Top 10 January 15 Birthdays
The shadow makes it look like a COVID mask is hanging from his face. He would have turned 93 today, had he lived, and I wish I could know how he would have handled Trump and COVID. Honorable Mention: January 15, 1891: Ray Chapman. He reached the major leagues in 1912, as a shortstop for the team that would become known as the Cleveland Indians. Had his career reached a natural conclusion, he might not be remembered today. But he is, for the worst of reasons: He is the only player to die as the result of an in-game injury. He was hit in the head by a pitch from the Yankees' Carl Mays on August 16, 1920, and died the next day. Mays always insisted that he hadn't done it on purpose. Witnesses backed this claim up: They said that Chapman's crouched batting stance had nearly put his head over the plate, and that the ball had gone straight back to Mays, who threw to 1st base, suggesting that he thought Chapman had swung and hit the ball to him. The Indians dedicated a monument t...