Unluckiest Man in Baseball History

[ElHalo]

Some would say Ed Delahanty, who died after being kicked off a train for being drunk and rowdy.

Some would say Dave Dravecky, who got cancer in his pitching arm, had half of the muscle removed, came back to pitch again... had his arm basically fall off in the middle of a pitch, re-injured the arm in a pileup celebrating the Giants' 1989 pennant win, got cancer in the arm again, had to get the arm amputated in 1993... and then got hit by a bus a little while back. He's still alive, at least, though.

Some would say Dizzy Dean, who suffered a career ending injury (essentially) in the All Star Game.

Some would say Rube Waddell... wasn't it he who suffered the debilitating arm injury after injuring his arm in a scuffle with a teammate and then sleeping with the injured arm out the window of a train?

Some would say Ray Fosse... or Tony Conigliaro... or Ray Chapman...

Who would you say?

[scootermojo]

dave dravecky. the name just makes me feel bad. that sucks. i remember when that happened, his arm breaking in two in the middle of a pitch. sick.

what about christy matthewson? didn't he get gassed in the army on accident at boot camp preparing for WWI? i think that's what led to his early death.

i still feel for roger maris for what he had to endure. that's just unfair. matt williams wasn't the greatest player niether but fans were rooting for him when he was on pace to break maris' mark in '94 before the strike.

roberto clemente, any red sox or cubs fans for the last 80 years, lou gehrig, the fans in '81 and especially '94, tony gwynn in '94 and lately, steve bartman. anybody would have did what he did but everybody wants to make him a scapegoat. gonzalez's (sp?) error was WAY more crucial. plus, the cubs had a chance to win the next game as well and blew it.

[BoSox Rule]

I'd have to say Bill Bucker was pretty damn unlucky

[macintosh]

Roberto Clemnte. Dying while trying to HELP people.

[Brad Harris]

Walter Johnson.

He lost 1-0 a record 27 times in his career.

[Captain Cold Nose]

Don't forget Herb Score.

Johnson might have had the misfortune of losing all those 1-0 games, but he had a full career with a lot of great moments. Chapman, Score, and Conigliaro had very bright futures taken from them due to extremely unlucky breaks. The greatest misfortune is having the opportunity for greatness taken away from you by no fault of your own.

Lou Gehrig, Roberto Clemente, Harry Agganis, Thurman Munson, Danny Thompson, Francisco Barrios, Ross Youngs, Addie Joss, Steve Olin, Tim Crews, Billy McMillon, etc. Etc. Etc.

[RuthMayBond]

Lyman Bostock, Dickie Thon, Jim Eisenreich, Fred Merkle, JR Richard, Mark Fidrych, Steve Busby, the old-timer whose female stalker shot him, Ernie Banks (all those years & never got in the playoffs) :ughh Don't use Delahanty, he CHOSE to get drunk. You guys are hitting all my lists, except I have a list of the luckiest MLers.

[scootermojo]

Don't use Delahanty, he CHOSE to get drunk.


if your going to think like that then you can say don't use clemente because he choose to get on that plane. i'm sure when delahanty go hammered that night he didn't think to himself, "gee, wouldn't it be great if i died tonight?"

what was the name of the umpire who got shot in the mid to early '90's chasing that theif? he got a bum deal, also. of course, one could think that he choose to chase that robber so it's his fault that he is a crippled.

[Captain Cold Nose]

what was the name of the umpire who got shot in the mid to early '90's chasing that theif? he got a bum deal, also. of course, one could think that he choose to chase that robber so it's his fault that he is a crippled.

Steve Palermo.

[Steve02C5]

Dickie Thon, who has headed for greatness. I lived a couple doors down from him, in an apartment complex, here in Houston - heck of a nice guy, what a tragedy.

[RuthMayBond]

if your going to think like that then you can say don't use clemente because he choose to get on that plane. i'm sure when delahanty go hammered that night he didn't think to himself, "gee, wouldn't it be great if i died tonight?"

what was the name of the umpire who got shot in the mid to early '90's chasing that theif? he got a bum deal, also. of course, one could think that he choose to chase that robber so it's his fault that he is a crippled.Tell me you're not trying to compare these. Palermo & Clemente were trying to HELP people. No, Delahanty didn't think that, but what good comes of getting drunk?

[ElHalo]

Tell me you're not trying to compare these. Palermo & Clemente were trying to HELP people. No, Delahanty didn't think that, but what good comes of getting drunk?

Plenty of good comes from getting drunk. If it wasn't for getting drunk, most of us would never have been born.

Come on now. Everybody's gotten drunk and rowdy, most of us probably dozens of times. I don't think any of us ever expected to die because of it (unless we were stupid enough to try driving after getting drunk and rowdy).

