The Pitch that Killed
Ernie's Take:
Mike Sowell’s The Pitch That Killed is a superb piece of sports history. In it, he recounts the events that lead to the only fatality on a major league field, the deadly beaning of Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman by New York Yankee pitcher Carl Mays at the old Polo Grounds on August 16, 1920. The story has all the elements of high drama: a doomed hero (Chapman), a dastardly villain (Mays, who was even more hated in baseball than Ty Cobb), and a dramatic pennant race decided by Chapman’s Hall of Fame replacement, Joe Sewell. Throw in the rise of Ruth’s Yankees and the breaking of the Black Sox scandal, and you have a recipe for intriguing historical reading.