Exceedingly rare signed photo of Willard Hershberger, who was the first Major League player to commit suicide during the regular season when he took his life in 1940. The photo captures Hershberger in an action "pose" as he demonstrates for the cameraman how he tracks a fly ball from behind the plate. This is first Willard Hershberger signed photo we have ever seen, let alone offered, and we cannot imaging a finer example. Hershberger has beautifully signed the photo in black fountain pen, with the signature grading 9/10. The photo, which dates to the late 1930s, bears the credit stamp of Cincinnati Post photographer Charles Nerpel on the reverse, along with a handwritten notation providing Hershberger's years with the Reds and his date of death. The photo (7.25x9.25"; visible dimensions) displays several light-to-moderate creases and is in apparent Very Good condition. Matted and framed to total dimensions of 14.5x17". Full LOA from PSA (for the signature only). 

Willard Hershberger was a standout catcher with the Fullerton Union High School baseball team, where he and teammate Arky Vaughan helped lead the club to the California state championship. In 1930, shortly after graduating high school, Hershberger was signed by the New York Yankees. However, with Bill Dickey as the club's starter, it was hard for any catching prospect to advance in the Yankees organization. Hershberger finally reached the Majors in 1938 following a trade to the Reds. For the next two-and-a-half seasons Hershberger served as the backup to starting catcher Ernie Lombardi and performed well when given the chance. A strong hitter throughout his minor-league career, Hershberger batted .276 and .345, respectively, during his first two seasons, and even appeared in three games during the 1939 World Series against the Yankees.

Although Hershberger had an easy-going personality and was well liked by his teammates, he was haunted by demons formed during childhood. When Hershberger was sixteen years old his father committed suicide using Hershberger's hunting rifle, which he neglected to put away at night after a day of hunting. For the remainder of his life he felt responsible for his father's death and formed a deep devotion to his mother, who he vowed to take care of for the rest of her life. As part of that promise, he never dated and was mostly a loner, rarely socializing with friends or his teammates. He was also an insomniac and a hypochondriac, conditions which began shorty after the death of his father. In the middle of the 1940 season, after an injury sidelined Ernie Lombardi, Hershberger became the Reds starting catcher. Unfortunately, the Reds promptly went into a losing streak, which Hershberger, irrationally, assumed was due to his poor play behind the plate. He became increasingly despondent over that period of time and on August 3rd he took his own life by slitting his throat in his hotel room during a road trip against the Boston Braves. He was thirty years old at the time and his suicide was the first ever by a Major League player during the regular season.