveleski, Gibson, Seaver, Gomez, Palmer, John Smoltz, Dazzy Vance, Marichal, Mussina, Bob Feller, Plank, Drysdale, Clark Griffith, McGinnity, Red Faber and Bob Lemon. 34 guys. Suddenly, his candidacy looks less compelling.
His career WHIP was 1.207. 1893-2014 HOF starters topping that are Joss, Walsh, Pedro, Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Brown, Marichal, Waddell, Koufax, Bender, Plank, Seaver, Alexander, Young, Catfish Hunter, Fergie Jenkins, Don Sutton, Greg Maddux, Don Drysdale, Chesbro, Hubbell, Robin Roberts, Randy Johnson, Smoltz, Halladay, Jim Bunning, Palmer, Gaylord Perry, McGinnity, Gibson, Mussina, Warren Spahn, Bert Blyleven and Dean. 34 guys.
His strikeout-to-walk ratio was 1.174. That's not especially impressive: He's barely in the top 1,000 of all time.
But how many of those 60-footer HOFers are ahead of him in all of these categories? 9: Mathewson, Koufax, Brown, Alexander, Palmer, McGinnity, Marichal, Plank and Joss. And only 4 -- Koufax, Alexander, Palmer and Marichal -- also pitched after the introduction of the Lively Ball in 1920. And, due to the injury that cut short the career of Koufax, only Alexander, Palmer and Marichal won more games.
Still, that's a lot of comparisons that have to be thrown in. I have to say that, if I get a vote, then, based on what I've seen, Carl Mays does not get into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Not because of any perception of his character, but because the numbers just aren't quite sufficient.
As for his life beyond and after baseball, he married twice, and had a son and a daughter. He later worked as a scout for several teams. Ironically, the 1st team to hire him as such was the Indians. He was scouting for the Braves when they moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966, and was part of the original scouting team for the Kansas City Royals in 1969. He died on April 4, 1971. A distant cousin, Joe Mays, pitched for the Minnesota Twins, making the All-Star Game in 2001.
He first appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot in 1958, and got only 2 percent of the vote, dropping off. In 2008, following the reformatting of the Baseball Hall of Fame's procedure for voting on the candidacies of long-ago retired players, the Veterans Committee considered him, but he was named on only 25 percent of the ballots. That's the closest he's ever come to election. It had been 88 years since the death of Ray Chapman, so it's unlikely that factored into the voting.