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I’ve said many times whenever you look deeply into the live and career of a former major league player you’ll find something of interest about him. However, as Ron Christensen accounts today, this story about the unusual demise of Len Koenecke is off the charts! This is one of the most bizarre stories involving the death of a major leaguer I can remember. -GL

Len Koenecke:

A Remarkably Bizarre and Unusual Tale 

You’ve probably heard the saying that ‘Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction’.  Well, the story that follows is not only true, it truly is stranger than fiction, a story so bizarre and unusual that you might expect to see it in a cartoon comic.  And maybe you did – in a season five episode of the animated series ‘Archer’ entitled ‘Smuggler’s Blues’, which was loosely based on the real incident that follows here.  The story discusses former major league ballplayer Len Koenecke, and what makes his tale bizarre and unusual, and what drew the attention of ‘Archer’ screenwriters, is the manner in which he died, a manner that plays like fiction even though it’s absolutely true.  The story goes something like this .  .  .

Leonard George Koenecke (KEN-eh-key) was Wisconsin born and bred.  His journey to the major leagues was rather unremarkable and not unlike so many others.  He was a standout athlete in high school, loved baseball and excelled on the diamond, and after graduation in 1922 he made his minor league debut in Michigan.  Koenecke would spend the next nine years playing minor-league ball, and work in the off-season as a fireman on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, a physically demanding job that helped keep him in in playing shape for the season.

In 1931 while playing for Indianapolis, Koenecke batted .353 with 224 hits and 141 RBI’s.  John McGraw was so impressed with him that at the end of the season he paid Indianapolis $75,000 and gave up four other players to bring Koenecke to the Giants.  McGraw predicted that Koenecke would be a bright star in the National League.  Unfortunately, McGraw wasn’t always right.  Koenecke batted a disappointing .255 with the Giants, and finished the 1932 season back in the minors. 

Enter Casey Stengel, the new Brooklyn Dodgers manager.  Stengel brought Koenecke to the Dodgers in 1934, which would prove to be Koenecke’s finest season.  Playing centerfield, Koenecke batted .320 with 14 home runs and 73 RBI’s, committing only two errors for a .994 fielding percentage, a major league record.  The Dodgers predicted great things from Koenecke for 1935, but unfortunately he didn’t live up to expectations, losing his starting position in the outfield and spending much of the season on the bench. 

On September 15, in the final game of a series against the Cubs in Chicago, Stengel sent Koenecke to the plate in the ninth inning to pinch-hit, and he grounded out in a 6-3 loss.  After the game the Dodgers headed to St. Louis for a series against the Cardinals, and the next morning before the first game Stengel informed Koenecke that he and two Dodger pitchers were being released.  The three were paid what they were owed through the end of the season, and given plane tickets for their return trip to New York that afternoon.  Koenecke is said to have taken the news in stride, and calmly called his wife to make her aware he’d be home soon.

The American Airlines flight, with seven people on board, was scheduled to fly through Chicago and Detroit before reaching New York.  Once on the plane, Koenecke, who was not known to be a drinker, began drinking heavily.  The flight to Chicago was uneventful, but on the leg to Detroit, Koenecke became disruptive and obnoxious, arguing with fellow passengers, and angrily knocking a stewardess to the floor.  Koenecke was restrained by the co-pilot for the duration of the flight and escorted off the plane when it landed in Detroit.  The airline refunded his money and refused his passage for the final leg of the flight to New York.

Koenecke secured the services of private pilot Joseph MulQueeney, who was piloting a small private charter to Buffalo with his friend, Irwin Davis.  The plane, a single engine six seater, left Detroit late that evening with MulQueeney at the controls, Koenecke seated beside him, and Davis, the only other passenger on board, seated behind MulQueeney.  Soon after take-off, Koenecke began nudging MulQueeney.  Irritated, MulQueeney ordered Koenecke to the back, where he took a seat next to Davis.  Koenecke then targeted Davis, arguing with him, then pushing him.  At one point, Koenecke leaned over the seat and tried to wrestle the controls from MulQueeney.  Davis tried without success to subdue Koenecke, who turned on Davis, throwing punches and grappling with him in the cabin.  With Davis calling for help and the aircraft rocking and lurching in the night sky, MulQueeney was losing control of the plane and thought it would crash if Koenecke wasn’t stopped. MulQueeney, a former University of Detroit football player, grabbed the fire extinguisher and struck Koenecke over the head with it, knocking him bleeding and unconscious to the cabin floor.  

Being now off course, MulQueeney searched for a suitable place to land the plane, and soon brought it down safely on a racetrack in a Toronto suburb.  Help was summoned, where at the scene it was determined that the 31 year old Koenecke died of a violent head trauma.  Koenecke’s body was removed to the morgue for autopsy, and MulQueeney and Davis were remanded to police custody and charged with manslaughter.  At a Coroner’s Inquest it was determined that the two acted justifiably under the circumstances, and they were released without charges being filed. 

It was a sad and tragic end to the life of a man who was not known to be anti-social or difficult, much less combative.  Koenecke’s dangerous and irrational behavior that fateful evening, though fueled by alcohol, was inexplicable to the people who knew him best.  They could not believe that the Len Koenecke they knew had behaved and died in the manner described to them – a manner that while true, certainly appeared to be stranger than fiction.

Ron Christensen

REFERENCES:

1. Wikipedia: Len Koenecke
2. SABR: Len Koenecke, by Bill Lamb
3. The National Pastime Museum: The Bizarre Death of Len Koenecke
4. Adams County Historical Society: Len Koenecke – Major League Baseball Star, by Bill Davis

Photo Credits: All from Google search

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