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Ed Delahanty in the Emerald Age of Baseball

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Jerrold Casway has provided us with an in-depth study of 19th century baseball star Ed Delahanty. Like so many other athletes in his time Delahanty lived for today rather than postpone immediate gratification for a greater future reward. The lure of the racetrack while wintering in New Orleans and later alcohol were contributing factors leading up to the decline of this once great superstar. "The Only Del" toiled for unheralded losing teams such as the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Senators. Baseball wars were on and Delahanty had the problem of not caring how many contracts he signed as long as he played with the team that offered him the most money. I felt the author did a good job of sorting through the possibilities regarding Delahanty's death on the International Bridge crossing the Niagara River between Fort Erie, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York. Delahanty was removed from the train for abusive behavior, and from what information we have available it appears that he stumbled over railroad ties in an effort to elude the bridge watchman. His body was discovered below the Canadian Horseshoe Falls in the Niagara River one week later on July 9th. This was an era in which the owners had it all their way, and players had no financial benefits that today's players enjoy. Players usually reentered the regular workforce once their playing days were over. Delahanty, however, lived lavishly during his playing days without a thought to his post-playing days. Information is also provided on his baseball playing brothers in addition to his wife and daughter after Ed's death. If you enjoy 19th century baseball history I believe this is another book from that colorful age that you will find enjoyable to read.

This is one of the best baseball biographies I have read. Unlike some that mainly take you on a timeline from one noteworthy game (with dutiful descriptions of achievements or failures) to the next, Casway does an excellent job of going behind the player to reveal the person, flaws and all. It is fascinating to see the 1890s version of the immature superstar with only one marketable skill (crushing a baseball) as he tries to cope with personal and family problems as that skill rapidly deteriorates. You know the outcome, but it is still a great read. I found the descriptions of the Phillies management very interesting, and learned a few new things about John McGraw. Clearly a lot of careful research went into this book. If you enjoy baseball biographies, you'll like this one.

Forget the sour grapes of that other review, this is a superb baseball history. It is extemely well researched with an incredible amount of information in a very readable package. Anyone who is truly into baseball history will want this book and will want to know and understand the 19th Century and the players. The sociology of baseball has been the sociology of this country and the early players are the heroes and pioneers who gave us the perfect game of baseball. Buy the book!

We all know of players like Cy Young and Ty Cobb, but for most of the baseball world, the late 1890's and Early 19th century is a forgotten period of baseball. Even Larry Anderson, one of the Philadelphia Phillies broadcasters, was unaware of how teh late Phils slugger Ed Delahanty died. (I'm not telling you, you'll find out easy enough, anyway.) He only found out recently during a blow out game, when a certain player had a chance for hitting 4 home runs in single game. A feat, which was accomplished by the Only Del.

In the 1890's, the Phillies had one of the best teams ever to be featured on a baseball diamond. None the less, they were never able to put together a champion. Most of the blame should go to the Phillies owners, who insisted on paying their players far below their worth, and the hiring of string after string of bad managers, not to mention constant inteferance with said managers by the Front Office.

Of Course, the players didn't have much say in any of these things. They could do what they did on the playing field, but a pay raise was hard to come by. In fact, many players saw their salaries go the other way during the 1890's. The reserve clause bound you to your team, and the others in the league weren't allowed to sign you. This set of circumstances led to the creation of the short lived Player's League in the early part of the 1890's and later the formation of the American League in 1901. (At least in part.)

Ed was one of the many great Irish players in baseball at the time. The Irish far outnumbered any other minority in baseball during this period. Irish Ed was one of the greatest players of his (or any other) time, and other teams repeatedly offered the Phillies rather large sums of money in exchange for Big Ed. Ed batted over .400 for a good chunk of his career, and played at every position except pitcher and catcher. He was an amazing left fielder, but kept being moved back to first base for various reasons. (Injuries to other player's, mostly.)

Ed had a love for the arts, and this is the only part of the book that is never really expanded on. Big lived a "Superstar" lifestyle without much regard for his or his families future, rather foolishly thinking that baseball could support him forever. Sadly, he only wanted to be paid what he was worth, and this led him to jump to the American League's Washington Senators in 1902. The departure of Delahanty and the core of the great Phillies team left the Phils in such a state that it took the franchise years, even decades to recover.

