Perhaps the most compelling but overlooked period in Cincinnati Reds history is the 1940 championship season, during which the team won 100 games and earned the world title while overcoming an in-season tragedy faced by no other team in baseball history.

This history examines the championship squad and its individual players: Willard Hershberger, the 1939-1940 reserve catcher who is the only player to commit suicide during a major league season, Frank McCormick, Lonnie Frey, Billy Myers, Billy Werber, Eddie Joost, Paul Derringer, William "Bucky" Walters, Johnny Vander Meer, Gene Thompson, Jim Turner, Joseph Beggs, Jimmy Ripple, and Ernie Lombardi. The crucial games, important performances, and personal tragedies of the 1940 season, culminating in the drama of a seven-game World Series, are chronicled in detail.