By rights, 1903 should have been the best year of Ed Doheny’s life. He had overcome on-field struggles to become a key starting pitcher for the National League-winning Pittsburgh Pirates. But off the field, Doheny’s personal life was unraveling.
By the fall, as the Pirates were preparing to play in the first-ever World Series, his troubles would come to a head and add to what had already been a tragic year for organized baseball.
Ed Doheny grew up in Northfield, Vermont, where his parents had settled after emigrating from Ireland. His father, James, worked as a laborer for the railroad, while his mother, Mary, kept house. Ed and his twin brother, James, were born in 1873, the third and fourth children in the family. Another half-dozen would follow.
As a young man, Ed worked as a stonecutter and spent his spare time playing baseball, pitching for his local team. These were the early days of baseball, and playing conditions could be challenging. One newspaper account of a game mentioned that Bethel had scored three of its runs against Northfield because of a “ball lost in the high grass.”
Doheny, who stood 5-foot-10 and weighed 165 pounds, was a lefthander who could throw hard and mix in an effective curveball, though control was not his forte: He walked a lot of batters. But his control issues weren’t enough to deter the team in Farnham, Quebec, from signing him at age 21. The next year, he played for the St. Albans team. A Boston Globe sportswriter was impressed with Doheny and suggested the New York Giants sign him. The Giants paid the sportswriter $100 for the tip.
The transition to the Major Leagues wasn’t easy. Doheny pitched 25 and two-thirds innings for the Giants at the tail end of the 1895 season and gave up an astounding 37 hits and walked 19 batters. The next season went better and baseball writers could see he had potential.
“Doheny pitches a game that any young man would feel proud to have framed and put up in his room,” one reporter wrote. “Today the club had a pitcher doing service — one who has heart, stomach, brains and physique,” reported another. “The boy from Vermont showed his mettle and verified the prediction I have made of him many times before. His pitching was a work of art.”
Doheny had stellar 1897 season, recording a 2.12 ERA, though he was limited to only 85 innings pitched. He would have pitched more if he hadn’t been suspended for two months for getting into an argument with club owner Andrew Freedman, which was an easy thing to do. Freedman has been described as “George Steinbrenner on Quaaludes with a touch of Al Capone” and “just this side of a madman.”
The World newspaper of New York reported that Doheny had been insubordinate when Freedman had meddled in affairs that should have been left to the team’s manager.
Doheny ignored the suspension and returned to the Polo Grounds, the Giants’ home field, as if nothing had happened. When Freedman got word that Doheny was warming up with the team, he sent a messenger to order Doheny to leave. When Doheny didn’t budge, Freedman had a police officer escort him from the grounds.
Doheny returned to Vermont and pitched for the Barre team before moving on to play for a team in Corning, N.Y. Because these clubs weren’t part of the Major Leagues, Freedman had no way of stopping him.
Rumors circulated that Boston wanted to trade for Doheny, but the Giants declined the offer. Doheny returned to pitch for New York in August. By October, amends had been made and he renewed his contract for the next season.
That winter, Doheny returned to Vermont and spent time organizing and refereeing elbow and collar wrestling matches, a popular sport that Vermonters dominated.
200 innings a season
Doheny was a regular starter for the Giants the next two seasons, pitching more than 200 innings in each, though his won-loss records those years were 7-19 and 14-17. Doheny found time during the 1899 season to get married in Manhattan to a St. Albans girl, Catherine O’Sullivan, whom he perhaps met while playing for that town’s team.
The Giants traded Doheny partway through the 1901 season to the Pittsburgh Pirates. For Doheny, it was definitely trading up. He moved from a team that would finish eighth that season to one that would win the National League pennant.
It’s unclear what the Pirates wanted with a pitcher who had only 37 wins against 69 losses in the Majors at that point. But the Pirates’ scouts apparently saw untapped talent. Pitching with abler teammates behind him, Doheny became a star. He finished the 1901 season strongly, winning six and only losing two. He followed that with a 16-4 season in 1902.