Big Ed didn't seem to be as loved in Washington as he was in Philadelphia. At first, maybe, but as time went on, most of the media and cranks (Rowdy bleacher fans) turned on him. During this period of time, Ed began his descent that would end in his death. He had problems with gambling and alcohol late in his life, and after losing a good chunk of cash betting on the racetrack Ed attempted to jump back to the National League for the New York Giants. It was a lucrative contract with a huge, unheard of, bonus for it's time. But it didn't work out. Ed was beset by the owners of the Phillies and Senators, and the rest of the League Owners, and eventually during the winter and spring of 1903, Ed was forced to return to the Senators.

He had already spent most of his bonus, and the two teams agreed to take the money out of Ed's salary. Ed was now being paid almost nothing for his services, and debts began to mount for him and his family.

Ed continued to have deeper and deeper problems with alcohol, depression, and gambling as the season went on, in that order. He wasn't in great shape, and his playing suffered at times. Finally, desperate, drunk, and depressed Ed decided to try to Jump again to the Giants after a few players had successfully switched leagues just recently. After a drinking binge and subsequent confrontation by his monther and teammates in Detroit, Ed boarded a train leaving them behind and heading across Canada for Buffalo, where he would switch to a train bound for New York. He never told anyone where he was heading, and even left his mother strnaded in Detroit, with no money to return to Cleveland, their familiy home.

He never arrived in New York. It is a sad tale, but a tale worth reading. Casway has written a fine book, one of the most detailed books about baseball ever written. The Life and Times of Ed Delahanty will come to life in this book. It truely was the Emerald Age of baseball, and it should not ever be forgotten again. If you think for a moment that my desciption of this book in any way gives you the jist of the story, you are sadly mistaken. No review could come close to ever doing this magnificent book justice. If you like baseball, or just sad tales of the death of Kings, this book is a must read

This is a well written book on the life of Ed Delehanty and the Delahanty family. It is thoroughly researched. I could not put this book down once I started reading it.

I just finished reading Jerrold Casway's epic work which focuses on the life, times and career of "contract-jumper" Ed Delahanty, little-known (at least to me, up until I read this book) Hall of Fame baseball player who starred in the late 1800s- early 1900s.

This book is painstakingly and meticulously researched (45 pages of footnotes alone, no less!)-- and the enormity of this undertaking by a highly skilled author is readily apparent with every turn of the page. Anyone who appreciates and enjoys the game of baseball (formerly called "Base Ball" as so documented in the book) should find this to be a VERY insightful read-- not only about the EVOLUTION of our National pastime (artfully related IN CONTEXT with key news, events, and "snapshots" of the surrounding world outside-- i.e. Presidents, wars, strife, natural disasters, etc. at any given time along the continuum in which the story is being told)-- but also about the life, times, mighty feats, travails and the ultimate demise of a skilled but wanton, highly intemperate (off the field) slugger.

To this reader, it became apparent while reading this masterpiece is that a great many parallels can be drawn from a MANAGEMENT/PLAYER relations standpoint between today's game and that of yesteryear. In other words-- "the more things change, the more they stay the same". I have now learned that adversarial relationships have always existed between these parties. This is not at all unique to today. Skilled ballplayers sought the highest bidder for their services then, as now. Ed Delahanty, though, was the ultimate "contract-jumper". He'd strike a new deal while the ink was still drying on another one that he had just signed. Being mindful of the limited window of opportunity that he had (before his playing skills would deteriorate), he played this card for all it was worth-- or not.

The game was in a rather constant state of "flux" during Delahanty's time-- what with new "upstart" leagues raiding the incumbent leagues for key talent. Legal decisions and eventual reversals of those decisions abounded. Signed contracts would ultimately be voided by the courts. The emotional turmoil of being "caught in the middle" of this tug of war.. A "pickle" of his own making.. Whilst feeling the "crunch" of legal obligation to several teams at once-- was a source of great distress to Delahanty... and helped lead to his eventual demise... His liquor problems notwithstanding.

