Later Life
After his retirement from baseball, the Jefferson County, Wisconsin native retired in Newberg, Oregon where he farmed twenty acres of land and became the president of a local fruit growers' association. In 1956, Sullivan was presented with a plaque at Milwaukee County Stadium upon his induction to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame. He died of a heart ailment on January 28, 1965 at the age of 89. Although news reports at the time of Sullivan's death credited him as the inventor of the catcher's chest protector, this was disputed by author Peter Morris in his book, Catcher, in which he states that catchers first began using chest protectors during the 1880s. He did however, receive a United States patent in 1908 for an inflatable, contoured chest protector, which protected his body better and, thanks to hinging, allowed more freedom of movement than the normal model.
His son, Billy Sullivan, Jr., also became a major league catcher. When Billy Sullivan Jr. caught for the Detroit Tigers in the 1940 World Series, the Sullivans became the first father and son to have played in the World Series.
Read more about this topic: Billy Sullivan (baseball)
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