The most unstable athletes of all time

Big Daddy Lipscomb hasn't been mentioned yet, has he?

 

Sonny Liston

 

From the 19th century baseball division, Hall of Famer John Clarkson.

Excellent pitcher, but from reports, extremely sensitive to criticism. Cap Anson said he couldn't say one negative thing, otherwise, Clarkson couldn't pitch.

At the end of his career, he went on a hunting trip with catcher Charlie Bennett. While running to catch a train, Bennett fell underneath the wheels, and ended up losing his legs. Clarkson was never the same mentally, and retired the next year. He later ended up in a mental institution.

A second: Pitcher Ed Doheny

A mediocre pitcher who finally started winning with the '02 and '03 Pirates, winning 16 each year. But in '03, he supposedly hurt his arm, became sullen, and drank heavily. Threw a fit in the clubhouse and was sent to the to Danvers Asylum for the Criminally Insane in Danvers, Massachusetts. He was there about a month, returned to the team, pitched well, but went back home for a while because of his behavior.

As per wikipedia, his teammates felt bad and sent him his uni to cheer him up. Instead, Doheny thought he was making a comeback until he found out the Pirates lost the WS to the Pilgrims/Red Sox. Then he went crazy, knocked out his nurse with an iron poker, forcing his wife to run to neighbors for help and he ended up committed to Danvers for the rest of his life, which was only 13 years until age 43, where he died of TB.

And last, but certainly not least: Marty Bergen

Catcher on two Boston pennant winners in the late 90s. First month of '00, killed his wife and two kids, ages 3 and 6, with an axe, then slit his throat. On his wikipedia page, a study thinks he might have been schizophrenic and manic depressive (gee, ya think?)

Considered a very good fielder and decent hitter, but, shall we say, showed signs he wasn't all there. Slapped pitcher Vic Willis for no reason, having hallucinations, walking sideways for fear of assassins, jumped the team several times, jumped out of the way of pitches he was supposed to catch because he thought someone was trying to stab him. He had another son die, and he thought teammates were poking fun behind his back.

And a side note: His brother Bill was also an excellent defensive catcher, but also one of the worst hitters in history. A lifetime .170 hitter in 947 games over 11 seasons. The most games he ever played in a season was 112 with the Dodgers in 1909. He hit .139 that year.

See, even 100+ years ago, athletes weren't always sane.

 

Mike Danton.

 

Ernie "Fats" Holmes

 

Charlie "Victory" Faust.

 

GOOD LORD. Boom, are you really trying this again?

The story about Brisker still being alive was FICTION. What's more, Boom knows it's fiction because he previously got embarrassed after starting this thread (http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/82827/) in which he acknowledged he'd been duped by a fictional story:

So why he's once again trying to pass off the same fictional story as truth is beyond me.

 

Surprised no one has mentioned Chad Ochocinco. His appearance on First Take only confirmed it for me. Seemed normal one second and then argumentative and combative the next. I suppose I would be, too, if tools like Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless were psychoanalyzing me on national television.

 

Favorite Booby Layne story was one Art Donovan told on Letterman about 20 years ago. Evidently during the third quarter of a Lions-Colts game Donovan sacked Layne and could smell the alcohol on him. As they were getting up, Donovan said, "Man, Bobby, you must have had one hell of a night last night. I can still smell the booze on you." To which Layne replied, "Oh, no I just had a six pack at halftime."

Ah, the guy who responded to harsh criticism in the Florida Times-Union by posting the reporter's cell phone number and asking his fans to crank call it.

 

In the early '70s, the Indians had a first baseman named Tony Horton, a guy who could hit for power a little bit. He might be best known to fans from that time for fouling off a blooper pitch from a Yankees hurler that was caught by Thurman Munson, and then crawling back to the dugout on his hands and knees. People at the time thought it was funny, but the truth was Horton was wound pretty tight emotionally.

After a difficult stretch, he took himself out of a game and reportedly tried to commit suicide later that night. He soon retired while still in his 20s. Terry Pluto wrote about him in his book "The Curse of Rocky Colavito."

 

Tony Horton fouling off Steve Hamilton's blooper pitch:

 

We probably could have a separate thread just for boxers, but has anyone mentioned Oliver McCall yet?