Major League Baseball Tragedies

Since 1927, many Major League died during their playing time. This includes 20 car crashes and eight plane crashes. Since 1887, seven MLB players committed suicide. (Note: List is incomplete.)

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Born Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker on August 18, 1934, Clemente played with the Brooklyn Dodgers’ minor league team before making his major league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1955. He led the National League in batting four times during the 1960s, and starred in the 1971 World Series. He died in a plane crash to deliver goods to Nicaragua in 1972. 

Baseball player Roberto Clemente was born on August 18, 1934, in Carolina, Puerto Rico. The son of a sugarcane worker, Roberto began his professional baseball career just after finishing high school. He signed a deal with the Brooklyn Dodgers and played with their minor league team, the Montreal Royals, for a season. The next year he went to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates and made his major league debut in 1955.

Clemente hit an impressive .311 in 1956, but he struggled with injuries and the language barrier early in his career. He hit his stride in 1960, batting .314 with 16 home runs and 94 RBIs to earn his first All-Star berth and help the Pirates win the World Series. The following year, he led the National League with a .351 average, slugged 23 homers and won his first of 12 consecutive Gold Glove Awards for fielding excellence.

As the decade progressed, Clemente established himself as one of the top all-around players in baseball. He won three more batting titles, and twice led the league in hits. Furthermore, he boasted one of the most fearsome arms ever witnessed in the sport, consistently unleashing powerful throws from his post in right field. He enjoyed perhaps his finest season in 1966, batting .317 with a career-best 29 homers and 119 RBIs to win the NL Most Valuable Player Award.

Clemente put on a show in the 1971 World Series, batting .414 with two home runs to help Pittsburgh defeat the favored Baltimore Orioles. Late in the 1972 season, he became the first Hispanic player to reach 3,000 career hits.

Reputation and Death

Off the field, Clemente was described as a quiet gentleman. He was proud of his Puerto Rican heritage and stood up for minority rights. Clemente married Vera Zabala in 1963, and they had three sons. Renowned for his humanitarian work, he died in a plane crash on December 31, 1972, en route to bringing much needed supplies to survivors of an earthquake in Nicaragua. The next year he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He became the first Latino inducted into the Hall.

Boston Red Sox outfielder Jimmy Piersall,  fell victim to mental illness.

On May 24, 1952, just before a game against the New York Yankees, Piersall engaged in a fistfight with Yankee infielder Billy Martin

Personal problems

On May 24, 1952, just before a game against the New York Yankees, Piersall engaged in a fistfight with Yankee infielder Billy Martin.^[1] Following the brawl, Piersall briefly scuffled with teammate Mickey McDermott in the Red Sox clubhouse. After several such incidents, including Piersall spanking the four-year-old son of teammate Vern Stephens in the Red Sox clubhouse during a game, he was demoted to the minor league Birmingham Barons on June 28.

In less than three weeks with the Barons, Piersall was ejected on four occasions, the last coming after striking out in the second inning on July 16. Prior to his at-bat, he had acknowledged teammate Milt Bolling‘s home run by spraying a water pistol on home plate.

Receiving a three-day suspension, Piersall entered treatment three days later at the Westborough State Hospital in Massachusetts. Diagnosed with “nervous exhaustion”, he spent the next seven weeks in the facility and missed the remainder of the season.^[2]

Piersall returned to the Red Sox in the 1953 season, finishing ninth in voting for the MVP Award, and remained a fixture in the starting lineup through 1958.

He once stepped up to bat wearing a Beatles wig and playing “air guitar” on his bat, led cheers for himself in the outfield during breaks in play, and “talked” to Babe Ruth behind the center field monuments at Yankee Stadium. In his autobiography, Piersall commented, “Probably the best thing that ever happened to me was going nuts. Who ever heard of Jimmy Piersall until that happened?

.^[1] Following the brawl, Piersall briefly scuffled with teammate Mickey McDermott in the Red Sox clubhouse. After several such incidents, including Piersall spanking the four-year-old son of teammate Vern Stephens in the Red Sox clubhouse during a game, he was demoted to the minor league Birmingham Barons on June 28.

In less than three weeks with the Barons, Piersall was ejected on four occasions, the last coming after striking out in the second inning on July 16. Prior to his at-bat, he had acknowledged teammate Milt Bolling‘s home run by spraying a water pistol on home plate.

Receiving a three-day suspension, Piersall entered treatment three days later at the Westborough State Hospital in Massachusetts. Diagnosed with “nervous exhaustion”, he spent the next seven weeks in the facility and missed the remainder of the season.^[2]

Piersall returned to the Red Sox in the 1953 season, finishing ninth in voting for the MVP Award, and remained a fixture in the starting lineup through 1958.

He once stepped up to bat wearing a Beatles wig and playing “air guitar” on his bat, led cheers for himself in the outfield during breaks in play, and “talked” to Babe Ruth behind the center field monuments at Yankee Stadium. In his autobiography, Piersall commented, “Probably the best thing that ever happened to me was going nuts. Who ever heard of Jimmy Piersall until that happened?

Ryan Freel – suicide after ten concussions

Nick Adenhart

A Los Angeles Angel, Adenhart died in an auto accident in 2009. The most recent MLBer since I blogged this article.

Mickey Mantle

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mantlmi01.shtml

Although he received a liver transplant in June 1995, the cancer had spread to other organs, and Mantle died on August 13. He was 64.

Renown Yankee outfielder Mickey Mantle. The longstanding rivalry between the Bronx Bombers and my beloved Red Sox. but he drank heavily throughout his adult life. Mantle died of liver cancer due to excessive alcohol long after retiring from the game.

(Pictured as rookie in 1951.)

Mantle’s talents led the Yankees as they ruled throughout the late 1950s. They won the American League pennant each year from 1955 to 1958, taking the World Series in 1956 and 1958. Mantle became a genuine superstar in 1956 when he won baseball’s Triple Crown, with a .353 batting average, 52 home runs, and 130 RBIs. He was also selected the American League’s MVP. In 1957 he hit .365 and was again named the league MVP.

Earlier in 1994 Mantle learned that his years of heavy drinking had left him with hepatitis (a swelling of the liver) and liver cancer. Although he received a liver transplant in June 1995, the cancer had spread to other organs, and Mantle died on less than two months later.

NOTE:

At the age of seven, I started watching Major League Baseball in the Fifties on TV.  As a Massachusetts resident, of course, I rooted for the Boston Red Sox.

Especially my childhood hero was Boston’s star outfielder Ted Williams. He quickly became my childhood hero. He died at the ripe old age of 83.

See earlier post:

https://storiesbehindthestories.blog/2018/08/31/ted-williams-left-me-speechless/

NOTE: Stats are estimates.

The following Major League Baseball players died during their careers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baseball_players_who_died_during_their_careers#cite_note-tragic-2

Former players of Major League Baseball still active in professional baseball at the time of their death.

Minor League Baseball[edit]

Minor league players are listed with their major league affiliate team, else denoted with a dagger () if their team was unaffiliated.

Negro League Baseball[edit]

The following Major League Baseball players died during their careers. (See below)

Former players of Major League Baseball still active in professional baseball at the time of their death.

Minor League Baseball[edit]

Minor league players are listed with their major league affiliate team, else denoted with a dagger () if their team was unaffiliated.

Negro League Baseball[edit]