MAY 7, 1957 | CLEVELAND, OHIO – A pitcher’s worst nightmare happened to a promising 23-year old Cleveland Indians starter on this date in 1957. There was one out in the top of the first when Herb Score was hit in the face by a line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald. Score was in the vulnerable position pitchers always find themselves immediately after releasing the ball. The ball struck him in the right eye, ricocheted over to third baseman Al Smith who threw out McDougald. Score had to be carried off the field on a stretcher. He missed the rest of the season with broken bones in his face and a damaged right eye. His career was never the same. Score was more than promising. He was proven. He won 16 games as a rookie in 1955 and was 20 – 9 in ‘56. Before he got hit in 1957 Score was 2-1 with an ERA of 2.00.
He tried to make a comeback with Cleveland in 1958 but could not find the magic. He was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1960. He never finished a season with an ERA below 3.00 again. In 1962, Score retired to the Indians broadcast booth where he spent more than 35 years.
Other promising careers have been cut short, or worse, by injuries on the field. They include:
Tony Conigliaro – Boston Red Sox outfielder beaned while batting in 1967. He was just 22 but already had 104 home runs. He missed the rest of ’67 and all of ’68 and was out of baseball at age 30.
Ray Chapman – Cleveland Indian shortstop knocked unconscious by a beaning August 16, 1920. He never regained consciousness and died the next day – believed to be the only modern major league player to die as a result of being hit by a ball.
Baseball has been described as a pastoral, deliberate, non-contact sport marked by long stretches of inactivity. This “inactivity” builds anticipation for the potential of violence; the collision of a play at the plate, bodies flying through the air as a double play is attempted at second, players crashing into walls, railings and each other trying to catch fly balls and line drives, a pitcher throwing the ball as fast as he can at a target inches from a batter protected only by a helmet, a ball being hit – often at far greater speeds – back at an even less protected pitcher barely 50 feet away after he releases the ball.
Baseball is a much more subdued sport than football, basketball or hockey, but the threat of what happened to Herb Score, Tony Conigliaro and Ray Chapman are always possibilities.
