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Carl Mays

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Baseball Player

The Resume

Why he might be annoying:

    He threw the only pitch to kill another player when he struck Cleveland Indian Ray Chapman in the head (August 16, 1920).
    He tried to blame the umps for the tragedy, claiming that there was a rough spot on the ball and it should have been removed from the game.
    He led the league in hit batters in 1917 and was second the next two seasons.
    At Fenway park, he twice threw at Ty Cobb's head, after which Cobb threw his bat at Mays and the two had to be separated by policemen (1915).
    After order was restored, he threw at Cobb again, hitting him in the wrist.
    The year after Chapman's death, he told the new pitchers at spring training, 'If you got to knock down somebody to win a ball game, do it. It's your bread and butter.'
    He was fined $100 in Philadelphia after hurling a ball into the stands and striking a fan (1919).
    He was disliked by his own teammates, who he frequently accused on 'laying down' when he was on the mound.
    Sportswriter Fred Lieb claimed that he threw games 4 and 7 of the 1921 World Series.

Why he might not be annoying:

    The New York District Attorney's office investigated the tragedy and concluded he had not been deliberately trying to hit Chapman.
    Red Sox outfielder Duffy Lewis said, 'Carl Mays wasn't very popular, but when nobody else could win, he could.'
    He would probably be in the Hall of Fame if he had not thrown that one pitch.
    His win-loss record (208-126) and ERA (2.92) are better than those of his Hall of Fame teammates, Waite Hoyt and Herb Pennock.
    He said, 'I won over two hundred games, but what happened in August of 1920 is the only thing anybody remembers.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 92.31% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 11 Votes: 45.45% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 9 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 17 Votes: 52.94% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 30 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 36 Votes: 61.11% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 34 Votes: 58.82% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 97 Votes: 69.07% Annoying