Charles Jacob Hollocher (June 11, 1896 – August 14, 1940) was a professional baseball player who was a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

Biography

Born in St. Louis, Hollocher was a shortstop for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

from 1918 to 1924. His cousin Bob Klinger was also a Major League Baseball player. Hollocher helped the Cubs win the National League pennant in 1918. (In that year the professional baseball season was prematurely curtailed due to World War I.) That season he led the National League in games (131), at bats (509), hits (161), total bases (202), singles (130) and runs created (76, although this statistic was a retroactive metric). In 1922 he led the National League in at bats per strikeout (118.4), which to this day remains the Cubs' single season record. His five strikeouts for the entire season remains the National League record by a player with a minimum of 150 games. Hollocher left the Cubs in August 1923 due to depression, apparently linked to an undiagnosed intestinal disorder. He tried a comeback in 1924, but was unable to complete the season. He killed himself in Frontenac, Missouri, on August 14, 1940, when he shot himself in the throat. He had suffered from depression most of his adult life.Deveney, Sean. ''The Original Curse'', McGraw-Hill, 2010, pp. 144–145 In 760 games over 7 seasons, Hollocher compiled a .304 batting average (894-for-2936) with 411 runs, 145 doubles, 35 triples, 14

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

, 241 RBI, 99 stolen bases, 277

base on balls A base on balls (BB), better known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches during a plate appearance that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The bas ...

, 94 strikeouts, .370

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

and .392

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

. He posted a .954

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

. He appeared in the 1918 World Series, batting .190 (4-for-21) with 2 runs and 1 RBI.

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* Major League Baseball shortstops Chicago Cubs players Baseball players from St. Louis Baseball players from Chicago Suicides by firearm in Missouri 1896 births 1940 suicides 1940 deaths Keokuk Indians players Rock Island Islanders players Portland Beavers players 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-shortstop-stub