June 19, 1921: McHenry's Double Wins It In The 9th

On June 19, 1921, with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth at Sportsman's Park, outfielder Austin McHenry cleared'em all with a walkoff double to beat the Boston Braves 5-4.  The 25 year old kid nicknamed "Mac" was an up and coming star, the '21 season was a breakout year for the him as he hit .350 with 17 dingers and 102 rbi's and was in the top 5 of many of the offensive categories in the National League. The following season McHenry began to have severe headaches and blurred vision. Initially it was diagnosed as a sinus infection, but further tests would reveal he had a brain tumor. McHenry left the club in July of 1922, and he went under the knife in October of that year, but the doctor was not able to remove the entire tumor and his situation quickly deteriorated. McHenry passed away on November 27, 1922. He was just 27 years old. McHenry is one of those stories that you can only think about what might have been, as he had all the promise in the world before fate intervened. While it is a sad story, it is a story worth telling. His life was short, however, it was a life of great accomplishment. When I think about McHenry while I'm out working today, I'll think about how happy he was when he knocked in those winning runs on this day in 1921.

Check out the box score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN192106190.shtml

This is a link to the 1921 National League Batting Leaders: http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/1921-batting-leaders.shtml  he was amongst the best.