Mays Copeland (August 31, 1913 – November 29, 1982) was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. Born in 1913 in

Mountain View, Arkansas Mountain View is the largest city in and the county seat of Stone County, Arkansas, United States. Located in the Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U ...

, he played professional baseball in the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

organization from 1933 to 1936. He appeared in 68 professional games, compiling a 46–44

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of matc ...

. During the 1933 season, he appeared in 41 games for the Springfield (MO) Cardinals and compiled a 17–12 record. In April 1934, Springfield sold Copeland to the Houston club in the Texas League. He compiled a 16–10 record for Houston with a 3.65

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA). After two successful seasons in the minor leagues, he was sold to the Cardinals in December 1934. He injured his arm in spring training camp, and appeared in only one game with the Cardinals on April 27, 1935, giving up two hits and allowing one earned run. In May 1935, the Cardinals released Copeland to the Columbus Red Birds. He was reportedly sent to Columbus "to work out a 'sore arm'." Branch Rickey rated Copeland as his "No. 1 recruit," and his failure to deliver due to arm trouble was cited by Rickey as the No. 1 reason why the 1935 Cardinals failed to live up to expectations. He spent the rest of the 1935 season with Springfield and Houston. He concluded his professional baseball career in 1936 with Springfield and the Houston Buffs. He was placed on the suspended list with a sore arm in 1937 and unsuccessfully attempted a comeback in 1938. His twin brother, Hays Copeland, also played baseball and tried out with the Cardinals. Copeland served in the U.S. Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He was wounded in action in Belgium in December 1944. Copeland died in 1982 in Indio, California, at age 69.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Copeland, Mays 1913 births 1982 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers St. Louis Cardinals players Baseball players from Arkansas People from Mountain View, Arkansas