Carl Mays
Carl William Mays

Bats Left
Throws Left
Height 5'11.5
Weight 195

Born November 12, 1891
Liberty, KY
Died April 4, 1971
El Cajon, CA

Pitching  

 Year Ag Tm    W   L  PCT.  SV   G  GS  CG SHO    IP     H    R   ER   BB   SO  HR  ERA  lgERA ERA+
+-----------+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+----+----+----+----+---+-----+-----+----+
 1928 36 HER   7   2  .778   8  76   0   0   0  106.2             42   52   20      3.54  4.08  115  
 1929 37 HER   0   6  .000   8  34   0   0   0   58.0             20   21   13      3.10  3.64  117  
+-----------+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+----+----+----+----+---+-----+-----+----+
  2 Seasons    7   8  .467  16 110   0   0   0  164.2             62   73   33      3.39  3.94  116 
+-----------+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+----+----+----+----+---+-----+-----+----+
 154 Gm  Avg   4   5  .467   9  65   0   0   0   97.1             37   43   20      3.39 
 Career High   7   6  .000   8  76   0   0   0  106.2             42   52   20      3.10            
+-----------+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+----+----+----+----+---+-----+-----+----+
 Year Ag Tm    W   L  PCT.  SV   G  GS  CG SHO    IP     H    R   ER   BB   SO  HR  ERA  lgERA ERA+



Transactions

January 1, 1928: Drafted 25th round (195th overall) by Hershey.


Biography
Known for his submarine delivery, Carl Mays is often associated with the only fatal beaning in major league history - that of Cleveland Indian shortstop Ray Chapman. However, Mays' career in major league baseball was a long, distinguished, and controversial one.

Carl William Mays was born on November 12, 1891 in Liberty, Missouri, the son of a traveling Methodist minister. His father died at a young age leaving his mother to raise Carl and his seven siblings.

By the time he was sixteen, Carl caught on with a semipro team in Oklahoma. His travels took him to Portland of the Class D Tri-State League. It was there that Mays honed his craft as a submarine pitcher under the watchful eye of mentor "Iron" Joe McGinnity. McGinnity would average over 345 innings a season for his entire career, go 35-8 with a 1.61 ERA in 1904, and be elected to the Hall of Fame in 1946.

In 1914, Portland sold Mays and his teammate, feature Hall of Famer Harry Heilmann to the Detroit Tigers. Detroit immediately optioned Mays to Providence of the International League. Tiger owner Frank Navin sold the Providence franchise to the Boston Red Sox, and Mays received a spot on the staff of the Sox in 1915.

Mays, along with another highly touted pitching prospect named George Herman Ruth, soon both became stalwarts of the Red Sox rotation. In his rookie year, a confrontation with legendary cuss Ty Cobb cemented his status as a player not to trifle with.

In late September at a game in Fenway Park, Mays pitched inside to Cobb with high fastballs, one knocking the hit king to the ground. When Cobb arose, he flung his bat in Mays direction and called him a "yellow dog." Unperturbed, Mays came off the mound to meet his adversary before both players were separated from each other. When play resumed, Mays drilled Cobb in the wrist. Carl Mays quickly earned a reputation as a pitcher who threw inside regardless of who was at the dish.

Mays became a two-time 29 game winner with the Sox by 1919 when an incident at Comiskey Park in Chicago would alter his career. After working only 2 innings of a July 13 game, Mays stormed off the mound and refused to pitch, citing an injury and personal problems. Accepting the pitcher's claims, Boston owner Harry Frazee traded Mays to the pennant contending Yankees, a move that was taken exception to by AL League President Ban Johnson.

Johnson claimed that the league could not allow the trade, as such a move would be a reward for Mays' "tantrum." The ensuing fracas saw lawsuits jumping back and forth, three AL owners threatening to jump to the NL, while the other 5 owners, fearful that the league would not survive, caved into their blackmail. The trade was allowed to stand, and Mays went on to win 26 games for the Yankees in 1920 and another league leading 27 the following year.

Ray Chapman's death occurred on August 16, 1920. Chapman who was leading off the top of the fifth inning in New York's Polo Grounds, had Mays' first pitch crash into his left temple with a crack that was audible throughout the ballpark. Upon seeing the ball come toward him, Mays initially thought that the ball stuck Chapman's bat handle and threw the ball to Wally Pipp at first base.

At the plate, Chapman briefly stood motionless before he slumped to his knees. After several minutes, Chapman was revived and helped to his feet. Incredibly, he shrugged off all efforts of assistance and walked across the infield toward the clubhouse in center field before his knees buckled and he was helped off. After several attempts to save his life, Chapman died the next day.

Contrary to baseball legend, the episode deeply effected Mays, and he was haunted by it his entire life, let alone baseball career. The mere fact that he remained an effective pitcher for such a length of time after the accident was testament to Mays' incredible desire for the game.

In the 1921 World Series, Mays aroused the suspicions of several by blowing a lead in the 8th inning of Game Four. After the game, sportswriter Fred Lieb informed Yankee owner Cap Huston about an eyewitness who had seen Mays' wife signal him on the mound that a payoff had been made just prior to a 3 run outburst that gave the Giants the lead. A subsequent investigation turned up nothing, but the suspicions of Mays' manager Miller Huggins were not quelled. Huggins used Mays only sporadically for the next two seasons. Huggins did, however, leave him on the mound to endure a 20 hit 13 run drubbing by the Indians in 1923, a game many Indians claimed was a small measure of revenge for many of them. After that, Mays spent five years with the Cincinnati Reds, winning 20 games in 1924. Mays' career came to an end in 1929 with the New York Giants.

After his retirement, Mays moved back to Oregon where he ran a baseball camp for 15 years. One of his pupils was future star Johnny Pesky. In time, Mays' greatest desire was to make the Hall of Fame, which passed him year after year. Mays blamed the beaning on his exclusion to Cooperstown.

He died after a series of medical complications on April 3, 1971 in El Cajon, California.

(Some parts courtesy of Mike Sowell's The Pitch that Killed, and The Biographical History of Baseball, by Donald Dewey and Nicholas Acocella)



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