Throughout MLB history, countless rivalries have formed. Many of them are legendary, like the Yankees and Red Sox, Cardinals and Cubs and the Dodgers and Giants.
However, one of the oldest rivalries in baseball that still exists to this day, doesn't get the attention that it once did.
It began on Aug. 16, 1920 at the Polo Grounds.
With one pitch.
Later that night, Ray Chapman, 29, an established and popular Cleveland ballplayer, died.
Chapman's life ended after being struck in the head by a ball hurled from Yankees pitcher Carl Mays, who was one of the games most notorious head hunters at that time.
Mays, one of the most feared pitchers during the inception of the live-ball era, was a hard-throwing submarine style pitcher who was at the top of his game in 1920.
Having recorded two 20-win seasons already in 1916 and 1917, Mays finished with 26 victories in '20, leading the league in shutouts that season with six.
Chapman, was one of the most popular and well respected players in the league and was putting together a helluva career to that point.
The speedy infielder, had played his entire nine-year career with Cleveland to that point and much of it at shortstop. He had already eclipsed 1,000 hits for a career, hit .302 or better three times and, as a highly skilled bunter, led the league in sacrifice bunts three times.
For context, as to how good he was and just how much the game has changed in 102 years, Chapman still ranks sixth all-time in sacrifice bunts.
The closest active player to that mark is Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who is tied with six others for 334th all-time with 110 sacrifice bunts.
In the first inning, on an overcast Monday afternoon in New York, Ray Chapman, the Indians two-hole hitter, laid down the last sacrifice bunt he ever would.
After bunting into a double-play ball in the third, Chapman came to bat for the final time of his life in the fifth inning.
Leading off, with his team leading 3-0, Chapman was hit with the first pitch from Mays.
The ball struck Chapman on the left side of his head and he collapsed to the ground immediately.
Mays' pitch hit Chapman so square in the head, he thought the pitch had actually hit Chapman's bat because of the sound that it made.
It was written, that Babe Ruth, who was in his first season with the Yankees and in right field at the time, could hear the ball hit Chapmans head all the way from right field.
After undergoing surgery on his skull that evening, Chapman died in the early morning hours of August 17th.
The sport while in mourning, had also become enraged following Chapman's death.
Two clubs in particular, the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers took up a petition, imploring the American League to ban Mays from ever playing baseball again.
Mays, not only went onto pitch another two innings in the game, in which the Indians held onto win 4-3, but another nine years in the Majors.
Mays, who passed away at the age of 79 in 1971, contended that the ball was wet and had slipped out of his hand, didn't hold back the hurt he said he'd felt after that tragic moment in time.
"It is the most regrettable incident of my baseball career," Mays said. "I would give anything if I could undo what has happened. Chapman was a game, splendid fellow."
Words could not undo what had been done.
That deadly pitch, ignited a rivalry between two ball clubs, sent an entire city into mourning and cost Ray Chapman his life.
While Clevelands baseball team was devastated, it was able to use Chapman's death as a battle cry.
The Indians were led by player/manager and future Hall of Famer, center fielder Tris Speaker, who hit .388 that season while leading the league in doubles with 50, including 214 hits.
The Indians went on to clinch the AL pennant and defeated the Brooklyn Robins 5-2 in the World Series, which was at that time, a best of nine game playoff.
It was Cleveland's first championship in franchise history. They've been back just five times since, last winning it all in 1948.
While bad blood has boiled between the two franchises since 1920, the rivalry has in large part been lopsided, with the Yankees dominating the Indians over the decades since the birth of its hostile and contentious rivalry.
Cleveland has won the season series against the Yankees just 16 times since 1920 and have suffered much more heartbreak in the playoffs over the years.
New York and Cleveland have met just six times in postseason history, including the 2022 ALDS in which the Yankees outlasted Cleveland 3-2 in five games.
Cleveland got the best of the Yankees just once in playoff baseball. In 1997, the Indians outlasted the Yanks 3-2 in the ALDS, before beating the Baltimore Orioles in six games and ultimately losing the World Series in seven games to the Florida Marlins.
For much more on the birth of one of the oldest and combative rivalries in baseball history, watch my interview with Emmy award winning producer, Andy Billman.
He'll take you through the events of that tragic day in 1920, and the historical battles that ensued between the clubs that have featured an attempted baseball ban, fights on the field, tension-filled fans, exciting pennant races, championship glory, and Hall of Famers.
The premiere of War on the Diamond is Tuesday, Nov. 15 on iTunes/Apple, Amazon, Google, Vudu, YouTube, Microsoft and cable and satellite VOD platforms everywhere.
Shaun Bijani has spent the last 16 years covering the Houston sports scene for SportsRadio 610. Follow him on Twitter @ShaunBijani.
Follow SportsRadio 610 on social media:
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
