It was also getting dark at the time. By all accounts Chapman completely froze up and did not move at all, as if he’d completely lost sight of the ball.
[Nitpick] The runners can’t leave the base until a fielder TOUCHES the fly ball. If the fielder bobbles it several times and then catches it, the runner is free to go on the first bobble. This rule prevents the fielder from being able to intentionally bobble it all the way to the infield and prevent the runner from advancing.
Carl Mays was a submarine pitcher, and his ball was notoriously difficult to pick up when thrown (his release point was near his ankles). In addition, he liked to brushback batters. As a right handed hitter (Mays was right handed, too), it would have been very difficult to pick up the ball even in the best of circumstances and it’s not too surprising he lost track of the ball.
The incident was in the fifth inning of the game. Games in that era usually started at 3:00 pm and the time of the entire game was 1:55, making it unlikely that darkness was a factor (there had been rain earlier in the day, but that had stopped by game time).
Jim Bouton, in Ball Four, alleged Whitey Ford was a master at exploiting marred baseballs, and that Yodi sharpened a buckle on his shinguards to ‘help’. It is rumored that some of the pitches sang arias from italian opears on the way to the plate.
My understanding of the Chapman incident is that it led to frequent switching of baseballs, not banning of the splitter - and so it’s actually pretty relevant to the OP’s question!
The Yankees have been doing it for a loooong time- the first one I actually attended was in 1973, where I got to see Mickey Mantle hit a homer off Whitey Ford.
