And Now...The Return...Of...
This Day In Washington Baseball History...
(The Continuing Attempt To Educate A Montreal Fan About DC Baseball History...)
April 23...1903.
According to the "This Date In Baseball" column on the Newark Star-Ledger sports section's Baseball page...On this day in 1903:
"The New York Highlanders won their first game as a major league team over the Washington Senators."
The New York Highlanders, who were originally the Baltimore Orioles for two seasons in 1901-1902, relocated from Maryland to New York in 1903 after a dispute between the Orioles' owner and American League President Ban Johnson allowed them to force their way into New York as the AL team in the NL NY Giants' backyard. (ed. note - "Yes I summarized a lot in two sentences there, like the opening of the studio cut of David Lynch's "Dune". You can read up on your NY Yankees' history HERE back to DC History...)
...On April 22, 1903, the Highlanders played their first game as the Highlanders, losing to the Senators in American League Park, (which was located on the corner of Florida Street NE and Trinidad Ave NE according to Ballparks.com's American League Park page), and the next day, on the 23rd of April 1903, the Highlanders earned their first win.
The 1903 Senators, featuring catcher Malachi Kittridge, first baseman Boileryard Clarke, utility man Rabbit Robinson and pitchers Case Patten and "Highball" Wilson, finished the '03 campaign 43-94, good for 8th place in the American League. Outfielder Kip Selbach led the Senators offensively in 1903, with a .251 AVG, 23 doubles, 12 triples, 3 HR's, 49 RBI's, 41 BB, 20 SB and a .305 OBP. As for the pitchers, Case Patten's (11-22) record was tops, as were his 133 K's in a team-leading 300.0 IP, while Watty Lee's 3.08 ERA was the lowest amongst starters, but the real star of the 1903 Senators,...was outfielder Big Ed Delahanty, who met a tragic end in 1903...
You see, Big Ed...well, he went and got drunk and got himself kicked off the team train which was returning from Detroit through Buffalo, NY...and Big Ed, well he fell off the International Bridge, which spans the Niagara River, which, you guessed it, leads to Niagara Falls. Big Ed Delahanty, one of five Delahanty brothers to make it to the major leagues, who had a career .346 AVG, putting up a 162-Game AVG of 46 doubles, 16 triples, 9 HR's and 129 RBI's according to baseball-reference.com, was swept over the falls and at some point along the way killed....Delahanty was 35 when he died in July of 1903. 42 years later, Big Ed Delahanty was posthumously elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee.
And that's what happens when you look into DC baseball history...