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Show Ball Fans Pay Tribute To Cleveland Shortstop Ray Chapman Was All Around Athlete and One of the Best Diamond Stars in the Game; Death Was Accidental According to District Attorney Joyce; Plan Military Funeral I CLEVELAND Aug. 18 Hundreds of admirer., and friends of Ray hap-man, hap-man, star shortstop of the Cleveland baseball club, gathered at the Union depot today to meet th bon;, of their Idol, who died In New York yesterday. yester-day. Among those accompanying the body were Chapman s widowed bride Manager Iris Speaker and Joe Wood of the Cleveland team It was taken in charge by an undertaker un-dertaker ponding funeral arrangements. arrange-ments. Chapman's death occurred In a lospltal following an operation after he had been hit on the head by n pitched ball In Monday s game between be-tween New ork and Cleveland and sustained a fractured skull. EAGER FOR PLW WT It was Chapman's eagerness to aid In giving this city its first pennant that Indirectly resulted In his death When he married Mfss Kathareen Daly, one of Cleveland's beet known society women last ( etober he was asked If he would retire from the e.imc and devote Ills time to a business busi-ness in which he had acquired an Interest. In-terest. "I'll play next year for I want to help give Tr!s Speaker and the CI' ve-land ve-land fans the fust pennant Cleveland ever has had ' Chapman replied Then I will talk quitting." Chapman also was a star track man and football player In competltletn with hundreds of athletes Including many stars of large universities Chapman Chap-man won a place on the Cleveland naval reserve track teum In 1918. W IS si'KlN PER. In a field me t at i amp Custer ho took first honors In the 1 u o ami Jim yard dashes his time for the 100 yards being 10 seconds He also was a member of the crack naval reserve football team the only eleven to defeat Pittsburg university In 1918. The baseball team which Chapman captained was undefeated all season Members of the naval reserve club asked meml eia ui his family that they be allowed to hold a military funeral. I NEW YORK Aug. J 7 New York baseball tans paid final tribute tonight to-night to Ray Chapman shortstop of the Cleveland American team, who died early today from the blow he received re-ceived on the head from a pitched ball in the game between New York and Cleveland yesterday. Tgnlght chapman's body was put aboard a train for Cleveland, where It is to arrive ar-rive tarlj tomorrow. FY RESPECTS Today while the body lay at the undertakers' rooms, hundreds of baseball base-ball fans called to view n fJnd tonight acted as an escort as the coffin was placed on a trunk car that carried it through the station to the ir.iln The fans formed an aisle near the gates and stood with bared h ads a.- the ir bearing the body passed through. While the death of Chapman lias caused sorrow among baseball magnates, mag-nates, players and fans, none seemed ah deeply grieved as Carl Ma;, s, iht New fork pitcher, who delivered the ball that resulted In Chapman s death After the game yesterday, Maya went to his room and denied hlmsi it to all. Ho paced the floor during the nlghl and when word came today that Chapman had died, he broke down and said he desired to give himself up as soon as possible On his visit to the district attorney attor-ney s office, Mas was accompanied by Charles Mclfanus, business m i g'T of the Yankees, Manager Trls Speaker and Seen tar-. Walter Mc-Nichols Mc-Nichols of the Cleveland lufc Mays made his statement to Assistant Assist-ant District Attorney John p. Joyce. The pitcher, eyes filled with tears and barely able to teil his story, said "It was a straight last ball and not a curved one. When Chapman came to bat I got the signal for a straight fast ball, which I delivered It was ; little too close and I saw Chapman duck his head to get out of the patl of the ball. He was too late, howevei and a second later he fell It was th most regrettable Incident of nij earner and I unnlrl e-lve nm ihinr li II could undo w hat has happen d After hearing .May's story. Mr Joyce said he thought Chapman's death was accidental." Manager Speaker of tho Cleveland! club, talking with Colonel Huston, part owner of the Yankees, said the accident was unavoidable "'I do not hold Mays responsible.'1 he added. I have been active in discouraging my pla.. rs from holding! Mays responsible and in respect to Chapman's memory as well as for the I good of baseball. I hope all talk of this kind will stop. I can realize Ma si feels as deeply 'u any man court) and I do not want to add anything to his burd' n 1 do not know what prompted prompt-ed the nctton of the Boston .md Detroit De-troit players. For my part I think it is deplorable." Speaker referred to the report from Boston that the players play-ers would not play In subsequent games with Mays. Grief for the popular shortstop cut deep Into the host of his admirers as soen as it became known that an operation had failed to save his life. The thought that the diamond tragedy would spoil the Chances of the Cleveland Cleve-land and New York teams for the American league pennant was general .U her hotel, .Mrs Chapman, whcS arrived from Cleveland several hours after her husband breathed his last, refused to receive the profcrrod consolation con-solation of her husband s friends and team mates. Except Tor Trie Speaker, Speak-er, she would see no one. I Karlier she announced her Intention Inten-tion of going to ihe undertaken par-I par-I lore, but later when It was learned that the body could be moved to .Cleveland tonight, jhc declared she would wait until her arrival home. The postmoi tem examination of the body bioughl no new information. According Ac-cording to tne autopsy surgeon. Chapman Chap-man died from a blow in the left temporal region which fractured the skull, depressing part of bone, whb h caused an Inter-cranial hemorrhage. DEEPL1 l?OU RED. Colonel Huston said he was deeply touched by Chapman d death. I am terribly sorry that Chapman was killed he said I m sorry such an accldi nt had to happen in our park or that any of our team had any connection con-nection with it it is unfortunate that I a should have been Mays who pitched the ball, loo, because of the tremendous tremend-ous publicity he has had. I can't say anv more." He admitted there would be bltter-I bltter-I ness on the part of players, but said I he had assurances from Trls Speaker tnai he would do all possible to prc-vent prc-vent an attitude of antagonism be- coming general among Chapman'si i team males. '.thousands of fans, most of whom1 did not know Chapman had died, gathered to see todays -rame. They UI-iii-i seil w hen told tnat the shortstop had died and that the game had been i I called oif. WONDERFUL RECORD CLEVEbAXH, .. Aug. 17. Ravi Chapman played In 1,030 games with i ihe Cleveland club, exclusive of exhi-1 billon games, since Joining the team, I August 12, l aii-um aii-um ot o.iot times at bat, he made 1.054 hits, for an average of .278 and Scored 671 runs. He drew 442 bases Ion balls, struck out 412 time.5. stole 2X6 oases and delivered 33i sacrifice I hits. Hi Id ihe American league in runs ; In 1918, with 84. in 1912, 1917 and 1910. he led the league in sacrifice 1 hits, Betting a world's record in 1917 j with b".. Chapman owned a fielding average of .938 for the nine years In 1915 he had more putouts than any shi.ristop In Ihe big league 37S and Jin 1917 he led the 3hort fielders of ! his league In both putouts and asslsta with 360 and 528 respectively While he made many errors, he had been guilty of few njlsplays this season sea-son While accepting more than 600 chances, ho had made only 28 errors. In the first two New York games I here last week, Chapman accepted 21 I out of 22 chances, having nine assists as-sists each day CHICAGO. Aug 17 Ban Johnson, president of the American league, Issued Is-sued a statement today In apprecla-I apprecla-I Hon of tho baseball career of Ray i Chapman, Cleveland shortstop. Raj Chapman was B splendid character. ' ho said. He was loved ' and respected by every one In the profession (lean, wholesome and manly, he contributed to the high , standard of baseball His tragic death wil be keenly deplored by his comrades and the many thousands who have been thrilled by his brilliant performance on the field" ! |