Quote:
Originally Posted by GasHouseGang
I had to look it up after reading this. According to what I found on the web: "O'Brien died in Phoenix, Arizona at the age of 27, from pneumonia resulting from lung disease. He believed his disease was caused by his drinking a large amount of salty seawater after having been told that it would cure his seasickness." So probably not the water.
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According to his SABR biography, drinking the seawater caused O'Brien to vomit profusely. He was unable to play in the games in Cuba, and returned to the United States, and traveled to Arizona to recover, but developed pneumonia. "His weakened condition brought on by drinking seawater and vomiting made him susceptible to the illness."
Returning to the possible ID of the player, the Pirates had a catcher named Louis Deal with them during spring training. He did not appear in any major league games; he had played for Meriden in 1899 and then played for Rochester and Dayton in 1900, before disappearing from organized baseball. I have not seen a picture of him, but he may be the unidentified player. Catchers were not always stockily built back then; for example, Connie Mack had been a catcher.
I haven't come across any other names that are not already accounted for.