WAR ON THE DIAMOND

 

WAR ON THE DIAMOND is a new documentary, based on (or more accurately, inspired by) one of my favorite baseball books, THE PITCH THAT KILLED, written by Mike Sowell. 

The story of both movie and book concerns the tragic fate of Ray Chapman, who was a star shortstop for the Cleveland Indians baseball team in the early 20th Century. On August 16, 1920, at the Polo Grounds in New York City, Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by the Yankees' Carl Mays. Chapman died later that night, and he remains to this day the only MLB player to have perished due to an incident during a game. 

WAR ON DIAMOND presents the idea that Chapman's death was the impetus for a rivalry between the now Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees that lasts to this day. I must say that, from my perspective, I've never felt that those two teams were major rivals....if there is a rivalry, it's pretty one sided, in favor of the Yankees. The film compares working-class Midwest Cleveland with high-class, big-budget New York, but honestly just about any other MLB city could make the same comparison. 

The documentary alternates sequences concerning the life and death of Ray Chapman with scenes detailing the contrasting histories of the Cleveland and Yankee franchises. The Indians vs. Yankees sequences have plenty of rare historic footage, and interviews with notable people who are connected with the teams. The Chapman sequences have footage and audio of Ray's sister and Carl Mays himself. 

While the Indians vs. Yankees subplot is well done, I wish the film had been solely about Ray Chapman. His story is far more compelling than any modern baseball tale--especially when one considers what happened to Chapman's wife and child, and the team he was a member of when he died. (The 1920 Indians overcame what happened to their beloved shortstop and went on to win the World Series.) The genial Chapman, the mercurial Carl Mays, the entire 1920 MLB season....all these subjects are more than enough to fill out a feature-length film. 

I understand why director Andrew Billman (who was also one of the many producers) spent time on the Indians vs. Yankees subplot. Most 21st viewers probably wouldn't be all that interested in something that happened 100 years ago, and anything involving the New York Yankees is going to get attention. I would recommend WAR ON THE DIAMOND, but the best parts of it deal directly with Ray Chapman. Mike Sowell's book THE PITCH THAT KILLED is still the source to go to when it comes to the Chapman tragedy. 

Ray Chapman