The major leagues saw just eight of the nine scheduled games played on August 17, 1920. The president of the American League postponed the Indians at the Yankees due to the death of Ray Chapman. His death makes front page news, the lengthy article continuing on the sports page. Much of the article is spent absolving pitcher Carl Mays of any intent to hit Chapman. Mays spoke with the the police and district attorney after the game and they found no wrong doing. Tris Speaker, the player-manager and great friend to Chapman, stated clearly that the beaning was an accident. Mays himself talked about how he feared hitting batters in the head, saying:
“I always have had a horror of hitting a player ever since the accident to Chick Fewster. I chummed with him in the spring,and I liked him very much. When he was hurt by a pitched ball it affected me so that I was afraid to pitch close to a batter.”
New York Tribune
Chapman bunted twice in the game before the HBP. There was no reason to hit him, especially leading off an inning in a tight pennant race. Mays’s old teammates in Boston, however, thought Mays had done it on purpose and drew up a petition to have him banned. Mays was not well liked in general.
Chapman’s wife, pregnant with the couple’s first child, said that Chapman had thought of retiring that the previous winter, but wanted a chance to play in the World Series. Flags flew at half mast in ballparks that day in Chapman’s honor.
Back to baseball. Game two of the doubleheader between the Tigers and Red Sox in Boston produced the low score of the day, Detroit winning 3-1 to earn a split. The second game of the Browns doubleheader in Washington resulted in a 10-9 Senator’s victory, also earning a split and the high score of the day.
In that second game, Jack Tobin of the Browns takes home best offensive game of the day. He knocks out five hits in six trips to the plate, one of them a double. For the day he posts six hits in nine at bats with four RBI.
In Chicago, Hod Eller of the Reds earns a win in the 3-2 defeat of the Cubs and best pitched game of the day. Eller gives up six hits, two runs, and three walks, but strikes out nine batters.
Eller had a brief but impressive career due to the shine ball. Balls tended to be dirty in those days, and pitchers found they could get unusual movement on the ball by cleaning or shining a bit of the surface, leaving the rest rough (the opposite of the emery ball). From his call up in 1917 through 1919, Eller was one of the best at throwing the pitch in the game. When that pitch was banned in 1920, he was not grandfathered in like the spitballers. He pitched okay in 1920, this game being one of his better starts, but fell apart in 1921 and was done as a major league player.
In the two days since talking about the batting race, Tris Speaker goes 0 for 4 while George Sisler posts a 5 for 10. Sisler now leads the AL in batting at .403, Speaker second at .400.
The White Sox are also idle on this day, so the standings have Cleveland in first place by 1/2 game over the White Sox and 1 1/2 games over the Yankees.
In the NL, Brooklyn is idle, so the Reds gain have a game to move into first place percentage points ahead of the Dodgers. The Giants split a double header with Philadelphia and are now 2 1/2 games out of first place.