Major League Baseball Player. The only active player to ever commit suicide during a baseball season. Born in Lemon Cove, California, he played three seasons with the Cincinnati Reds until his death. An excellent hitting catcher with a career average of .316, he was the backup to catcher Ernie Lombardi. He played for the pennant-winning Reds in the 1939 World Series loss to the Yankees, with a hit in two plate appearances. In July 1940 Lombardi suffered a finger injury, and Hershberger took his place in the starting lineup. When the Reds lost a game to the New York Giants during a heated pennant race, Hershberger overheard teammates saying that they would have won if Lombardi was catching. He made it known that he blamed himself for the loss of another game on August 2nd to the Boston Braves. Reds manager Bill McKechnie told him it was nonsense to feel so depressed about the loss, but the next day Hershberger ended his life with a razor in his room at the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston. He was 30. (His father had also committed suicide, in 1928.) Two months later, the Reds won their first World Series championship since the Black Sox scandal in 1919. Hershberger's uniform number 5 was retired by the team after the incident, but was reactivated in 1942, only to be retired again when future Hall of Famer Johnny Bench finished playing in 1983.
Major League Baseball Player. The only active player to ever commit suicide during a baseball season. Born in Lemon Cove, California, he played three seasons with the Cincinnati Reds until his death. An excellent hitting catcher with a career average of .316, he was the backup to catcher Ernie Lombardi. He played for the pennant-winning Reds in the 1939 World Series loss to the Yankees, with a hit in two plate appearances. In July 1940 Lombardi suffered a finger injury, and Hershberger took his place in the starting lineup. When the Reds lost a game to the New York Giants during a heated pennant race, Hershberger overheard teammates saying that they would have won if Lombardi was catching. He made it known that he blamed himself for the loss of another game on August 2nd to the Boston Braves. Reds manager Bill McKechnie told him it was nonsense to feel so depressed about the loss, but the next day Hershberger ended his life with a razor in his room at the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston. He was 30. (His father had also committed suicide, in 1928.) Two months later, the Reds won their first World Series championship since the Black Sox scandal in 1919. Hershberger's uniform number 5 was retired by the team after the incident, but was reactivated in 1942, only to be retired again when future Hall of Famer Johnny Bench finished playing in 1983.
Bio by: K Guy
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