Oklahoma Author’s Book Becomes Documentary

After greater than 100 years, probably the most tragic occasion in main league baseball historical past is getting its personal documentary. “War on the Diamond” is now streaming on providers like Amazon, Google and YouTube. The movie is predicated on a ebook by a Tulsa creator.

“Always in the back of my head, I knew that someday I wanted to write a book,” Mike Sowell mentioned.

Sowell is a former journalism professor at Oklahoma State University, a former sports activities editor on the Tulsa Tribune and the creator of “The Pitch That Killed.” It’s the story of the one loss of life from an on-field incident in Major League Baseball.

“This was a very important game they were playing, and it was only the fourth inning of a tie game, so there would be no reason for Carl Mays to throw at Chapman and risk hitting him and putting him on base,” Sowell defined.

One of the gamers concerned within the tragedy has ties to the Sooner State.

“Mays’ family moved to Oklahoma after his father died, when Mays was only 12 years old, so Mays began playing baseball in Oklahoma,” Sowell mentioned.

August 16, 1920 was the opening recreation of a vital sequence between the Indians and the Yankees. Both groups had been vying for the American League pennant. New York despatched ace Carl Mays to the hill.

“Mays was a novel pitcher,” Sowell defined. “He threw totally underhand. He had hurt his arm in the minor leagues, and he developed a pitching motion that was almost like he was bowling.”

The result was a pitch that rose as it approached home plate; opposite that of a typical, overhand delivery. In the fifth inning, with Cleveland leading 3-0, shortstop Ray Chapman stepped up to the plate.

A fast baserunner and a slick fielder, Chapman was beloved by virtually everyone he met.

“He was a happy-go-lucky guy, always laughing, smiling, very friendly,” Sowell mentioned.

The first pitch of the at-bat introduced catastrophe. The ball cracked into the left facet of Chapman’s head. This was many years earlier than gamers wore batting helmets.

“For some reason, Chapman did not move. He stood there frozen,” Sowell mentioned. “It hit him with such force, that it bounded back out toward the mound, and Mays thought that Chapman had bunted, and he went to field the ball and he threw to first base.”

Blood poured from Chapman’s left ear as he sank to the bottom. Eventually, he made it to a hospital, however it was too late. Ray Chapman died in a single day.

Mike Sowell learn this story in a ebook as a boy, and it captured him. As he discovered extra, he realized, this story had by no means been totally instructed. While on the Tulsa Tribune, he wrote his personal ebook: “The Pitch That Killed.”

“The story had been missed, so in 1989 I completed my ebook,” Sowell recalled. “I worked on it for three years and it came out in the late 80s.”

The book won a Casey Award for best baseball book of 1989. It was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and has been reprinted several times. Now, it’s getting the documentary treatment. “War on the Diamond” is now streaming.

“It’s pretty overwhelming, especially the way it’s played out, because you know the book’s been out for more than 30 years,” Sowell mentioned.

Ray Chapman was doubtless on his approach to being a Hall of Famer. Carl Mays, who grew up in Kingfisher and nonetheless has household in Oklahoma, doubtless must be within the Hall of Fame.

One pitch modified a lot for each males. Mike Sowell is ensuring their story will not be misplaced to historical past.