Charles "Chatty" Etherton, Jr., was the son of the postmaster in Carbondale, Illinois, and a right-handed pitcher of local fame. He signed with the Mayfield Clothiers of the newly formed Class D Kitty League in 1936, and made one brief appearance before returning to Carbondale to play for the Bridge 4-H softball team that won the county championship.

Between 1938 and 1940, Etherton had brief trials with teams in the Arkansas-Missouri League, South Atlantic League, Kitty League, and Alabama State League, but it was following an outstanding season with the sandlot Red Wings of Murphysboro, Illinois, that he secured a regular place in organized baseball, joining the Zanesville Cubs of the Class C Middle-Atlantic League in 1941.

Etherton started in style for the Cubs with a 16-strikeout performance in a pre-season game against Muskingum College on April 24. "Etherton, who served a brief hitch with Troy in the Alabama State League last season, used a fast breaking curve and a fair fastball to bewilder all the Muskie batsmen," declared the local newspaper the following day.' Etherton made 22 appearances with Zanesville for a 3-7 record and a 5.01 ERA. He finished out the year making seven appearances for the Lake Charles Skippers of the Class D Evangeline League. In 1942, Etherton joined the Winnipeg Maroons of the Class C Northern League, where he posted a 4-2 won-loss record, before entering military service on June 12.

Corporal Etherton served in the Pacific Theater with the 382nd AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion and returned home in late 1945. On December 23, he boarded a troop train at Camp Stoneman, California, bound for discharge at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. Nobody knows what horrors the 26year-old faced on the battlefields of the Pacific, but other soldiers on the train said he was despondent. Four days after the train left California, Etherton locked himself in a wash room and cut his throat with a double-edged razor blade. His body was found when the train stopped at Jefferson City, Missouri, only a few hours from home.

Charles "Chatty" Etherton is buried at Oakland Cemetery in Carbondale, Illinois.

Chatty Etherton's grave at Oakland Cemetery in Carbondale, Illinois

Charles Etherton