Willard McKee Hershberger (May 28, 1910 – August 3, 1940) was an American baseball catcher for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1938 to 1940. In 160 career games, Hershberger recorded a batting average of .316 and accumulated 5 triples and 41 runs. He is the only major league player to date to die by suicide during the season.
Born and raised in California, Hershberger attended Fullerton Union High School where he was a baseball standout. He was signed by the New York Yankees and was part of their minor league system for eight years. He was traded after the 1937 season to the Cincinnati Reds, where he found a place on the major league roster as a backup behind Ernie Lombardi. For three seasons, Hershberger played in relief of Lombardi, stepping in if he needed a day off or was injured. After a slump in late July and early August, Hershberger died by suicide on August 3, 1940, in his hotel room; the Reds went on to win the 1940 World Series.
Early life
Willard Hershberger was born in Lemon Cove, California. His family moved to Fullerton, California, when his father, Claude, got a job working in the city's oil fields. He lived in Fullerton with his father, his mother Maude, and his sister Lois. Hershberger attended Fullerton Union High School, where he distinguished himself on both the baseball and football teams, playing alongside Arky Vaughan and future President Richard Nixon.
Claude, Willard's father, was depressed over financial problems, and on November 21, 1928, he fatally shot himself with a shotgun in the family home's bathroom; Willard, then 18, discovered the body. In 1930, scouts Bill Essick of the New York Yankees and Art Griggs of the Pittsburgh Pirates came to Fullerton to watch Vaughan and Hershberger play, respectively. Essick took a detour and Griggs ended up signing Vaughan instead, while Essick signed Hershberger to a contract to play in the Yankees organization. He spent the 1932 season with three minor league teams, and mostly played for the Erie Sailors of the Central League where he hit .339 in 94 games. In 1934, he was promoted to the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League (PCL), and had a .307 batting average and 18 doubles in 114 games. Hershberger was promoted to the Newark Bears of the International League in 1935, and had a batting average of .310. By the end of the season, his average went down to .263 over 89 games. He spent the full season with the Bears, splitting time with Buddy Rosar at catcher. The team ended up with a 109–43 record and the International League title; the Bears have been called the third greatest minor league team in history by Minor League Baseball. Hershberger hit 15 doubles and had a .325 average in 96 games, and hit .364 in the Junior Series against the Columbus Red Birds. As a result, Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert noted that he would spend the offseason working to get the players on major league rosters. On December 3, 1937, Hershberger was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for shortstop Eddie Miller and $40,000, ending his tenure in the Yankees organization.
Cincinnati Reds
thumb|right|Hershberger in 1940
Reds manager Bill McKechnie noted that Hershberger was playing so well in spring training that there was the possibility of him beating out Ernie Lombardi for the starting catcher job in 1938. He made the roster and served as the backup to Lombardi that season, and played in 49 games and had a .276 batting average. In 1939, Hershberger gained extra playing time due to a Lombardi injury in June; during that stretch, Hershberger had eight hits and five runs batted in in five games. For the season, he hit .345 in 63 games, and played in two games of the 1939 World Series against the Yankees. In the series, he had one hit in two at-bats as the Reds lost in four games.
Hershberger spent the 1940 Cincinnati Reds season as the backup to Lombardi, as had been the case the previous two seasons. He had been hitting well in relief of Lombardi, and had a batting average of .429 at the end of May and .345 at the end of June. In July, Lombardi suffered an injured finger, and Hershberger's playing time increased that month as a result. Lombardi then sprained his ankle on July 26, putting Hershberger in the starting role indefinitely; at the time his batting average was .354. However, in a game against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds on July 31, the Reds took a 4–1 lead into the ninth and lost 5–4, with the comeback capped by a game-ending home run by Harry Danning. After an off-day for the team, the Reds lost both games of a doubleheader on August 2 to the Boston Bees, by scores of 10–3 and 4–3. Hershberger played in the second game and went hitless in six trips to the plate. Hershberger was buried at Visalia Public Cemetery in Visalia, California.
See also
- List of baseball players who died during their careers
- List of suicides (A–M)