Coroner makes ruling on former MLB player’s death

A former Major League Baseball player committed suicide by hanging himself in a Waterloo garage on July 19, according to a recently released coroner’s report.

John Rheinecker was a Gibault High School graduate and a left-handed pitcher who spent parts of two seasons with the Texas Rangers.

His wife Jamie Rheinecker told investigators 38-year-old Rheinecker “suffered from heavy alcohol use and he was also a heroin user,” according to notes in the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s report.

He was taken to St. Anthony's Medical Center after Waterloo police found him in the garage, the report said. There, he was pronounced dead.

Toxicology tests indicated he was under the influence of alcohol when he died.

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 10:57 AM with the headline "Coroner makes ruling on former MLB player’s death."