Posted By:
Mike PeichI highly recommend the Delahanty biography (Univ. of Notre Dame Press). It's an informative bio of the Great Del, as well as a good cultural/historical study of baseball in the 1880s/1890s. The author, Jerold Casway, makes a compelling case for the influence of Irish immigrants at this period in baseball's history (40 percent of the players were Irish). He also solves the mystery of Delahanty's death--too much drinking, excessive gambling, huge debts--a player who was not in touch with the reality of his life. Sounds contemporary, doesn't it?
I reviewed the book for the Philadelphia Inquirer back in September, and if anyone would like a copy of the review, I'm happy to send it if you contact me via e-mail. Kevin--you'll enjoy it.
Cheers, Mike
[edited to fix email address]