Philadelphia Baseball History

William J. Kovatch, Jr.             In 1947, Jackie Robinson burst on the scene, breaking the color barrier that plagued the major leagues for seventy years.   Adept with the bat and quick on the base path, Robinson helped make the Dodgers perennial contenders and eventually World Champions in 1955.             Robinson’s accomplishments were made possible by Dodger General Manager Branch Rickey, one of the game’s greatest innovators.   Through Robinson, Rickey was exorcizing his own demons.   As the manager of the Ohio Wesleyan University baseball team in the early twentieth century, Rickey’s star catcher was Charles Thomas, the only black player on the team.   Rickey watched as Thomas encountered racism across the Midwest, and was refused lodging during the team’s road trips.   The memory of the mistreatment Thomas suffered haunted Rickey for decades.             The torment Robinson suffered was personified in Phillies manager Ben Chapman.   Chapman, known for his bigo

William J. Kovatch, Jr.             On July 9, 1903, the naked, mangled body of a man with his leg shorn off was fished out of the Niagara Gorge, downstream from Niagara Falls.   The body was identified as Ed Delahanty, outfielder for the Washington Senators and former offensive powerhouse for the Philadelphia Phillies.   Delahanty had last been seen on July 2, when a train conductor, John Cole, fed up with Delahanty’s drunken misconduct, threw him off of the train before crossing the International Railway Bridge.   A New York Times obituary reported that Delahanty had an open razor and was terrorizing passengers in a sleeper compartment.   Delahanty had been drinking too excess, and became confused and irate when he tried to enter a sleeper compartment that was already occupied.   Cole failed to follow proper procedures and simply left Delahanty at the Bridgeburg station, instead of leaving Delahanty in police custody.   Delahanty then tried to cross the bridge on foot.   A nig