The Mystery Behind the Death of Ed Delahanty

Niagara Falls. Tourist from across the globe have been attracted to the majestic beauty of the falls for more than two centuries.

But the deceptive beauty of the Falls is also a call to danger. Attention seekers have courted that danger, daring to plunge over the Falls in homemade barrels. Others have dared a tightrope walk over the soaring heights.

Since 1850, about 5,000 bodies have been found at the foot of the Falls. An estimated 20 to 30 people use the Falls each year to commit suicide. The Falls have even been used in an attempt to cover up a gruesome murder.

The tranquility of the tourist attraction was shattered on July 9, 1903. That day, William LaBlond, operator of the popular tour boat, the Maid of the Mist, found a mangled, bloated body in the Niagara Gorge, a natural pool just upstream from the Falls. The man’s leg had born shorn off, likely due to the boat’s propellers. The only clothing left on the body was his tie and his socks.

Shortly thereafter, the body was identified as baseball superstar, Ed Delahanty. Delahanty was last seen on July 2nd, when he boarded a train to New York in an attempt to revive a lucrative contract he had signed with the Giants, but had been cancelled due to a negotiated peace between the National and American Leagues.

Delahanty has been depressed, gaining sixty pounds in the off season, due to the money he owed to bookies and loan sharks because of his uncontrolled gambling. A heavy drinker and upset over his wife’s illness, many had overheard Delahanty expressing a desire to die or a uncaring attitude over whether he would live or die.

His brother Frank noted the absence of Ed’s diamond rings and cash. Frank cried fowl play.

Was this suicide? Murder? Or, did a number of unfortunate events add up to a tragic, but accidental, death to the man who had won the American League’s batting title only a year earlier. What happened to Big Ed Delahanty, the King of Swat, remains shrouded in mystery to this day.

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Born in Cleveland on October 30, 1867, Edward James Delahanty was the son of Irish immigrants, James and Bridget Delahanty. Famine, disease, and inheritance laws that locked younger sons out of receiving a share of family lands, meant America, with its wide expanse and plentiful resources, served as an opportunity for the Irish to better their prospects. As a result, Irish immigration to America exploded in the mid-nineteenth century.

But while life in America was better than life in Ireland, Irish immigrants still struggled. Ed’s father, James, worked a variety of jobs to support his family, while his mother, Bridget, turned the family home into a boarding house. Ed and his younger brothers stayed away from the house for long periods of time, wanting to avoid the chaos that running a boarding house brought. It was during these periods that Ed learned to play the popular American game, baseball.

Professional baseball served as a way for working class men to escape the doldrums and dangers of manual labor as America experienced the economic growing pains of the industrial revolution. Fortunately for Ed, the Delahanty boys showed a natural talent for the game. Ed’s talent earned him a spot with the semi-pro team, the Cleveland Shamrocks. This in turn led to Ed signing with Mansfield of the Ohio State League, where he was paid $50 a month. The financial opportunities that playing baseball professionally gave Ed led him to drop out of St. Joseph’s College, and devote himself to the sport full-time.

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In December of 1902, the New York Giants offered Ed $8,000 per year to play in the National League once again. A personnel war between the National League, and the upstart American League, made this possible. Delahanty earned the nickname, the “King of Swat,” due to the prowess he demonstrated as a member of the Phillies in the 1890s. But, Phillies owner, Colonel John Rogers, was notoriously stingy. Rogers had owned the team along with baseball trailblazer turned sporting goods magnate, Al Reach. But Reach grew so tired of his conflicts with Rogers over how to run the team, that he divested himself of any ownership in 1899. When the American League declared itself a rival major league in 1901, and American League teams began poaching players from the National League with the promise of higher pay, the Phillies were one of the teams devastated by the situation.

The National League had an agreement, among its team owners, as well as with the owners of many minor league teams, that they would honor the reserve clause in each other’s contracts. The reserve clause meant that a player was bound to play for the same team in the following season. It is what gave the owners the upper hand in salary negotiation. Through the reserve clause, players were forbidden to offer their services to the highest bidding team.

The American League was originally a minor league. League President Ban Johnson withdrew from the National Agreement in 1900. AL team owners chose to ignore the National League’s reserve clauses, and offered NL players a higher salary to jump leagues. Delahanty himself accepted an offer to play for the Washington Senators in 1902 for $4,500, which was a significant raise from the $3,000 the Phillies paid him in 1901.

That season, Delahanty led that American League in batting, with a .376 average. Although, there had been some dispute over whether his former Phillies teammate, Nap Lajoie, had actually won the AL batting title. But that dispute has been settled in favor of Delahanty, who became the first person to win a batting title in both the National and American Leagues. In fact, in 1902 Delhanty led the majors in on base percentage, slugging percentage and doubles.