The offseason was marred by shocking news: The Detroit Tigers’ player-manager, Win Mercer, had killed himself. Mercer was a well-known and popular player whose good looks had once sparked a riot; when he was ejected from a game on Ladies’ Night, enraged female fans stormed the field.
Mercer had committed suicide in a San Francisco hotel room by inhaling the gas used for lighting. Newspapers variously attributed his suicide to despondency over gambling debts, a failed love affair, and ill health.
Midsummer brought news of the disappearance of Ed Delahanty, one of the best hitters of his generation. Delahanty had been acting odd lately, drinking heavily, worrying about gambling debts and giving away valuable possessions.
He was also in the midst of a contract dispute with his team, the Washington Senators. On July 2, Delahanty boarded a train from Detroit to New York, where he hoped to meet with league officials. He became drunk and belligerent on the train, threatening fellow passengers with a straight razor. The conductor ordered him off the train, leaving Delahanty on the Canadian side of the International Bridge, with the lights of Buffalo visible in the distance.
Later that night, a watchman noticed a man standing on the bridge. When the watchman confronted him, the man ran, then stumbled and fell from the bridge into the river below. It took a few days before people connected the stranger on the bridge and the missing Delahanty.
His body was found several days later in the waters at the base of Niagara Falls. It was unclear if he had died from falling from the bridge, drowning in the river or plummeting over the falls. His body was discovered by the operator of the Maid of the Mist tour boat, who noted that the body was missing a leg, which had apparently been severed by the boat’s propeller.
Ominous news
Three weeks later, it was Doheny who was acting erratically. Up to that point in the season, newspapers had been reporting on how well things were going for him. He had started the season 12-6 and was a mainstay for the Pirates, who were in first place.
Then, on July 29, newspapers reported that he had been behaving strangely. “Eddie Doheny Deserts Team” read the headline in the Pittsburgh Press. “Clever Southpaw Is Affected and He Goes Home.”
“His conduct is unquestionably the result of some mental derangement,” the paper stated, before detailing his recent behavior. “He has been laboring under the impression that detectives are constantly following him. … It is believed that the heat has upset Doheny’s mind. He has been taking the best of care of himself and was one of the easiest men on the team to handle.”
Less than two weeks later, the news was better: “Ed Doheny Getting Well” read a headline in the Pittsburgh Daily Post. Pittsburgh manager Fred Clarke had returned from a road trip to find two letters. Both Catherine Doheny and the doctor attending her husband had written to say that Ed was recovering.
He rejoined the team and was the starting pitcher against Boston’s National League team, the Beaneaters, on Aug. 15. He pitched poorly that day, but soon regained his form. Two weeks later, he shut out St. Louis. Fans were thrilled: Doheny was back.
But just as quickly as he had seemingly recovered, the Pittsburgh Daily Post reported ominous news on Sept. 23: Donehy had been sick for more than a week. The paper didn’t specify what ailed him, but stated that he had been taken to his home in Andover, Massachusetts, by his wife and brother. There, he would be cared for by Dr. E.C. Conroy, who had treated him after his breakdown in July.
Still, newspapers speculated that Doheny might recover in time to pitch in the upcoming inaugural World Series.
But those hopes proved unrealistic. While the Pirates were in the midst of a World Series they would eventually lose to the Boston Americans (later renamed the Red Sox), Donehy’s condition worsened. On Oct. 10, he informed Dr. Conroy that he didn’t want to see him again. When Conroy tried to persuade him to continue treatment, Donehy threw the doctor violently out of the house.
The next day, Donehy violently attacked an attending nurse with a metal stove poker, seriously injuring the man. Catherine Doheny ran to the neighbors for help. Her husband held police at bay for more than an hour before they were able to overpower him.
It was no longer safe to have Doheny live at home. A judge had him committed to a state mental asylum in Danvers. During the following weeks, newspapers reported that Doheny’s condition was improving. But the claims proved false. Doheny lived the rest of his life in state care and died in 1916 at the age of 43.
