One of the legendary figures of the early game, Delahanty was a prodigious drinker as well as a prodigious hitter. He died under what for many years were termed mysterious circumstances, when his body was found at the foot of Niagara Falls. The truth of the matter is that he died like a damn fool, drunk and disorderly. He was put off a train for being drunk and unruly, decided to walk across the railroad bridge, fell off or through the bridge and was swept over the falls. Unwilling to accept the embarrassing death of what was then one of the biggest stars in the game, the mythmakers went to work, suggesting that Delahanty may have met with foul play.

As Bill James so aptly puts it, there is no mugger in the world stupid enough to try and make a living by hanging around railroad bridges in the middle of the night waiting for a ball player to come by.

One of the greatest hitters around the turn of the century, a worthy Hall of Famer, and a lethal slugger who mostly played for The Phillies before jumping to the terrible early Senators clubs. Mostly remembered for his tragic and mysterious death detailed in the review below this one.