Great-Nephew Of Former MLB Pitcher Hopes The Narrative Of His Controversial Great-Uncle Changes

The great-nephew of a World Series-winning Major League Baseball pitcher is giving insight into the player who has ties to Oklahoma.

Kyle Arrington says as a kid he wasn't much of a baseball fan before he learned about Carl Mays. Then one day, his dad showed him a book that had just recently been published and told him "this is your great uncle." Ever since then, Arrington's life hasn't been the same.

"Most of my family history was mostly oil field workers," Arrington said. "Not a four-time World Series winner."

A young Carl Mays moved to Kingfisher, where he learned how to play baseball.

He went on to be a member of four World Series-winning teams in the early 1900s.

Arrington says he tries not to take the stories told about Mays for granted.

"One of my goals in life is to at least keep his memory alive," Arrington said.

With over 200 wins as a pitcher, his numbers speak for themselves.

But his unfortunate claim to fame is being the man who threw the pitch that killed Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman, making it the only recorded death in MLB history.

Despite his impressive numbers, Mays is still not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

And Mike Sowell, the author of "The Pitch that Killed," thinks the incident might be a part of that.

"Besides being a controversial figure, he's probably one of the most misunderstood baseball players in history," Sowell said.

An upcoming documentary called "War on the Diamond" is based on Sowell's book.

Arrington hopes, through the stories told, people will see his uncle in a different light.

"I'm just hoping that future generations can look at his life and the accident in a whole different way," Arrington said.

The documentary is set to release sometime next month.