To: Alberta's Child
Here's some catcher death trivia:
Suicides, Murder, Untimely Deaths and Mayhem
Of the 80 ballplayers who committed suicide, 13 percent were catchers, second only to pitchers (45 percent).
Only one player, Willard Hershberger a Cincinnati Reds catcher, committed suicide during his playing season.
1891 Frank Gustav Bell shot to death in Cincinnati.
1895 William H. "Bill" Colgan killed in a train accident, while he was coupling railroad cars.
1895 Frank M. Bowes shot to death in New York City.
1900 Frederick Joseph Zahner drowned.
1900 Marty Bergen found dead by his father, Michael, nearly decapitated from a slash with a straight razor. Marty's wife and two children found dead nearby from multiple blows from an ax. Ruled a murder-suicide.
1901 Charles Snyder fractured his skull and died while he was being evicted from a hotel.
1901 James William Duncan downed.
1907 Nathaniel W. Hicks asphyxiated by gas in a hotel room.
1913 Jeremiah "Jerry" Peter Harrington stabbed to death while trying to break up a barroom brawl.
1921 Larry McLean shot dead by a Boston bartender. McLean was tallest catcher ever (6'5").
1923 Francis E. McManus shot dead in Syracuse, NY.
1927 Drummond Nicoi Brown shot dead in Parkville, MO.
1945 Harry O'Neill killed in the battle of Iwo Jima. He caught one game for Philadelphia Athletics in 1939.
1956 Tommy Gastall drowned when his plane crashed into Chesapeake Bay. He was 22 y/o and played two seasons with Baltimore.
1979 Thurman Munson died in a plane crash while practicing landings in his new jet near Canton, Ohio.
1990 Bo Diaz was crushed to death by a satellite dish, which he was adjusting on the roof of his house in Caracas, Venezuela.
56 posted on
06/11/2003 8:47:29 PM PDT by
Pharmboy
(Dems lie 'cause they have to...)
To: Pharmboy
Looks like a lot of people had it in for catchers. I feel this way when I listen to Tim McCarver. Interesting post, but actually 45 percent for pitchers would be just slightly above their percentage on the roster. I can think of Don Wilson and Donnie Moore in relatively recent times.
60 posted on
06/11/2003 8:50:54 PM PDT by
speedy
To: Pharmboy
I seem to remember two players named Lyman Bostock and Donnie Moore (maybe both of the Angels, oddly enough) who died untimely deaths within the last 15-20 years.
And you left out those three pitchers for the Indians who died in the boating accident a few years back, too.
To: Pharmboy
Sorry -- my bad. I didn't realize you were only listing catchers.
That Bo Diaz incident belongs in a documentary about bizarre deaths.
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