Happy Birthday to the late and great Ed Delahanty. One of the things I do is discuss great players who aren’t remembered these days on a count that they played so long ago, most of them being players who played during the Dead Ball Era. Ed Delahanty is one of those players; in a 16-year career, he established himself as not only one of the game’s early power hitters but also one of the early five-tool players. Primarily, he played Left Field and every other position besides Pitcher and Catcher for a time in his career.

Career Statistics (1888-1903): 

.346 BA 2,596 HITS 101 HR 1,464 RBI 1,600 RUNS .411 OBP

What’s a Five-Tool-Player? Well, it’s when a player demonstrates the ability to Hit for Average and Power while also having the speed to run the bases, as well as being able to field and throw at a particular position. Delahanty batted .300 or higher twelve straight times, eight times batting over .350, and over .400 three times. Seven times, Delahanty drove in 100 or more RBIs, leading the league three times. Yes, while most Home Runs were inside the park, during his playing days, he led the league twice in that category. In terms of baserunning, he stole 456 career bases, averaging 40 a year. With great baserunning, Delahanty could turn Singles into Doubles and Doubles into Triples. Delahanty led the league in Doubles five times, averaging 46 a year. Also, he recorded Triples in the double digits ten times, averaging 16 a year. When it came to touching home plate resulting in a run, he did it 1,600 times, as well as ten years with 100 or more of them. At the plate, he was as patient as you can be as a hitter, only striking out 439 times while drawing 742 Walks. His ability to make contact and rarely striking out contributed to him leading the league in OBP twice, as well as having an OBP above .400 nine times.

He died in 1903 at 35, still playing at a high level. I won’t discuss the details of The Mysterious Death of Big Ed Delahanty; I’m just here to discuss the baseball career of Delahanty, which was nothing but excellent. I mean, look at his year-to-year numbers and tell me they aren’t mindblowing.

I count 17 “Black-Bold Face Type” stats on his Career Statistics page via Baseball Reference. His lifetime .346 average ranks the 5th highest in baseball history behind only Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Joe Jackson, and Lefty O’Doul. 

Delahanty 162 Game Average Statline:

.346 BA 229 HITS 9 HR 129 RBI 141 RUNS .411 OBP

While the game was played differently back then, his statline is still unreal. Primarily, he played most of his career in the National League; he and Hornsby himself is the only other three-time .400-hitter in National League. Over 30 years after his death, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945 by the Veterans Committee. While he wasn’t on the Sporting News list of 100 Greatest Ballplayers in 1999, it’s fair to say that he certainly should be on that list. At least he’s better than at least ten of the guys on the list. 

References:

  1. Ed Delahanty via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Delahanty#
  2. Ed Delahanty Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/delahed01.shtml