Edward James "Big Ed" Delahanty was one of the most fearsome hitters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During his 16-year career (1888-1903), 13 of which he spent with the Phillies, ''Big Ed'' amassed a .346 batting average – including three seasons where he batted over .400. He also collected 2,597 hits and hit 101 home runs.
In 1893, the National League moved the pitching distance from 50 feet to its present 60 feet, six inches. Because of this, Delahanty became a formidable hitter practically over night. While he only slugged 15 homeruns between 1888 and 1892, he led the league with 19 home runs and 146 RBI in 1893 for a Phillies team that finished fourth (72-57).
Delahanty was the star of Philadelphia teams that fielded future Hall of Famers "Big" Sam Thompson, "Sliding" Billy Hamilton and Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, and led the Phillies in WAR for six seasons.
The 1899 season was no different. Delahanty's slash line was .410/.464/.582 and he led the Phillies in almost every offensive category, including home runs (nine). In fact, he led the National League in eight offensive categories: hits (238), doubles (55), RBI (137), batting average (.410), slugging (.582), OPS (1.046), OPS+ (191), and total bases (338). In short, Big Ed would have been a big favorite to win a league MVP award if one existed.
Leading the team in round trippers was a big deal; home runs were a rarity during the 19th century when "small ball" was emphasized and perfected. Hitting a lot of home runs was, in fact, such a marvel that a Philadelphia saloon keeper presented an annual award to the man who led the Phillies in round trippers each year. In 1900, Philadelphia's star outfielder was the recipient of an engraved silver pitcher made by the Forbes Silver Co., a division of the Meriden Britannia Company of Meriden, Connecticut, for leading the Phillies in home runs during the 1899 season. According to an April 14, 1908 article in the Pittsburgh Press, Philadelphia saloon keeper William Grady presented an award each year to the Phillie who led the team in home runs. This is the only existing textual reference to such an award, while the newly discovered Delahanty award from 1900 is the only physical evidence.
Silver pitcher presented to Ed Delahanty by saloon keeper William E. Grady. (Sandy Bauder)
Ed Delahanty was typical example of late 19th and early 20th century baseball players; strange, hard drinking, sometimes foul and poor with money (often a result of their hard drinking). He had a few debts he needed to pay off so he sold his silver pitcher (and a gold banded diamond ring) to John F. Bauder Sr., then president of the Tenth National Bank in Philadelphia. Both articles were were bestowed to his son, John F. Bauder Jr.
Bauder Jr. died on February 20, 2016 at the age of 100. He was a retired teacher and World War II veteran who flew missions over Normandy, France on D-Day on June 6, 1944. But he never told anyone about the silver pitcher on his shelf until a few days before his death when he explained to his niece, Sandy Bauder, and her boyfriend, Rick Marino, what the pitcher was and how it was obtained.
The inscription on the pitcher faced the wall on Bauder Jr.'s shelf for years. (Sandy Bauder)
Bauder and Marino brought the pitcher to the final hot stove meeting of Society of American Baseball Research's (SABR) Connie Mack Chapter in Philadelphia in March 2016, soon after Bob D'Angelo of Sports Collectors Daily published an article on Delahanty, Bauder Jr. and the pitcher. Marino explained that he and Bauder may loan the pitcher to the Baseball Hall of Fame in the future.
According to D'Angelo's article, Hunt Auctions estimated the pitcher's value to be between $5,000 and $10,000. Marino also contacted Mint State, a PSA authorized dealer who is currently selling three of the seven Ty Cobb T206 "Lucky 7 Find" baseball cards. Mint State told Marino that it's difficult to assign a value to such a unique and rare piece, but they felt that the Hunt Auction appraisal was incredibly low. Regardless of appraisal value, the pitcher is likely to fetch a large sum due to it's original owner and his unfortunate demise.
It's unknown when Delahanty sold the pitcher and ring to Bauder Sr. The Phillies' star jumped to the American League's Washington Senators in 1902 but kept a residence in Philadelphia with his wife and daughter. It's likely that he sold the pitcher between between 1902 and 1903, but finding a definitive date is probably impossible.
Delahanty was accustomed to both individual and team success. In his first season with the Senators in 1902, he won the American League batting title with .376 batting average, becoming the first – and still the only – player to win the batting title in both the National League and American League. But the Senators were bad; indeed the anecdote "Washington: first in war, first in peace, last in the American League" was true even at the turn of the century. According to baseball-reference.com, Washington finished the 1902 season in sixth place, 22 games behind the pennant winning Philadelphia Athletics. The Senators' poor performance in 1902 rattled Delahanty, who came from a Phillies franchise that only finished lower than 4th three times during his 13 year tenure (the most consistent period of success in Phillies history).
In 1902, Delahanty's personal life began to crumble. His wife Norine was sick and his drinking increased. SABR member John Saccoman explained in a biography that Delahanty squandered the family's finances by betting on horse racing and excessive drinking. His debts were growing and he sought every opportunity to keep his family afloat financially. He sold keepsakes and even tried to jump back to the National League but the contract with the Giants was never fulfilled, leaving Delahanty in a financial rut and playing for a cellar dweller. It's likely that Delahanty sold his silver pitcher to Bauder Sr. after the 1902 season ended and before Spring Training 1903 when he returned home to Philadelphia. In 1903, he feuded with manager Tom Lofus about where he was to play in the field. With his world collapsing, Saccoman tells, Delahanty even tried to commit suicide in his hotel room.
The Senators were scheduled to complete a 13 game road trip in mid June 1903. Saccoman stated that on June 17, Delahanty took out an insurance policy on himself and named his daughter Florence as the beneficiary. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Delahanty disappeared before the final game of the series with Detroit and left no notice of where he went. His belongings were left in his Detroit hotel room.
Philadelphia Inquirer excerpt from July 6, 1903 notifying readers of Delahanty's disappearance. (Newsbank.com)
Delahanty boarded a train bound for New York. Saccoman tells that eyewitnesses – primarily the train's conductor John Cole – grew increasingly disturbed by the Washington star's drunken behavior on the train (he downed five glasses of whisky). Delahanty was eventually thrown off the train at Fort Erie, Ontario where he stumbled onto a bridge that crossed the Niagara River. Night watchman Sam Kingston noticed a man walking near the edge of the bridge and wrestled him to the middle of the bridge, but Delahanty escaped. The next thing Kingston heard was a splash in the river 25 feet below.
Delahanty's disappearance was publicized in newspapers across the United States. He was found dead on July 9 when his body was discovered at the bottom of Niagara Falls. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on the oddly gruesome story in its July 10 issue.
The Philadelphia Inquirer explained Delahanty's behavior on the train and his ultimate demise. (Newsbank.com)
Ed Delahanty's skill was legendary and his death was infamous. He led the most consistently successful Phillies teams in franchise history. He was a bonafide home run hitter in an era where such feats were rare. His skill with the bat is etched into a silver pitcher that Delahanty himself sold to a local Philadelphia bank president. While the true cause of Delahanty's death is shrouded in mystery, the silver pitcher has emerged from the sands of time to remind us about how truly great Ed Delahanty was on a baseball diamond and how unique articles of baseball history can still lay hidden from public eyes. Ed Delahanty was a Hall of Fame baseball player who had a colorful hall of shame story. For this reason, Bauder's and Marino's silver pitcher should fetch a very nice price at auction.
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Matt Alberston (@mdalbert88) is a historical columnist on Philliedelphia.com.
