The Beaning is a nine-minute 2017 short film directed by Sean McCoy.
It is a mockumentary wrapped around a real historical incident. The facts are these: on August 16, 1920, Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman
was struck in the head by a fastball thrown by New York Yankees pitcher Carl Mays. Chapman died, and he remains the only major league baseball player ever to die from injuries suffered in a game.
What this film supposes is, what if it was a Satanic blood sacrifice ritual by the New York Yankees?
Tropes:
- Casualty in the Ring: Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman is murdered, hit in the head by a pitch as a Satanic ritual sacrifice.
- Credits Gag: The narrator is credited only as "The Man From Cleveland".
- Deal with the Devil: It's not directly stated, but it's implied that the New York Yankees owe their success in the century that followed (the Yankees went to their first World Series the next year, and have more than twice as many championships as any other franchise) due to a deal with the devil sealed by the ritual sacrifice of Ray Chapman.
- Feet-First Introduction: Carl Mays is introduced with a camera shot that starts with a closeup of a photo of his feet, before panning up to show the rest of him.
- Hellish Pupils: Muddy Ruel's Satanic eyes with vertical slits for pupils are shown right before the fatal beaning.
- Human Sacrifice: Carl Mays throws what seems to be a ritually enchanted baseball, dripping blood, to kill Ray Chapman in a ritual sacrifice.
- The Ken Burns Effect: Used with some of the stills, like when Carl Mays is introduced by a slow pan of the camera up a picture of him.
- Mockumentary: A narrator explains with mock seriousness how baseball has always been soaked in rituals of the occult and Satanism, before we see Ray Chapman deliberately murdered.
- Satan: Each of the two owners of the New York Yankees hallucinates the other dressed up as Satan, red cloak, horns, and all. Then the devil himself (actually a clip of Emil Jannings from Faust) can be seen looming over the Polo Grounds in New York.note
- Shout-Out:
- The "Number nine, number nine, number nine" from The Beatles "Revolution 9" can briefly be heard on the soundtrack.
- A still of Emil Jannings in costume as Mephistopheles, from the famous scene in Faust where he looms over Faust's village, is used in the movie to show the Devil looming over the Polo Grounds in New York, where the fateful game was played.
- Sports Stories: Baseball meets Satanic ritual.
- Stock Footage: Stock footage of baseball games, plus stock footage from films like Häxan to demonstrate Satanic worship. Also a much weirder clip from what appears to be an old stag film, of totally nude women playing baseball on the beach.
- Stock Scream: The Wilhelm Scream is used for the moment where Chapman is hit by the pitch.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: The Yankee catcher (Muddy Ruel) is shown with glowing, evil Satanic gold eyes as he waits for the fateful pitch.
