A Death at Home Plate - Ray Chapman, August 16, 1920
A Smithsonian article from 2012.
The Indians were in first place, a half-game ahead of the Yankees on August 16, 1920, when they arrived at the Polo Grounds, the home the Yankees shared with the New York Giants until Yankee Stadium was built three years later. It was the start of a three-game series on a dark and drizzly Monday afternoon in Harlem. On the mound for the Yankees was right-hander Carl Mays, the ace of the staff, hoping to notch his 100th career win. Mays, a spitballer (legal at the time), threw with an awkward submarine motion, bending his torso to the right and releasing the ball close to the ground—he sometimes scraped his knuckles in the dirt. Right-handed submariners tend to give right-handed batters the most trouble because their pitches will curve in toward the batter, jamming him at the last moment. Mays, one baseball magazine noted, looked “like a cross between an octopus and a bowler” on the mound. “He shoots the ball in at the batter at such unexpected angles that his delivery is hard to find, generally until along about 5 o’clock, when the hitters get accustomed to it—and when the game is about over.”
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He was a solid hitter, but had never had much luck at bat against Mays. Chapman took his usual stance, crouching and crowding the plate. A fog had settled over the field, making the afternoon even darker. Mays wound up and let loose with one of his high and tight pitches, and Chapman didn’t move an inch. In a split second, a loud crack echoed around the Polo Grounds. The ball trickled toward the mound, and Mays quickly fielded it, tossing it to first for what he thought was the first out of the inning. But Chapman had sunk to a knee in the batter’s box, his eyes closed and his mouth open.....
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HERB SCORE – A PROMISING CAREER DERAILED
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Many pitchers get hit by line drives, but usually in the legs or body. I happened to get hit in the eye. That’s a million-to-one shot and I’m not going to worry about it ever happening again. – Herb Score
In some ways, Gil McDougald felt worse about it than Herb Score. It was the Indians superb young southpaw who was sprawled out on the mound, his hand over his right eye, blood running onto the ground. He had just been hit by a line drive off the bat of McDougald and the Yankees infielder didn’t even finish running to first. When he realized what had happened he left the baseline and made a beeline toward the mound and later was described as an “emotional mess” over the incident.
A young Herb Score
McDougald’s grief for having hit the ball was understandable but it was Score, one of the most promising pitchers to come along in years, who bore the brunt of the carnage. He was taken to a hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken nose, a lacerated right eyelid, damage to the right eye and the right cheekbone. He would be hospitalized for three weeks and one of the first things he did when released was call McDougald.
“I talked to Gil and told him it was something that could happen to anyone,” Score said. “It’s just like a pitcher beaning a batter. He didn’t mean it.”
The accident happened on May 7, 1957, just as the almost 24-year-old Score was beginning his third season with the Cleveland Indians. His first two were almost classic, with most people predicting he would be the game’s next great pitcher. Some were already punching his ticket to Cooperstown. And what can be more dynamic than a flamethrowing lefty who was striking out more hitters than any other pitcher in the league?
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On June 7, 1952, Herb’s 19th birthday, he signed with the Indians with a $60,000 bonus. Two years later he was at Indianapolis, the Indians triple-A team, and that’s really when the Herb Score legend began. He had a 22-5 record with 21 complete games in 32 starts. His electric fastball helped him strike out 330 hitters in 251 innings.
Watching Score throw was a thing of beauty. He was long and lanky at 6’2”, 185-pounds. Slow motion shows the tremendous torque he put into each pitch, turning his body somewhat away from the hitter as he took his windup. He had a long stride and then uncorked the pitch with an overhand motion. In addition to his blazing fastball he had a good curve and a solid changeup. Quite an arsenal.
He was so good that there was no way Cleveland could keep him down on the farm. In 1955 the 22-year-old Score joined an Indians team that had won 111 games and a pennant the year before. And what a pitching staff. They had a Big Three in Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and Mike Garcia, plus an aging Bob Feller. Young Herb fit right into the rotation with the veterans and he sparkled.
A True Baseball Phenom…
When the season ended Herb Score was the talk of baseball. He finished with a 16-10 record and a 2.85 earned run average, throwing 11 complete games while setting a rookie strikeout record by fanning 245 hitters, best in the majors, and pitching 227.1 innings. He was voted the American League Rookie of the Year and even appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine.
In just his second season Herb became a 20-game winner, finishing at 20-9 with a 2.53 ERA, 16 complete games and a league best five shutouts. He struck out 263 hitters in 249.1 innings, making him the first pitcher to strike out more than 200 hitters in each of his first two seasons. It appeared the sky was the limit for him.
The Line Drive Hits Herb Squarely in the Eye
Then came 1957 and the terrible accident that would ultimately derail Herb Score’s career. He was 2-1 on the year and making his fifth start when the McDougald line drive struck him. His follow-through that caused him to look away from the hitter for an instant was enough for the ball to hit him quickly. “I’m sure Herb never saw it,” said catcher Jim Hegan. “He just wasn’t able to pick up its flight.”
Doctors predicted a full recovery, but he wouldn’t pitch again that season. He returned in 1958 and seemed like his old self in the spring, stating he didn’t alter his delivery due to the accident. On April 23, he threw a three-hitter against the White Sox, striking out 13 and bringing his record to 2-1. A week later he was pitching on a damp night in Washington and began feeling pain in his arm around the fourth inning. He lasted into the seventh and finally came out. When doctors checked his arm they found he had torn a tendon in his elbow. On the shelf until the tail end of the season, he finished at just 2-3.
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Sandy Koufax, an all-time great lefthander, didn’t put it all together until he was 26. Herb had it all at 22. He was already 38-20 before McDougald’s liner hit him and just 17-26 afterward, though he said it was more the tendon injury that hastened the end. Yet Mickey Mantle said he was the toughest American League lefthander he ever faced, while Yogi Berra put Herb on his “Greatest Team Of All Time.”
Herb Score died on November 11, 2008, at the age of 75.
I used to have his '57 card. My mom threw them all away when I went to school in '70.