Of the 500+ cards in the set, 14 indicated the player's death on the back, and of those, these four stood out. This set has been an immersion course in baseball history. I've learned so much in the last week from the ~50 odd player cards I've researched so far. This is going to be a year-long personal project.
Please share any stories, history, factoids, links so I can learn more about these players !!
Bill Donovan
William "Wild Bill" Edward Donovan
“Killed in train wreck Dec 1922”
Lengthy bio on
SABR
Ray Chapman
Raymond Johnson Chapman
“Killed by a pitched ball in the summer of 1920. Ball pitched by Carl May of the New York Club”
Great biographical article in the
NY Times, another in
SABR
Walt Lerian
Walter "Peck" Irvin Lerian
“Killed by accident after the season of 1929”
Bio on
SABR
Tony Boeckel
Norman Doxie Boeckel
“Killed in automobile accident in February 1924”
The first active major leaguer to die in an automobile accident
Baseball Reference Bio,
NY Times Obit