Marty Bergen

Catcher
  • Card series: Pioneer Portraits II: 1875-1899
  • City: Boston
  • Team: Beaneaters
  • League: National League

Martin Bergen (1871-1900) was the Beaneaters’ catcher his entire, all-too-brief career (’96-99), leading them to two pennants and a 2nd place. Teammates knew him as an “artist” behind the plate and a terror in the clubhouse. Suffering from what would be posthumously diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia, the tortured Bergen took his own and his family’s lives at 28.

  • Hall of Famer Jesse Burkett extolled Bergen as the “best the world ever produced”
  • Brother Bill was a MLB catcher also for Cincinnati and Brooklyn

Auction History