Is there a more fascinating baseball character than...

[Davy_Kangaroo_Jones]

Originally Posted by dstraate

How about a vote for Big Ed Dehlanty? Only player I've heard of to go over Niagara Falls sans barrel.

I never heard that. What happened?

[familytoad]

Hal Chase and Roger Clemens threads on top of the board...separated by nearly a century but still the same thing to me...nothing interesting at all in guys who aren't honest and who refuse to uphold any value or integrity for baseball.

There are a LOT more interesting characters to me...like Dummy Hoy or Pete Gray, all of the WW2 heroes including Warren Spahn, Bob Feller and Ted Williams, color barrier guys like Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby, eccentric but honest baseball guys like Nick Altrock, Bob Uecker, Mark Fidyrich. Victims of fate like Eddie Waitkus, Addie Joss, Lyman Bostock or Thurman Munson.
Old timers with fascinating stories like Old Hoss Radbourne ,Ed Delehanty or Bugs Raymond.

Clemens and Chase...not for this baseball fan!

[tjlives]

Originally Posted by Davy_Kangaroo_Jones

I never heard that. What happened?

Delahanty was kicked off a train near Niagara Falls in 1903 for being drunk and disorderly. He then attempted to cross the falls by walking across the rail bridge, and was never seen again alive; his body washed up later. Theories have ranged from suicide to murder to drunken accident.

[FrankWakefield]

July 2, 1903: The Mysterious Death of Hall-Of-Famer Big Ed Delahanty by Mike Sowell.

THAT is the book to read to learn about Delahanty, and more importantly about the formation of a second league in major league baseball, how initially they didn't honor one another's contracts... Lajoie jumped contracts, and to avoid contempt proceedings after he joined Cleveland, he'd not go on any roadtrips that required him to play in or go through Pennsylvania, because he had jumped his Philadelphia A's contract. I consider this one of the top 10 baseball books for someone to read who wants to understand the history of the game.

[Davy_Kangaroo_Jones]

Originally Posted by tjlives

Delahanty was kicked off a train near Niagara Falls in 1903 for being drunk and disorderly. He then attempted to cross the falls by walking across the rail bridge, and was never seen again alive; his body washed up later. Theories have ranged from suicide to murder to drunken accident.

wow

[MW1]

Chase photo

[tjb1952tjb]

Pretty Blue..........

[tedzan]

American Lithographic thought enough of Hal Chase, that they printed his 5 cards more than any other T206 subjects......70+ front/back combinations.







TED Z

[tedzan]

..



TED Z

[dstraate]

Well, I won't cite anything but Wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt. He was drunk, and got thrown from a train. Decided to go over Niagara with his evening open. Also got stuck in a doghouse retrieving a home run, hit by cap anson. Then beat up Chuck Norris' great grandfather.

[matthew]

Originally Posted by dstraate

Then beat up Chuck Norris' great grandfather.

Chuck found out about the incident, went back in time & finished Big Ed with a vicious roundhouse kick to the temple.

[calvindog]

[FrankWakefield]

I think Calvin used to just be called Calvin, until one day someone asked him if he had a card of some old ballplayer. Calvin probably said he thought he might, then he proceeded to dig out a handful of seldom seen beauties, along the lines of what he just posted. The fellow looking at them, knowing what they were, looked at Calvin and said, "You DOG!!!" That was the birth of that Calvindog moniker. If it isn't true, it should be. You dog... nice cards, great signature.

[calvindog]

[Griffins]