But there is much, much more to the story. I simply suggest that you just pick up this book and read it. You will not be disappointed. Another aspect that I thoroughly enjoyed was the manner in which the author "works in" various "snippets" of columns written by the sportswriters of that era-- offering their "take" on the various baseball news items-- and there are many-- that came up. This book is extremely well-documented.

One caveat- unless you are a Evelyn Wood grad, you will find it very difficult to "speed-read" through. That is because a great many paragraphs are jam-packed with facts and detail. This book is also written for the intelligentsia amongst the baseball/Irish history buff contingent. In other words, this is a college-level book. If your reading level is 6th-grade, for example, you may not be able to keep up. On the other hand, this book is VERY intellectually stimulating to those of us that truly appreciate MASTERFUL application of the English language-- a very COLORFUL and ARTFUL one, at that. So, grab your favorite beverage, curl up on the couch and enjoy this fine work.

I rate this book FIVE AND A HALF-STARS OUT OF A POSSIBLE FOUR!

Tim Fitzgerald, Chicago IL

As the author of a later 2004 release, Cap Anson 2: The Theatrical and Kingly Mike Kelly: U.S. Team Sport's First Media Sensation and Baseball's Original Casey at the Bat, I was excited to buy a copy of Jerrold Casway's Ed Delahanty in the Emerald Age of Baseball. Kelly and Delahanty are the first 19th-century Hall of Famers of Irish descent to be the subject of full-length books. Each of ours seeks to be the standard biography of our subjects, and Casway didn't have as much of a head start (Kelly was treated in an 1888 ghostwritten autobiography, the first book about a professional baseball player, and in Marty Appel's 1996 Slide, Kelly, Slide).

In the 1880s, Kelly was to baseball, in a more animated way, what Delahanty was, in a more workmanlike way, in the 1890s. Casway likes social history, and he relates Delahanty's Irishness to the general status of the Irish in 19th-century America (he had written a 1999 essay in the Encyclopedia of the Irish in America entitled "Irish American Factor and the Emerald Age of Baseball"). To make Delahanty's story whole, he has unearthed personable information about Delahanty and his family, and his "Irish Kid from Cleveland" chapter is arguably the most interesting chapter of the book.

I find Casway's book most similar to Reed Browning's about Cy Young, as both were fairly stoic figures or at least covered without great detail to outside interests. A case in point is that Delahanty adored the theater, and even founded a social group featuring athletes, actors and businessmen. But reporting on that great love of his was apparently scant as it is limited to a few pages of the book. Kelly loved the theater as much as Delahanty and, in part because of Kelly's own stage career which included recitations of "Casey at the Bat," a lot more was said about his relationships with theatrical personalities and other players who performed on stage (who thus had a sense of the theatrical), especially Cap Anson and Arlie Latham.

Delahanty's arguably greatest significance was as a power hitter, when leading the league in doubles (which Delahanty did five times) was to batting what leading the league in home runs is today. Casway adequately reflects that aspect of his play while wrapping his career broadly around social history themes. Arguably Delahanty's main appeal today is his mysterious death, and the author is able to write definitively on the subject especially because of a prior book on the subject: Mike Sowell's July 2, 1903.

ED DELAHANTY-THE ONLY MAN TO WIN THE BATTING TITLE IN BOTH THE NATIONAL AND AMERICAN LEAGUES (1899 AND 1902)WITH THE PHILLIES AND SENATORS DIED A TRAGIC DEATH IN 1903.HE ONCE HIT 4 HOMERS IN A GAME- ALL IN SIDE THE PARKERS! READ THIS BOOK!IT IS GREAT!!!!!!!I HAVE BEEN A PHILLIES FAN FOR 44 YEARS.

The book is not only beautiful, but the content is interestingly captivating. It appeals to baseball fans, as well as a general audience.

While this biography of a fine, mysterious player is adequate, Casway's assertion that 19th Century baseball was an "Emerald Age," due to Irish dominance is ludicrous. Almost all the top ball players were of English ancestry at the time, which reflected the U.S. immigrant population. With the exclusion of Negroes, Latins etc. Irish did stand out as a "colorful" minority.