Ted Williams

popular name: Catfish Hunter

date_of_death: September 9, 1999

age: 53

cause_of_death: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease)

claim_to_fame: Sports

best_know_for: Jim "Catfish" Hunter, whose pitching prowess earned him five World Series rings, 224 victories, a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame and made him the game's first big-money free agent. Recruited right out of high school at age 18, Hunter won his first major-league game, and a year after that, at 20, he made the American League All-Star team in a season in which he finished 9-11. He reached 20 wins for the first time in 1971 with a 21-11 record and won at least 20 games the next four seasons. In 1974, he was 25-12 and won the Cy Young Award. In 1968, he pitched a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins, the seventh perfect game in modern baseball history at the time. And the Athletics, by then in Oakland, dominated baseball in the early '70s with the likes of Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Gene Tenace, Rollie Fingers and a group that played hard, on and off the field. "We were the long-haired, mustached gang from Oakland," Hunter said. "We were lucky just to be there, was what they said." After the Oakland A's, Hunter signed with the New York Yankees not because they offered the most money, but rather it was close to his home in North Carolina. Hunter's first season with the Yankees was his last of five consecutive 20-win years. He was 23-14 for the 1975 Yankees and pitched for them until 1979, when he retired at 33, with a 224-166 record and a 3.26 ERA. He was on World Series-winning teams with Oakland in 1972-74 and New York in 1977-78. At age 52 he was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and passed away the following year.

popular name: Eddie Bennett

date_of_death: 01/16/1935

age: 31

cause_of_death: Alcoholism

claim_to_fame: Sports

best_know_for: Eddie Bennett was an American batboy and mascot for several teams, most notably the New York Yankees during the 1920s and 1930s. At the time of his death, Bennett was considered to be the "most famous mascot in the world". Bennet had a spinal injury when he was very young which resulted in a hunchback. He was considered to be a "good luck charm" by the members of the club, and became a well-known celebrity in New York. On May 19, 1932, Bennett was hit by a taxi on a New York City street. He suffered a broken leg and other injuries from which he never recovered. To find relief from the pain he suffered from the injuries, Bennett started to abuse alcohol. He was forced to retire as the Yankees mascot in the middle of 1933 season, although Ruppert insisted he remain on the payroll all year. The New York Times reported that the "notoriously superstitious" ballplayers and fans blamed Bennett's absence on the Yankees' failure to win the pennant in 1933 and 1934. In January 1935, Bennett died penniless due to alcoholism.

popular name: Junior Seau

date_of_death: May 2, 2012

age: 43

cause_of_death: Self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest

claim_to_fame: Sports

best_know_for: For 20 seasons—an eternity for a professional football player—there were few better linebackers in the NFL than Junior Seau. Strong, swift, and imbued with an fanatical work ethic, Seau terrorized opposing offenses so much that they largely avoided him, preferring to take their chances against his teammates. During his career with the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins, and New England Patriots, Seau was selected to 12 Pro Bowl teams and was an First-Team All Pro six times. As he walked away from the game at the end of the 2009 season, there was no question that Seau would be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Sadly he was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease from all violent and jarring hits his body and his head were subjected to during all the years in football beginning in junior high school and ending after 20 years in the National Football League. Consequently he took his own life at his home in Oceanside, California.