Willard Hershberger

Willard McKee Hershberger

  • Nick Name: Hershie
  • American

Willard Hershberger was an American Major League Baseball player who was good humored and highly popular with his fellow players according to The Sporting News. - AsNotedIn


Timeline

Y/M/D Description Association Composition Place Locale Food Event
Y/M/D Description Association Composition Place Locale Food Event
1910/05/28 Willard McKee Hershberger is born the son of Claude Hershberger in Lemon Cove, California. Born Lemon Cove California
1928/11/21 After being awoken by a gun shot, Willard Hershberger finds the lifeless body of his father, Claude, on the family home's bathroom floor. Claude had killed himself with his son's shotgun. Life
1937/00/00 Willard Hershberger is traded to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for shortstop Eddie Miller. Vocation
1939/00/00 During his second year in US Major League Baseball, Willard Hershberger maintains a .345 hitting average in 174 at bats over 63 games. Vocation
1940/07/27 During a Cincinnati Reds lose to the Philadelphia Phillies, Hershberger makes zero hits during four attempts a batting. Vocation
1940/07/31 Although leading by three runs, the Reds lose to the New York Giants when pitcher Bucky Walters, the reigning NL Most Valuable Player, gives up two walks and two two-run home runs in the last inning. Hershberger is inconsolable. Vocation
1940/07/31 On the train from New York to Boston, Hershberger tells teammate Billy Werber, "I called for the wrong pitches. If Ernie (Red's catcher Ernie Lombardi) had been in there, we wouldn't have lost. I've let the team down." Vocation
1940/08/02 During the second game of a double header against the Boston Bees, Willard Hershberger plays in a trance like state, getting no hits in 5 attempts. That night he cries uncontrollably in the suite of the Reds' manager, Bill McKechnie. Vocation Copley Plaza Hotel Boston
1940/08/03 Willard Hershberger meticulously lays towels, wall to wall, on the bathroom floor of his room at the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston. and commits suicide with a used single-edge blade that he had taken from his roommate's safety razor. Died Copley Plaza Hotel Boston
1940/10/06 The Detroit Tigers beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-0 in the sixth game of the Baseball World Series. Having dedicating themselves to winning the World Series "for Hershie", the Reds players look forward to the final game against the Tigers in Cincinnati. In Memoriam The Corner Ballpark Detroit
1940/10/08 The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series, defeating the Detroit Tigers in game seven at Crosley Field (lost) in Cincinnati. The Reds' will vote for Hershberger to receive a full share of the award and send a check for $5,083.62 to his mother in California In Memoriam
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