You've probably never heard of Len Koenecke, but in the early 30s he was a showing signs of a budding superstar.

Things really popped off for Koenecke in ‘34 while he was playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers; he hit .320 and led the team with 14 dingers that year.

The '35 season started off with high hopes for Len and the Dodgers, but the season ended up being a total bust.

By mid-September, the Dodgers were 27 games back from first place, and Casey Stengel (manager at the time) was pretty disappointed wit Koenecke’s performance.

Stengel ended up sending Koenecke and a few other players home for the rest of the season, and ultimately, the Dodgers decided to sell his contract to the Rochester Red Wings.

The players left St. Louis en route for New York, but their trip included layovers in Chicago and Detroit.

The flight to Chicago was uneventful, but on the way to Detroit, things started getting dicey.

First off, Koenecke was shitfaced by the time he got on the flight.

During the middle of the trip, he became obnoxious - arguing with fellow passengers and knocking down a stewardess when she tried to intervene.

Then he challenged another passenger to fight, and spent the remainder of the flight under restraint, guarded by the plane’s large co-pilot, R.C. Pickering.

Upon landing in Detroit, Koenecke was escorted off the plane by airline officials, and his fare to New York was refunded. 

When last seen by his teammates, Koenecke was napping in the airport passenger lounge.

This just shows you how wild things were back in the day.

Drunk guy gets restrained after trying to fight several passengers 30,000 feet in the air, and the solution?

Let the guy sleep it off.

Sometime after midnight, Koenecke woke up and spotted a charter flight pilot named William Mulqueeney in the terminal.

He negotiated air passage to Buffalo.

Everything was going fine, until Koenecke started acting crazy in Canadian air space.

He began nudging the pilot in the shoulder, then he started a fight with the co-pilot, Davis, who was completely overpowered.

Moments later, Koenecke attempted to seize the controls of the plane from Mulqueeney.

The pilot was bigger than Koenecke though.

Matter of fact, he was a lineman for the University of Detroit football team back in the day.

So he wasn't going down without a fight.

As the plane hurled through the night sky, the two grappled for command.

In desperation, Mulqueeny bashed Koenecke in the head several times with a fire extinguisher, leaving him bleeding and motionless on the cabin floor.

Now lost somewhere over Canada, Mulqeeney looked for a place to land.

Finally, he brought the plane down safely on the grounds of Long Branch Racetrack, located in the Toronto suburbs.

Nothing better than a near-death flying experience to make you appreciate Mother Earth.

Those responding to the scene discovered the lifeless body of 31-year-old Len Koenecke in the rear of the passenger compartment.

The autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a cerebral hemorrhage caused by head trauma.

For the time being, Mulqueeney and Davis were taken into police custody on charges of involuntary manslaughter.

The legal proceedings were mostly a formality.

The jury agreed that Koenecke had placed the airplane and its passengers in grave peril, so it was deemed that Mulqueeney and Davis had acted justifiably in self-defense.

The case was closed without any criminal charges.

Casey Stengel was so guilt ridden over the death of Len Koenecke that the Dodgers hired a local writer to make a public statement for him.

The team’s players never forgave Stengel, and he was fired the next year.

Unfortunately, this story doesn't have a happy ending, but to this day it stands the test of time as one of the most bizarre deaths of any ballplayer on record.

FROM THE GALLERY

Without a doubt, Hammerin’ Hank is one of the greatest ballplayers of all time.

He defined an entire era of baseball.

Hank is also one of two guys in MLB history to rack up over 3,000 hits and 700+ home runs.

So naturally, we had to add this piece to the collection:

They are limited edition and we’ve got less than 10 in stock.

RIDICULOUS STATS

BASEBALL TRIVIA

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Dennis Littlejohn was a backup catcher for San Francisco back in the late 70’s.

The Giants had a lot of great ballplayers on that team, but Dennis was not one of them.

In ‘79 his batting average was a BRUTAL .197.

After 78 games, he was out of the big leagues altogether.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:

• The Killer: Ty Cobb’s mom commits a murder

• The Forfeit: Dodgers lose a game over souvenir baseballs

• The Lightning Strike: Ray Caldwell almost dies, then finishes the game

• The Boss Gets Banned: How Steinbrenner’s ban created a Yankee dynasty

• The Frozen GOAT: Why Ted Williams’ body is frozen at a cryogenics lab in Scottsdale