Quote:
Originally Posted by todeen
I know only a little about Ernie Lombardi, HOF star of the world champion Reds, but his battle with depression post playing days makes it seem like his attempts to find endorsements was degrading. Living in California, living on past accomplishments with no current star power.... I am going to assume he wasn't the only player who felt like that. Eventually it led him to attempt suicide. From SABR:
"Unfortunately for Lombardi, his life after baseball was not a comfortable one. He held different jobs on the West Coast, unable to settle into a steady profession. He lived the life of a recluse, still haunted by the “Lombardi Snooze” moniker. In April of 1953, he and his wife were visiting relatives in Castro Valley, California. Ernie used the bathroom, said he was not feeling well, and went to lie down in a bedroom. Bernice, his wife, checked on him a short time after and discovered that he had cut his throat with a razor he found in the bathroom. He struggled with emergency personnel, saying that he wanted to die. Lombardi was saved from his suicide attempt and entered a private sanitarium."
Tris Speaker continued to work almost to his death. Wikipedia says he worked in various sports related jobs post career: indoor baseball league, Cleveland boxing commissioner, and finally as a goodwill ambassador for the Indians in the late 1940s.
I think we all have quiet respect for that star player of any generation who is able to escape the spotlight, find a quiet life for themselves that they desire, and live content. And then we all talk about how hard it is to obtain their auto.
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It should be added that Lombardi's backup catcher Willard Hershberger committed suicide during the 1940 season in the exact same way, slitting his throat with a razor in a hotel bathroom. Those demons stayed with Lombardi and clearly had something to do with his own suicide attempt. I'm sure someone here knows a lot more about that story than I do.
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06-22-2021, 06:36 PM
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