Ex-MLB star Ed Delahanty’s death at Niagara Falls after abandoning team in 1903 remains a mystery even 120 years later

During the 1890s, Big Ed Delahanty was one of baseball's real superstars and one of the game's first big power hitters. He played in the historic Phillies outfield of 1894, which included four batters who averaged over .400, with Big Ed tearing them apart at a .407 batting average.

Delahanty had an astounding batting average of .388 and an average of 115 RBIs annually between 1894 and 1899. He was the only player outside of Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby to bat above .400 thrice.

Before Jimmy Rollins broke the mark in 2005 with a hit in 35 straight games, Ed Delahanty was the Phillies' record holder for the most consecutive games with a hit (31).

After spending 13 seasons with the Phillies, Ed Delahanty made a move to the American League, where he joined the Washington Senators and claimed the AL batting title in his maiden season with the Senators. But everything didn't pan out as expected.

After reaching his breaking point with the Senators in 1903 when Washington fell to a 16-43 record in the regular season, Delahanty decided to abandon the ballclub and move to his home town in NYC.

However, he never made it to his house, as reports suggest that he was evidently drunk on the train he was traveling on and got kicked out at Fort Erie, a border town nearby Niagara Falls, by the train conductor for his misdemeanors.

Although Sam Kingston's first account claimed that they had gotten into a physical altercation that resulted in the player falling into the water below the bridge, Kingston subsequently informed the police that he witnessed Ed Delahanty jump off the bridge.

Kingston was the night guard working at the railway crossing that night. Though there was no concrete proof to back up Big Ed's brothers' notion that he was the victim of a lethal twist to a robbery, the mysterious circumstances of Ed Delahanty's death still remain a conspiracy theory.

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Ed Delahanty was the most recognized ball player in the late 19th century

In the late 1800s, Ed Delahanty was a slugger among the normies in the big leagues. In 1893, he was the league leader with 19 home runs, a noteworthy figure at the time.

He repeated that in 1896. He was the NL leader in slugging five times. With 146, 126, and 137 RBI, he led the NL in RBI three times. He was also a multifaceted player. With an incredible.500 OBP in 1895 to lead the league and a career-ending.411 OBP, he reached base at a remarkable rate.

Five times, he topped the NL in OPS before he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of baseball. Big Ed's family was drawn towards baseball from the beginning, as his brothers too made it to the MLB.