CARL MAYS

Readers of a certain age may remember a character in the Lil' Abner strip named Joe Btsflk. He was a sad faced little guy in tattered clothes, dark cloud constantly overhead. Everywhere he went disaster was sure to follow.

Carl Mays (1891-1971) was baseball's Btsflk. From the earliest days in the minors it seemed the dour, moody, humorless Mays was born under a bad sign. Because of his temperament, and the fatal beaning of Ray Chapman in 1920, it is often forgotten that Mays was one of the top pitchers of his day.

The Chapman incident was hideous. Mays' Yankees were already in the midst of a boisterous pennant race against Chapman's Indians and the soon-to-be exposed White Sox. Mays was already known as a brushback pitcher, while Chapman was a plate-crowder. A light rain was falling when Chappie led off the fifth. The submariner threw a fastball inside, but Chapman made no attempt to move.

The ball hit his left temple with a loud crack that could be heard throughout the ballpark. Hearing the sound, Mays fielded the dribbler and threw to first, where Wally Pipp touched the bag, lifted his arm to throw the ball, and then froze. He watched, helplessly, as they all did, as the popular Cleveland SS collapsed. He was rushed to the hospital and died in the night.

In that era owners insisted that they could afford only one or two fresh balls per game. This delighted the pitchers, who rubbed the horsehide with dirt, spit, tobacco juice and Vaseline. It had already been decreed that 1920 was the last year that spitters and their "trick" pitches would be allowed (except for 17 veterans who would be allowed to use it until they retired). After Chapman became the first on-field fatality, a variety of solutions were offered, including batting helmets (not adopted until the '50s) and the introduction of fresh balls whenever they were needed. But Mays' ready unsavory reputation hardened into hatred and he was shunned the rest of his life and he always felt it kept him out of Cooperstown.

An incident near the end of his career says it all. Yankees' manager Miller Huggins never liked Mays and by 1923 was conducting a personal boycott of his best right-hander, allowing him to pitch only 81 innings. After the season he was placed on waivers. After all the A.L. clubs passed on him, Cincinnati picked him up for $7500.

Huggins sent Reds president Garry Herrmann a little note, "Just a note to tell you that in selling Mays to you I may be selling the best pitcher I've got. But I don't want him pitching for me and I don't want him pitching against me. He is a very hard man to handle and I suggest that you begin by cutting his salary in half."

Herrmann showed Mays the note and induced him to take a cut. As he left the office Mays said, "Give me 30 starts, I'll win twenty games." He went 20-9 that year.