Six Baseball Greats that Died from Heart Attacks

Half a million people are killed by heart attacks in the United States each year. A heart attack usually occurs when a blood clot in the coronary artery blocks the supply of oxygen and blood to the heart, leading to an irregular heartbeat and precipitating a big decrease in the heart's ability to pump. Heart muscle can quickly die, and death often results. Baseball has had its share of big names succumb to heart attacks over the years, including a man who hit .424 in 1924, the man who brought Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers in 1947, as beloved a Brooklyn Dodger as there ever was, a superstar pitcher who became a broadcaster, Jackie Robinson himself, and the man who banned Pete Rose from the sport while he was the commissioner.

Rogers Hornsby was the greatest right-handed hitter who ever lived, winner of seven National League batting titles and a three time .400 hitter. Hornsby hit an amazing .424 in 1924 while playing second base for the Cardinals and finished his fabulous career with the second-highest lifetime batting average; his .358 was eclipsed only by Ty Cobb's .367. Hornsby was a mean spirited fellow by all accounts with a penchant for playing the ponies. Ogden Nash, in his famous poem, wrote, "H is for Hornsby, when pitching to Rog, The pitcher would pitch, then the pitcher would dodge." Hornsby died at the age of 66 from a heart attack following cataract surgery in 1963.

Had Branch Rickey not helped break baseball's color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson, he still would have been a Hall of Famer. As the general manager of the Cardinals, he won World Series in 1926,'31,'34, and '42. He was hired away from St. Louis to take over the Dodgers in 1943, and he is credited with innovations such as using batting cages, pitching machines, and batting helmets. However, his signing Robinson five days before the 1947 season from the Dodgers' farm system, and making him the Brooklyn first baseman, was what he will forever be remembered for. Robinson's success opened the door for African-Americans in baseball, and Rickey laid the foundation for the Dodgers to be contenders for years to come. Rickey moved on to the Pirates in 1950, where he could not duplicate his previous success, but he did manage to grab Roberto Clemente out of the Dodgers organization on a technicality. Wesley Branch Rickey died a month after having a heart attack while delivering a speech in Missouri in 1965, at the age of 83.

Gil Hodges was so well liked by the Brooklyn fans that they would not boo him during the 1952 World Series despite his going 0 for 21 at the plate in a seven game loss to the hated Yankees. Hodges was a slugging first baseman and the finest defensively at the position of his era. He hit 370 home runs in his career with 1,274 runs batted in. When his playing career was done, he became a manager, leading the "Miracle Mets" of 1969 to the title over the heavily favored Orioles. Hodges died suddenly of a heart attack while playing golf in West Palm Beach, Florida in April of 1972; Gil was only 48 years old at the time of his death.

Jackie Robinson went through hell as the first black Major League Baseball player during the 1947 season. Robinson, who was an outstanding athlete at UCLA in many sports, including football, was named the first Rookie of the Year in baseball following the 1947 campaign. Robinson would hit .311 in ten seasons, and was the National League MVP in 1949 when he had his only season with more than one hundred runs batted in. Elected to the Hall of Fame in 1962, Robinson died at 53 in 1972 from a heart attack in Stamford, Connecticut.

Jerome Hanna "Dizzy" Dean was a right-handed hurler for the Cardinals of the 1930s and later with the Cubs. Dean won thirty contests in 1934 as the Cardinals captured the pennant and then the World Series. Hit on the foot by a line drive in the 1937 All-Star Game, he altered his pitching motion to compensate for the broken toe he suffered and hurt his arm. He still got by on guile and guts until 1941 when he retired and became a baseball broadcaster. His butchering of the English language upset teachers across the country, much to the delight of his listeners. When he complained on the air that he was better than most of the Browns' pitchers in 1947, management brought him out of retirement to pitch the last game of the season; he threw four scoreless innings and hit a single before leaving with a pulled muscle. Dizzy Dean died of a massive heart attack in Reno, Nevada at 64 in 1974; he had been elected to the Hall of Fame in 1953.

Angelo Bartlett Giamatti was a die-hard Red Sox fan, and he became the Commissioner of Baseball in 1989 after serving as the president of Yale University for nine years. He was the National League president prior to being elected to succeed Peter Ueberroth as commissioner and he presided over the banishment of Pete Rose for gambling on the sport. On September 1st, 1989, Giamatti died from a heart attack while vacationing on Martha's Vineyard, just eight days after his dealing with Rose and 154 days into his tenure as commissioner; a heavy smoker, he was only 51 when he passed away.