Suicide
Aside from the deterioration of his arm, Day's life had been riddled with problems. His brother, Lemmie Day, was also a promising pitcher who had his leg amputated in 1922 and later died from "blood poisoning.” In 1929, Day’s mother committed suicide by drinking poison, and his father died of a heart attack in 1932.
In early 1934, Day’s wife of eleven years gave birth to a baby boy, but Day was despondent at the loss of his pitching arm. Day reportedly turned to alcohol and in March 1934, traveled to Kansas City, "seeking treatment for lapses of memory." On March 21, 1934, while staying in the apartment of former teammate Max Thomas, Day slit his throat with a hunting knife. Thomas tried to stop Day but was pushed aside. His funeral in Pea Ridge was attended by more than 500 people.
Day was buried at the Pea Ridge Cemetery in Pea Ridge, Arkansas.
Read more about this topic: Pea Ridge Day
Famous quotes containing the word suicide:
“However great a man’s fear of life, suicide remains the courageous act, the clear- headed act of a mathematician. The suicide has judged by the laws of chance—so many odds against one that to live will be more miserable than to die. His sense of mathematics is greater than his sense of survival.”
—Graham Greene (1904–1991)
“Allow me to say that I would long since have committed suicide had desisting made me a professor of Latin.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“When one realizes that his life is worthless he either commits suicide or travels.”
—Edward Dahlberg (1900–1977)