Having proven his worth as a hitter, Delahanty wanted to cash in. By this time, the National League had started luring star players back by offering even higher salaries. John McGraw, who had managed the Baltimore Orioles of the American League, was now the manager of the Giants. He knew Delahanty’s talent, and was anxious to add him to the Giants’ roster. Delahanty was rewarded with an $8,000 contract, $4,000 of which was paid to him as an advance.

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In 1887, the 19 year old Delahanty batted .351, and scored 90 runs for the Mansfield team. Big Ed started the 1888 season with Wheeling of the Tri-State League, and was batting .421 after 23 games.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League were looking for a replacement for Charlie Ferguson, their talented pitcher, who could also hit. When it was not his day to pitch, the Phillies used Ferguson, at first in the outfield. By 1887, Ferguson became the Phillies regular second baseman, when he was not pitching. That season, Ferguson batted a healthy .337, and led the Phillies with 85 RBIs.

But, all of that activity took a toll on Ferguson’s body. Ferguson ended his season early, both in 1886 and 1887, due to exhaustion. Teammates thought of Ferguson as a hypochondriac, as he carried a medicine chest with him on road trips. But his exhaustion left Ferguson vulnerable to bacterial infection. In April of 1888, Ferguson had a high fever. He began to show spots on his chest. By April 29, 1888, twenty-five year old Ferguson died of Typhoid.

The Phillies, who finished 1887 in second place, and expected to be in contention for the pennant in 1888, suddenly found themselves in need of a new second baseman. They thought they had found their answer in hot shot hitter out of the Tri-State League. The Phillies purchased Delahanty’s contract for $2,000. The teenaged Delahanty was now a major leaguer.

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National League President Harry Pulliam, and American League President Ban Johnson recognized that poaching each other’s players, and encouraging league jumping was damaging to both leagues. Delahanty stood out as the most prominent example of a player who had been encouraged to break a contract for the 1903 season. It was beginning to look as though Delahanty may have his contract with the Giants voided.

Delahanty expressed that he didn’t care where he would wind up playing. He insisted that his contract guaranteed payment, even if he was prevented to play due to an injunction or other unforeseen circumstances. The injunction was a reference to the fact that Delahanty’s former owner, Colonel Rogers, had sued former teammate Nap Lajoie, and the Philadelphia Athletics, and won an injunction when Lajoie broke his contract with the Phillies to play in the American League. Delahanty was insistent that even if the leagues negotiated a peace, he would be entitled to keep the $4,000 advance from the Giants.

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Delahanty’s first season with the Phillies was unimpressive. He batted a mere .228. He improved in 1889 to .293, but played only 56 games.

A revolt over the reserve clause and other labor issues began simmering. John Montgomery Ward, a talented pitcher for the New York Giants, organized the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players, a union of sorts, and pushed, at first for a strike at the end of the 1889 season, and then for the creation of a new league, one organized on the principle of giving the ballplayers greater control over their careers. With financial backing, Ward created the Players’ League in 1890, and encouraged disgruntled National League and American Association players to jump ship to play for the more labor-friendly league. Delahanty took that opportunity, and began playing for the Cleveland Infants of the Players League. He batted .326 that year. But, the league fell apart when financers withdrew their support after only one season. National League and American Association teams agreed to honor each other’s list of reserved players, players who had left their teams to play for the Players’ League, forcing Delahanty to return to the Phillies. In 1891, his first season after returning to the Phillies, Delahanty batted a dismal .243.

But things began to change in 1892. That year, Delahanty batted .306, and led the majors with 21 triples and a slugging percentage of .495. This was the beginning of a decade where Big Ed dominated the National League in offense. By this time, he had been moved to left field, and demonstrated that he had a powerful arm. He was a player who could hit for power and average, who was fleet around the base paths, and who was talented on defense. Ed Delahanty was a superstar of the 1890s.

***

Pulliam and Johnson reached an agreement that brought labor peace to the two major leagues. But, that agreement resulted in the voiding of Delahanty’s contract with the Giants. Despite his initial protestations, Delahanty was forced to pay back the $4,000 advance from the Giants. However, the money was already gone, seeing that he had bookies and loan sharks on his tail. Delahanty agreed to have the money taken out of his 1903 salary with the Senators. Delahanty was set to earn $4,500 with the Senators in 1903. But, $600 had been paid to him in advance. This essentially meant that in 1903, Delahanty had to $100 to play baseball professionally.

