Big Ed Delahanty

"Edward James Delahanty (October 30, 1867 – July 2, 1903), nicknamed 'Big Ed', was a Major League Baseball player from 1888 to 1903 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Infants and Washington Senators, and was known as one of the game's early power hitters. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945. A Cleveland, Ohio native nicknamed 'Big Ed,' Delahanty was an outfielder and powerful right-handed batter in the 1890s. Crazy Schmit, who pitched for the Giants and Orioles, said of him, 'When you pitch to (Ed) Delahanty, you just want to shut your eyes, say a prayer and chuck the ball. The Lord only knows what'll happen after that.' (quoted in Autumn Glory by Louis P. Masur) Ed Delahanty was also the most prominent member of the largest group of siblings ever to play in the major leagues: brothers Frank, Jim, Joe and Tom also spent time in the majors."
Wikipedia

"One of the greatest right-handed sluggers of all time, Ed Delahanty dominated the 1890s like no other hitter, batting better than .400 three times, leading the league in slugging percentage four times, and capturing three RBI crowns on his way to a lifetime batting average of .346, the fifth best mark in baseball history. Known as 'Big Ed,' and the 'King of Swat,' the muscular Delahanty was more than a one-dimensional slugger; he was also a fleet-footed, rifle-armed left fielder who was good enough to play center, and an excellent base runner who once led the league in stolen bases. 'Delahanty is an awfully even, well balanced player all around,' Sporting Life once observed. '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.' Despite such versatility, the temperamental star was destined to make more headlines off the field than on it, and his death, less than two years into his tenure with the Washington Senators, remains one of the most fascinating mysteries in the annals of the sport."
SABR

Delehanty's Body Found - The New York Times on July 10, 1903
"NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y., July 9.—The body of Edward Delehanty, the right fielder of the Washington baseball team of the American League, who fell from the International Bridge last Thursday night, was taken from the river at the lower Niagara gorge to-day. Relatives of Delehanty arrived here this afternoon and positively identified the body as that of the missing baseball player. The body of a woman thirty-five years old was also recovered at Lewiston to-day. It has not been identified. Delehanty's body was mangled. One leg was torn off, presumably by the propeller of the Maid of the Mist, near whose landing the body was found. The body will be shipped to Washington to-night. Delehanty's effects have been sent to his wife by the Pullman people. Frank Delehanty of the Syracuse team and E.J. McGuire, a brother-in-law, from Cleveland, are here investigating the death of the player. They do not believe that Delehanty committed suicide or that he had been on a spree in Detroit. In the sleeper on the Michigan Central train on the way down from Detroit, Delehanty had five drinks of whiskey says Conductor Cole, and became so obstreperous that he had to put him off the train at Bridgeburg at the Canadian end of the bridge. Cole says Delehanty had an open razor and was terrifying others in the sleeper."
Baseball Almanac

"BUT DELAHANTY NEVER DONNED A GIANTS UNIFORM. In January 1903, Ban Johnson signed a peace treaty with the National League; as part of the deal, Giants owner John Brush agreed to return Delahanty and former Tiger George Davis to the American League. Davis was angered by the move and vowed to hold out until he was allowed to play for New York. Delahanty was desperate for cash and unhappily agreed to return to Washington. Depressed at the turn of events, Delahanty spent most of the 1903 season with a hangover and barely managed to keep his average above .300. When a near-deal to the AL's New York Highlanders fell through, 'Big Ed' began disappearing from the team for days at a time. Once, his frustration led him to turn on the gas in his hotel room; luckily, one of his teammates yanked him out in time. On the night of July 2, 1903, a drunken Delahanty finally found a chance to escape the Senators. George Davis had finally been allowed to join the Giants, and Delahanty -- hoping to be afforded the same opportunity -- boarded a train traveling from Detroit to New York. HE NEVER MADE IT. Eight hours and five shots of whiskey after boarding the train, Delahanty was asked to leave. He had been a nuisance the entire journey, and when he attempted to drag a sleeping woman out of her berth by her ankles the train conductor had decided enough was enough."
Baseball Library

The Death Of Big Ed Delahanty
"Sometimes, hungover, he might lose a pop fly in the glare of the Washington sun.
And yes, he swung at bad pitches, and let the Irish in him sharpen up and boozy-bloat his tongue.
Nights on the road he led a bachelor's life, with the bright short blaze of a shooting star.
But he soaked some homers-yeah, four in one game--when the ball was dead and the fences far.

Big Ed don't let them weigh you down.
Big Ed don't let us weigh you down. ..."
The Baseball Project

amazon - July 2, 1903: The Mysterious Death of Hall-Of-Famer Big Ed Delahanty