Lifestyles of the greatest

chadeast · #1 06-22-2021, 06:36 PM

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.

todeen · #2 06-22-2021, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chadeast

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.

I brought up Lombardi as a gate to the idea that some athletes have problems transitioning away from stardom. Accepting endorsements is not the same as winning batting titles, or World Series. Lombardi's own GM Warren Giles didn't like him, and actively lobbied to keep him out of the HOF.

This is not alienated to Lombardi alone, it affects many individuals. Any retiree has a hard time transitioning to life after work - "how do I make my life meaningful?"

Hankphenom · #3 06-22-2021, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by todeen

This is not alienated to Lombardi alone, it affects many individuals. Any retiree has a hard time transitioning to life after work - "how do I make my life meaningful?"

Of course. Life challenges everyone, no matter what our station, and we all deal with it the best we can. As the old saw goes, "they still put their pants on one leg at a time." But I think you'd be hard pressed to prove that baseball didn't make most of their lives better than they would have been otherwise, or that they didn't believe that it did.

steve B · #4 06-22-2021, 09:50 PM

The link to Frank Navins house was interesting. It's not all that much bigger than mine, although it has a much better floor plan that can be made to look huge in pictures. Mine is about 3500 square feet compared to 4000. A few streets away there are some houses that are closer to 5000sqf+

The main former owner was initially a partner in a wholesale grocery, and became president of Amalgamated Graphite around 1909-10. So sort of a minor captain of industry.

Renovations to the house were done around then.
A bit later -late teens- he paid taxes on about 11,000 in income.

That was also enough for him to build a house on Marthas Vineyard.

A while ago I looked up the owner of a machine tool company that was here in town, and found his house, still there. He owned a large factory making lathes etc, and his place was also very modest.