But the Senators were a miserable team, finishing in sixth place, below .500, in their inaugural season. Delahanty had grown used to playing for a contender with the Phillies. In fact, he had been part of the only team whose entire outfield consisted of future Hall of Famers, as he played alongside Slidin’ Billy Hamilton and Sam Thompson in Philadelphia.

In his despair, Delahanty ballooned to 230 pounds to begin the 1903 season. Senators manager Tom Loftus, ordered Delahanty to a spa to get in shape. Upon returning to the Senators, Ed was batting .333 over 42 games. But, he often challenged Loftus, who wanted Delahanty to play right field instead of left. Meanwhile, Loftus grew weary of Delahanty missing games due to “headaches,” a code word for heavy drinking.

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Between 1982 and 1901, Delahany batted over .400 three times. He won the National League batting title in 1899, with a .410 average. He led the league in triples once, and in doubles four times. He showed his power, leading the league in home runs twice, and RBIs three times. He even led the National League in stolen bases, with 58 in 1898. To this day, Ed Delahanty leads the Phillies in career triples, with 158. He is second in all-time Phillies singles, doubles, RBIs, runs scored, and batting average. Delahanty is third in total bases, stolen bases and WAR with the Phils.

***

George Davis was a shortstop who had a similar problem to that of Ed Delahanty in 1903. After a spectacular run in the 1890s, Davis jumped leagues to join the Chicago White Sox in 1902, who were paying him $4,000. The Giants offered Davis $6,700 to play with them in 1903. But, the peace between the leagues prevented him from jumping back to the NL. On June 26, 1903, NL President Pulliam permitted Davis to return to the Giants. Delahanty appeared to believe that this would allow him to play for the Giants as well, and have his $8,000 contract reinstated.

Delahanty accompanied the Senators on their road trip to Detroit. However, he remained in his hotel room, complaining of a headache. His mother and two of his younger brothers actually traveled to Detroit to confront him over his behavior. At the time, Delahanty began voicing a desire to kill himself.

On July 2nd, leaving his luggage and his Senators uniform behind, Delahanty boarded the Michigan Central No. 6, a train bound to New York. Reportedly, he had $1,500 in jewelry, and a considerable amount of cash on him. Allegedly, he wrote in a letter that he hoped that the train would derail on its way to New York. He had purchased a life insurance policy on himself, and named his daughter, Florence, as the beneficiary. Delahanty also sent a telegram to his wife, Norine instructing her to meet him in Washington. That was the last that his family and his teammates had heard from Ed Delahanty.

By July 4^th, Norine was waiting for her husband in Washington. By July 5^th, the Washington press began publishing reactions from manager Loftus and his teammates to his extended absence. Loftus called Delahanty “overrated,” and revealed that his drinking had interfered in Delahanty’s ability to play ball. At this point, Norine and Loftus had grown used to Delahanty’s occasional extended absences. But by July 7^th, the two of them began sending out telegrams to determine his whereabouts. Keep in mind that this was well before the use of television, or even radio, as a common form of communications. Baseball fans may have been familiar with players’ names, and kept up with the season through the newspapers. But it would rare for people outside of team’s home city to know a ballplayer by sight.

On July 8^th, Loftus received a telegram about an unidentified man, who had been thrown off of a train in Canada. The man had left a suitcase, and a black leather bag on the train. Inside the bag was a pass to the Senators’ ballpark, which belonged to Ed Delahanty.

On July 9^th, Ed’s younger brother, Frank, who was an outfielder for the minor league team in Syracuse, had gone to identify the black leather bag. He received word that a body had been found in Niagara Gorge William LaBlond, captain of a boat that was popular with tourists, the Maid of the Mist.

Frank saw the body, and questioned how he could have been found still wearing a tie and socks, but the rest of his clothes, as well as a diamond tie pin, a number of diamond rings and his cash, were missing. To Frank, it made no sense that Ed’s black bag was found on the train, but not his valuables. Frank Delahanty insisted that his brother had met with foul play. Sometime later, a local farmer turned up dead at the base of the Falls, missing $1,500 that had been on his person. The implication being that someone, or even a group of people, were robbing people and throwing their bodies in the Niagara River.

Mike Sowell, author of a book about Delahanty’s death, entitled “July 3, 1903,” claims that there were reports of someone following Delahanty.

