Ten "Strangest" Baseball Deaths

[petrel]

I don't know if they're the strangest, but they're shocking. The list:

http://www.flumesday.com/101506strangest.html

10. Thurmon Munson -- airplane crash
9. Ray Chapman -- killed by pitched ball
8. Donnie Moore -- suicide
7. Darryl Kile -- heart attack
6. Darrell Porter -- recovered addict, returned to drugs, overdose
5. Steve Olin and Tim Crews -- boating accident
4. Ed Delahanty -- unknown cause, body found at bottom of Niagara Falls
3. Roberto Clemente -- airplane crash, body not recovered
2. Bo Diaz -- crushed by satellite dish
1. Cory Lidle -- airplane crash into skyscraper

I would have added Willard Hershberger, a Reds catcher who committed suicide in mid-season in 1940.

--Pet

[Tannhauser]

Uh . . . What? Deathes aren't strange . . .

*tosses the bird hit by the Big Unit*

[nuzzy62]

why are those strange?

[RickD]

I never actually heard about Diaz before. That was a surprise to me.

[Pavelb1]

You left out Norm Cash and Lynn Mcglothlin (sp)...just off the top of my head. It's very saddening to be playing the game, find an odd player you like, only to find out they're dead.

[CatKnight]

I know. I first came across McGlothin in my 76-78 Cardinal dynasty and looked him up. I was shocked he died so young.

[Coach Owens]

What about Jimmie Foxx? He wasn't young or still playing but he still died in an interesting way.

[robinhoodnik]

Another unfortunate, very young, death was Harry Agganis of the Red Sox. The Golden Greek.

[Jeff Olsen]

I'll have to check my books but I recall one who was on a plane and decided to take a walk outside.

[Jeff Olsen]

From Total Baseball:

• 19th Century amateur pitcher James Creighton reportedly ruptured his bladder during an at bat. He died from internal bleeding four days later.
• Edgar McNabb was apparently the latter half of a murder/suicide.
• Nearly Headless Marty Bergen took an ax to his wife, son, and daughter, then slit his throat with a straight razor. Manager Frank Selee said Bergen had been plagued by hallucinations and paranoia.
• Win Mercer essentially stuck his head in an oven.
• In 1906, minor league pitcher Bill Thomas disappeared from a boat while en route from New Bedford to New York City.
• Chick Stahl downed some carbolic acid after being involved with several women, one of whom reportedly took a couple of potshots at him. His widow died from a cerebral edema the next year, after her own unsuccessful suicide attempt.
• Dan McGann put a bullet through his heart, possibly in response to a brother committing suicide a few months prior.
• Tony Boeckel, who had reported 1919 World Series shenanigans to NL President John Heydler, died after being struck by a passing motorist while checking damage from his own collision with a truck.
• WWI flying instructor Marv Goodwin crashed after engine failure at 200 feet and died four days later. The Cardinals had recently sold Goodwin to the Reds and demanded full payment for the transaction. The Reds refused, saying he was on their roster for less than 30 days. The case was argued all the way to the commissioner and Judge Landis ruled in favor of the Reds.
• Walt Lerian died after being struck by a truck that jumped a curb and pinned him against the side of a building.
• "Big Ed" Morris and Miguel Fuentes died as the result of barroom brawls.
• Len Koenecke is probably who I was thinking of earlier. Reportedly the last player personally scouted by John McGraw, Koenecke chartered a plane from Detroit to Buffalo. Somewhere over Canada, the drunken Koenecke apparently wanted to try his hand at flying the plane so he and the pilot started fighting for control. The pilot picked up a fire extinguisher and bludgeoned Koenecke to death with one hand, keeping the other on the yoke. The plane landed at a racetrack on the outskirts of Toronto, where the pilot & co-pilot had to flee some guard dogs.
• Benny Frey practiced auto-asphyxiation, as did Don Wilson.
• Charlie Hollocher put a 16-gauge to his throat at the age of 54.
• Players who were killed in car accidents after just one season include Al Montgomery and Paul Edmondson.
• Austin McHenry had a brain tumor, as did Dick Wantz and Dick Howser.
• Walt Bond and Danny Thompson had leukemia.
• Danny Frisella died when his dune buggy overturned.
• Lyman Bostock was in the back seat of a car when he was shot to death by an angry husband whose wife was in the passenger seat beside Bostock's uncle.
• Francisco Barrios, like Porter, was a recovering addict who relapsed then overdosed.
• Yankee prospect Jeff Hoffman died in circumstances similar to Kile's.
• Eight months after Olin & Crews, the Indians lost reliever Cliff Young due to a car accident.