Ed Delahanty was born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 30, 1867, one of five brothers who made it to the Major Leagues (Frank, Jim, Joe, and Tom). Delahanty led the Major leagues, such as they were from 1888-1903, in hits once - though he racked up 200+ hits on four separate occasions - doubles five times, triples one, home runs twice back when hitting 19 home runs in a season meant you were a Baseball God. On July 13, 1896 Ed Delahaty was the second player to hit four home runs in a single game Delahanty led the league in RBI three times. He hit over .400 three times, though the Dead-Ball Era meant he led the league in batting average twice, including an 1899 season when he hit .410, still the 12th-highest Batting Average in baseball history. He was a fearsome hitter. One of the best right-handed hitters of all-time. And it wasn't just his bat, either: Delahanty played center field and stole 456 bases.
Sporting Life once remarked on "Big Ed:"
Delahanty is an awfully even, well-balanced player all around. You look at his batting and say well, that chap is valuable if he couldn't catch the measles, and then you look at his fielding and conclude that it wouldn't pay to let him go if he couldn't hit a bat bag.
While the average American worker made between $200-$400 a year. Delahanty's salary in Philadelphia was $3,000. A new baseball league - the American League began play in 1901 - and Delahanty was ready for better treatment and better pay. Accused of being an agent for the American League, Delahanty and eight of his teammates left the National League team in Philadelphia (13 of Delahanty's first 14 seasons were in Philly) and played for the Washington Senators in 1902 for a 33% pay increase ($4,000) and a $1,000 signing bonus.
On the field Ed Delahanty was fine. He hit .376/.453/.590 - the AL best in all categories, though the Senators finished 6th because their pitching was terrible. Off the field things were not fine.
Delahanty's wife got sick and Big Ed spent the couple's money binge-drinking and betting the horses. As his financial situation grew more dire, Delahanty signed a three-year deal with the Giants for either $6,000 or $8,000 per season, and a $4,000 advance. He never got the money. Prior to the 1903 season the National and American Leagues called a truce and agreed to honor each other's contracts. Delahanty's deal was canceled and his rights were returned to Washington. Not only that, he had to pay back the $4,000 advance he received. SABR did the math and found that Big Ed's $4,500 salary with Washington for 1903 included $600 that had already been advanced. So Delahanty went into 1903 thinking that his salary would be doubled and soon found that it would actually cost him $100 to play that year.
A reworked deal gave him some breathing room, but the stress (and the drinking) left Delahanty out of shape and in constant disagreement with manager Tom Loftus. Still, he was unhappy. On July 2, 1903 - after a stretch in which the Senators lost 29 out of 36 games, Delahanty left his teammates to go to New York in order to plead his case to League officials to let him out of his contract with Washington. He wouldn't make it.
Delahanty had five shots of whiskey and at one point tried to "drag a sleeping woman out of her berth by her ankles." That was the last straw of an already-disruptive train ride, and the conductor kicked him off the train at Bridgeburg, on the Canadian side of the International Bridge of Niagara Falls. "You're in Canada," warned Conductor John Cole, "so don't make any trouble." Delahanty slurred in response, "I don't care if I'm in Canada or dead."
A few hours later, Sam Kingston - night watchman on the International Bridge - happened upon Delahanty leaning against one of the trusses of the bridge and shined his lantern in Delahanty's face. It wasn't received very well. Delahanty lunged at Kingston, as his story went (and then changed a few times), and Delahanty fell from the bridge. Kingston didn't report the incident until the following morning.
When he didn't initially show up in New York, not even his wife was concerned, as she had grown accustomed to Delahanty going on full-blown benders. A week passed, and a body was found by Maid of the Mist (you know, the boat that Pam & Jim got married on) captain William LeBlond at Horseshoe Falls, 20 miles downstream. M.A. Green, a shareholder in the Senators, identified Delahanty's body despite his body's disfiguration and that most of his clothing had been torn off by the rushing water of Niagara Falls.
Big Ed's younger brother Frank was playing for Syracuse at the time, and went to Buffalo. He questioned how Delahanty's socks, shoes, and tie were all still in place but his diamond rings were missing. Frank definitely side-eyed Sam Kingston, and always believed there was foul play. Mainly because Kingston said Delahanty was carrying a lump of coal as a weapon, when there was no coal in the area, and also because it wasn't long before the body of a farmer was discovered by Leblond, minus the $1500 he had on him at the time.
Norine and the Delahanty family sued the Michigan Central Railroad for $20,000 later in July 1903. Ultimately the railroad paid Delahanty's widow Norine $3,000 and gave $2,000 to their daughter Florence to try to atone for Conductor Cole not waiting 3/4 of a mile until they were in Buffalo to kick Delahanty off the train, leaving him in safer hands. No one was ever charged in Delahanty's death. Delahanty was elected by the Old Timers' Committee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945.
Frank Delahanty played parts of four seasons (and not very well) in the American League from 1905-1908 and in the upstart Federal League in 1914 and 1915.
Jim Delahanty was a decent baseball player in the American and Federal Leagues from 1901-1915. He did not play major league baseball in 1903 - the year of Ed Delahanty's death - and 1913. He was a career .283 hitter.
Joe Delahanty appeared in 270 career games for St. Louis and hit .238 from 1907-1909.
Tom Delahanty appeared in 19 career games from 1894-1897.
Frank, Jim, and Joe are all buried together in Calvery Cemetery in Cleveland. Ed Delahanty just might be the only Hall of Famer to get murdered.
