 The following afternoon, Reds publicist and traveling secretary Gabe Paul called Hershberger's room at the Copley Plaza Hotel after Hershberger missed batting practice. He said that he wasn't going to play that afternoon because he wasn 't feeling well; McKechnie, worried, wanted him there in street clothes, and Hershberger agreed. After he missed the first game of another doubleheader against the Bees, McKechnie had Dan Cohen, a friend of Hershberger's, head to the hotel to check up on him. He found the door locked, and asked an employee to open the door. Inside, Cohen found Hershberger's body by the bathtub with his throat slit. After the second game, McKechnie had coach Hank Gowdy bring all the players together in the locker room, stating, "I want to tell you something. Willard Hershberger has just destroyed himself."
