This day in history: Baseball player Michael Riley "Doc" Powers, 38, ran into a wall while chasing a foul ball during a game at Philadelphia's Shibe Park, on this day in 1909. He died from internal injuries two weeks later.
Powers is not the only player to die playing baseball. In 1920, Ray Chapman, a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians, was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by pitcher Carl Mays and died 12 hours later. His death led baseball to establish a rule requiring umpires to replace the ball whenever it becomes dirty. Chapman's death and sanitary concerns also led to the ban on spitballs after the 1920 season. Chapman's death was also one of the examples cited to justify the wearing of batting helmets. However, it took over 30 years to adopt the rule that required their use.
On June 18, 1916, John Dodge, playing with the Mobile Sea Gulls of the Southern League, was hit square in the face by an inside pitch from Nashville's Tom Rogers. According to The Sporting News, "at the time it was not thought Dodge was seriously injured. Examination by physicians, however, showed that his face was crushed in such a manner that complications might result and he was taken to a hospital, but nothing medical aid could do would save his life." Dodge died the following night, at the age of 23. (Rogers would later make the majors, and in 1921 was briefly a teammate of Carl Mays, the pitcher who had killed Ray Chapman the year before.)
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