(This is another of the interviews with wartime ballplayers conducted by A’s Society member Kit Crissey and included in his book, Teenagers, Graybeards and 4-F’s, vol. 2 (copyright 1982), and reprinted with Kit’s permission. Eddie Mayo played third base for the Athletics in 1943, after playing two and a fraction prewar seasons in the National League with the Giants and Boston Bees. Incidentally, Kit’s book is available at the A’s Society Gift Shop.)
“I had been traded to Los Angeles of the Pacific Coast League by the Boston Bees, but was drafted by the Philadelphia A’s at the end of the ’42 season.
“The thing that I remember about ’43 spring training was getting hit in the eye the weekend before the season started. We had a man in a rundown between home and third. Bob Swift, our catcher, was running him back to third. He threw the ball to me, but just as I was about to catch it, it hit the runner’s head, caromed off ever so slightly and hit me in the left eye, causing a retinal hemorrhage. I had a big patch over the eye when we opened against Washington. The injury affected my sight and therefore my hitting until the next fall. There was a blind spot in the eye and the muscles of accommodation didn’t react to a moving object, so I had to grope for the ball instead of attacking it. What Frank Skaff had to say about getting my good vision back while staring at the ceiling one night is true. It happened after the ’43 season had ended. Every morning when I awoke, the first thing I would look for would be the black spot in my eye. One morning I woke up, and about 95% of it had disappeared, so I was elated.
“I’m not sure how my injury compared with Tony Conigliaro’s, except to say that I was hit directly in the eye, and I believe Tony got it in the cheek. I still carry a scar over the eye. From what I understand, the impact of the ball pushed the eyeball itself back, causing the hemorrhage. I was treated by several doctors in Philadelphia, and at one point they said they might have to take the eyeball out and puncture the numerous blood clots which had formed to allow the blood flow through. At that point I told them I wasn’t about to show up for that operation.
“The ’43 season wasn’t a very pleasant one, not only for me but also the team. Prior to the start of the season, Connie Mack had a general meeting and pointed out there wasn’t a chance for the Athletics to win the pennant that year; however, that did not mean that all twenty-five men on the team could not contribute something, and every game above and beyond our normal capabilities would be one more game in the victory column. Of course, we went on to lose twenty in a row and finish last, something I’m not proud of at all. Immediately after the season ended, the A’s sent me to Louisville, but the Tigers drafted me before I reported to spring training.”
(With his eyesight restored, Mayo went on to play five seasons as the Detroit second baseman, winning The Sporting News award as the most valuable non-pitcher in the American League in 1945, and returned to Philadelphia as a coach for the Phillies from 1952 to 1954. He now lives in Banning, California.)
