August 3, 1940: Willard Hershberger commits suicide in his Boston hotel room. He is the only Major League Baseball player to take his own life during the season.
Willard McKee Hershberger was born on May 28, 1910 in Lemon Cove, California, in the San Joaquin Valley, and grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Fullerton, California. At Fullerton Union High School, he was a baseball teammate of future Hall-of-Fame shortstop Joseph "Arky" Vaughan, and a football teammate of future President Richard Nixon, who transferred to nearby Whittier High School and graduated from that school. Fullerton Union had previously produced Hall-of-Fame pitcher Walter Johnson.
Willard's father, Claude Hershberger, had financial problems, which drove him to depression and, in 1928, his son's senior year, to suicide. Willard found the body.
He was signed by the New York Yankees as a catcher in 1930, and batted .307 for the Pacific Coast League's Hollywood Stars in 1934, .310 with the International League's Newark Bears in 1935, and was batting .313 at one point in 1936. But his average tailed off to .263. In 1937, the Bears had one of the greatest seasons any minor-league team has ever had, with Hershberger batting .325.
But after the season, the Yankees traded him to the Cincinnati Reds. Reds manager Bill McKechnie named him the backup catcher to Ernie Lombardi, one of the best-hitting catchers the game had ever seen to that point. He helped the Reds win the 1939 National League Pennant, but they were swept in the World Series by the Yankees.
The Reds were doing well through most of 1940, but on July 26, Lombardi sprained his ankle, and Hershberger, already batting .354 in a part-time role, became the starting catcher. On July 31, the Reds led the New York Giants 4-1 going into the 9th inning, but lost, 5-4.
They traveled to Boston, and on August 2, played a doubleheader with the Boston Bees -- this being the last of 5 seasons in which the former Boston Braves changed their name, and changed the name of Braves Field to National League Park, before switching both team and stadium back in 1941. The Bees won both games, 10-3 and 4-3. Bill Baker was the Reds' catcher in the opener, so that Hershberger wouldn't have to catch both games, and went 0-for-4. Hershberger played the nightcap, which went 12 innings, and Hershberger went 0-for-5, although he did draw a walk.
Reds 3rd baseman Billy Werber, who lived to be 100 years old, published a memoir at age 92 in which he recalled Hershberger telling him, "If Ernie had been catching, we wouldn't have lost those ball games." Werber told McKechnie, and McKechnie told Werber that Hershberger had told him of his father's suicide, saying, "And I'm gonna do it, too." They agreed to watch Hershberger, but after an hour, he had calmed down, and they thought he would be fine.
The Reds were staying at the Copley Plaza Hotel. The next day, Hershberger missed batting practice. Gabe Paul, early in a long career as a baseball executive, was the Reds' traveling secretary, and McKechnie sent him to find Hershberger. He did, finding him alive, but he said he wasn't feeling well. Paul told him that McKechnie at least wanted him there in street clothes, so Hershberger told Paul he would get dressed and come.
The Reds played another doubleheader, with Lombardi starting the 1st game, going 0-for-2 with 2 walks. The Reds won, 3-1. But by the end, Hershberger still hadn't shown up. The Copley Plaza was called, and management unlocked the door to Hershberger's room. He was lying next to the bathtub, with his throat silt. He was 30 years old.
The 2nd game was played before anyone at the ballpark knew what had happened. The Bees won, 5-2. Baker was the catcher, and went 3-for-4 with an RBI. After the game, Reds coach Hank Gowdy, who had been the Braves' catcher when they won the 1914 World Series, brought the players together, and said, "I want to tell you something. Willard Hershberger has just destroyed himself." McKechnie told the team he was dedicating them to win the World Series for "Hershie." The team retired his Number 5. (It would later be brought out of retirement, but retired again, for another catcher, Johnny Bench.)
With 40-year-old coach Jimmie Wilson brought out of retirement to back up the hurting Lombardi and the barely-adequate Baker, the Reds ended up winning the Pennant, by 12 games over the Brooklyn Dodgers, and, with Wilson batting .353 in the 7 games, beat the Detroit Tigers to win the World Series. The Reds donated a World Series share, $5,803 (about $121,000 in 2022 money), to Maude Hershberger, Willard's mother.
Several baseball players have committed suicide, most of them after their retirements or during the off-season. Willard Hershberger remains the only one to do so during the season.
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August 3, 1940 was a Saturday. These other baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 5-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Joe DiMaggio did not play.
* The New York Giants lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-3 at the Polo Grounds. Mel Ott went 1-for-4.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at Ebbets Field.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-0 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. (It was renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1953.) Mace Brown pitched a 3 hit shutout.
* The Detroit Tigers swept a doubleheader from the Boston Red Sox, 6-4 and 14-2 at Briggs Stadium. (It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.) Jimmie Foxx only played in the 1st game, and went 1-for-2 with a walk. Over the 2 games, Ted Williams went 1-for-8, and Hank Greenberg went 2-for-5 with 4 walks.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators, 7-6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
* And the Philadelphia Athletics beat the St. Louis Browns, 11-7 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. (It was renamed Busch Stadium in 1953.)
Also, actor Martin Sheen was born on this day.
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