Ray Chapman
American baseball player (1891–1920) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Raymond Johnson Chapman (January 15, 1891 – August 17, 1920) was an American baseball player. He spent his entire career as a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians.
Ray Chapman | |
---|---|
Shortstop | |
Born: (1891-01-15)January 15, 1891 Beaver Dam, Kentucky, U.S. | |
Died: August 17, 1920(1920-08-17) (aged 29) Manhattan, New York, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
August 30, 1912, for the Cleveland Indians | |
Last MLB appearance | |
August 16, 1920, for the Cleveland Indians | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .278 |
Home runs | 17 |
Runs batted in | 364 |
Teams | |
Career highlights and awards | |
Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by pitcher Carl Mays and died 12 hours later. He is the only player to die directly from an injury received during a major league game.[1][2] His death led baseball to establish a rule requiring umpires to replace the ball whenever it becomes dirty. Chapman's death and sanitary concerns also led to the ban on spitballs after the 1920 season.[3][4] Chapman's death was also one of the examples cited to justify the wearing of batting helmets. However, it took over 30 years to adopt the rule that required their use.