Further accounts emerged. A New York Times obituary reported that Delahanty had an open razor and was terrorizing passengers in a sleeper compartment. Delahanty had been drinking to excess, and became confused and irate when he tried to enter a sleeper compartment that was already occupied. The report was that Delahanty tried to pull a woman, who was already asleep, out of the bed by grabbing her by the ankles. Train conductor, John Cole, became fed up with Delahanty’s drunken misconduct. He threw Delahanty off of the train before crossing the International Railway Bridge that connected Fort Erie, Ontario to Buffalo, New York. Cole failed to follow proper procedures and simply left Delahanty at the Bridgeburg station, instead of leaving Delahanty in police custody. Cole apparently warned Delahanty that he was in Canada now, and that he ought to behave himself. Delahanty allegedly answered that he didn’t care if he were in Canada, or if he were dead.

The New York Times article reported that Ed tried to cross the bridge on foot. A night watchman stopped him, but Delahanty pushed the watchman to the side. When the draw bridge opened, Delahanty plunged into the Niagara River.

A Cleveland area newspaper, The Plain Dealer, reported that the night watchman was Sam Kingston, and that angry words were exchanged between Delahanty and Kingston, but it was not clear whether there was a physical struggle between them.

Another report claims that Kingston found Delahanty leaning against an iron truss. Kingston shined his lantern in Delahanty’s face, which angered Ed. Kingston attempted to grab Delahanty to keep him under control. Delahanty then ran across the bridge on foot. Kingston said that he saw Delahanty slip on the tacks. This was the early morning hours, so it was dark, and Kingston could not see what had happened to Delahanty. However, he reported hearing a splash in the water below.

Still another account states that Delahanty had walked out onto the International Bridge, and stood at its edge, staring down at the Niagara River. Kingston approached Delahanty, and the two were involved in some physical ruckus. Kingston attempted to drag Delahanty back to the train station. But Kingston fell, and Delahanty escaped. Whether Delhanty then jumped or fell off the bridge, Kingston could not say. But it wound up with Delahanaty in the Niagara River.

The Plain Dealer reported that Norine was “very bitter towards the watchman whom she claimed used excessive force in the struggle with Ed which is supposed to have ended in his death.”

Was Ed Delahanty murdered for his valuables and money? He did owe a lot of money to some bad people. Even if the person reportedly following him was not working for a loan shark or bookie, Ed was apparently flashy, wearing his diamonds while travelling alone on a red eye train.

Did Ed Delahanty jump from the International Bridge, in an act of suicide? He was despondent over his many troubles, most of which revolved around money. And, powerful baseball executives gave very little thought to the position they had placed Delahanty in, forcing him to pay back his $4,000 advance, all for the sake of peace among the rich owners. Delahanty deplored the situation in which he found himself. Much of his communications appeared to indicated a desire to die. Indeed, he even purchased a life insurance policy, as if he expected to meet his demise before reaching New York.

Or was Delahanty’s death merely the result of several bad decisions that led to him accidentally plunging into the Niagara River? He had a drinking problem, and got belligerently drunk. If Coles had merely contacted the Canadian police, as was apparently the proper policy, Delahanty would have been in custody, and not dead. And there would not have been any scuffle between Kingston and Delahanty.

Ed Delahanty was only thirty-five when he died. In the year before his death, he proved himself to be the best hitter among the American League, even at the age of thirty-four. Even though he turned up overweight at the beginning of the 1903 season, and started off slow, he climbed himself out of an early hole, and was posting a very fine batting average at the time of his death. If he had survived, Ed Delahanty may have had a couple of more season left in him. Instead, whether the result of foul play, suicide or an accident, his story stands as one of the most tragic tales from the early days of baseball.

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Ed Delahanty was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945. A final tribute to a talented, but troubled ball player, who at one point dominated pitchers in both the National and American Leagues.

By: William J. Kovatch, Jr.

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References

Statistics all came from the Baseball Reference website.

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Chiu, Allyson, “A Man Was Swept Over the Largest Waterfall at Niagara Falls, Police Say. He Survived,” The New York Times (July 10, 2019).

Cuicchi, Richard, "Delahanty Brothers Made Baseball a Family Affair," Baseball's Relatives (July 19, 2015).

“Ed Delahanty Obituary,” Baseball Almanac (site visited August 6, 2020).

Gazdziak, Sam, “Grave Story: Ed Delahanty (1867-1903),” RIP Baseball (December 13, 2019).

Holmes, Dan, "Was Ed Delahanty Murdered?" Baseball Egg (September 6, 2017).

Michael, Brian, "The Strange Death of Big Ed Delahanty," Phillies Nation (May 6, 2020).

“Police Try to ID Dismembered Body Found in Niagara River,”’CNN (August 31, 2012).

Pluto, Terry, “Cleveland Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty rests at Calvary Cemetery with many unanswered questions about this death," The Plan Dealer (August 2015).

Pregler, John T., “Tom Loftus: The American League’s Forgotten Founding Father,” SABR Baseball Research Journal (Spring 2020).