Delehanty was drinking on a train. He wasn't driving, he wasn't opperating heavy machinery. He was sitting on a train. Of course he was drinking; what else would he do? Could he possibly have expected that they'd kick him off the train in the middle of nowhere and he'd get hit by another train/ fall off a bridge/ whatever?

Sorry, you can't say that Delahanty deserved to die because he'd been drinking. If that were true, then 99% of all people on Earth would deserve to die, many of them several times a day.

[RuthMayBond]

I didn't say he deserved to die, I said he deliberately put himself in a bad position, and not even with the hope of helping others.

[ElHalo]

I didn't say he deserved to die, I said he deliberately put himself in a bad position, and not even with the hope of helping others.

Well, ok. But so did Thurmon Munson. Munson knew that flying a plane was a dangerous activity. Does that mean he wasn't extremely unlucky that he died?

[RuthMayBond]

Well, ok. But so did Thurmon Munson. Munson knew that flying a plane was a dangerous activity. Does that mean he wasn't extremely unlucky that he died?I thought I included Munson in my list (unless someone else got him first). He was extremely unlucky, but it also depends upon what level his pilot skills were.

[ElHalo]

I thought I included Munson in my list (unless someone else got him first). He was extremely unlucky, but it also depends upon what level his pilot skills were.

True, I agree with you. I'm just saying, Munson was less unlucky than Delahanty... at least when you're flying a plane, you know that it's at least a realistic possibility that you'll crash. When you're drinking on a train, I don't think you feel that there's any possibility whatsoever that you'll get kicked off the train and fall off a bridge.

[texranger]

How about J. R. Richard? Or the Devil rays pitcher (Tony Saunders?) who broke his arm TWICE while pitching...

Roj

[bluezebra]

Lou Gehrig not only died from ALS while still having some great years left, he lived in the shadow of The Babe for most of his career. The one time he would have beaten Ruth for the home run title, he was called out for passing a previous runner. When he hit four homers in a game, the next day's headlines read,"McGraw Retires".

[HitchedtoaSpark]

Sticking with on the field stuff, I'd have to say turn-of-the-century pitcher Ned Garvin (http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/garvine01.shtml). It seems this guy is the patron saint of hard-luck hurlers. The poor guy just couldn't buy a win, no matter how outstanding his moundwork was.

[schlabotnik]

Many players could fit the general idea. But if you really want to talk baseball and only baseball, it has to be Ray Chapman. First I do not know of any other player ever leaving the batter's box with only 2 strikes. This story is among others related in "Baseball anecdotes" byD. Okrent and S. Wulf. p.90 " Earlier in the same season in which he would be killed by a pitch thrown by Carl Mays, Cleveland's Ray Chapman was facing Walter Johnson. When the pitcher quickly brought the count to two strikes, Chapman left the batter's box for the dugout. Reminded by Umpire Billy Evans that he had one strike left, Chapman said, "You can have it. It wouldn't do me any good." Evans declared Chapman out..."

It is as if that one pitch was looking for him...

[Bushrod]

Delahanty was thrown off the train by RR thug employees as it passed over Niagara Falls, a bit upriver. One minute drunk, next heading over the roaring edge into the chasm of death itself. that's not bad luck, it's victim of evil.

Eddie Waitkis was the guy shot by a female stalker, I don't know anymore than that.

J.R. Richard had a stroke partly from doing cocaine, they said.

Thurman Munson wasn't qualified to be practicing the type of landings he was practicing when he killed himself. flying w/o a license, really.

Chapman was manslaughtered, not bad luck. Mays was known for throwing at guys, so ugly a fellow he was unpopular on his own team. he surely didn't mean to kill him, but...

disabled by hbp isn't clearly luck, because people pitch inside and hit by intent and pitches get away from people. hit in the eye socket by a line drive is bad luck, because no batter could aim that well, has to be an accident. Herb Score would be the worst case there.

Fosse was blocking the plate. if the play wasn't important enough for Rose to crash him, it wasn't important enough for Fosse to block the plate. Neither one had much choice, especially with the huge audience and the game on the line. what were they going to do? get out of the way? stop in the basepath or slide into shinguards? Pete always came in headfirst. that wasn't luck, that was just baseball.

Haddix losing his perfect game to another player's error comes to mind, but errors are part of the game, so not luck really.

Gehrig wasn't unlucky. everyone in history has played in Ruth's shadow. Gehrig has fared amazingly well considering he hit 4th behind the guy and still stands #1 on everyone's all-time list. He was very lucky not to break a leg for 2130 games! DiMaggio was lucky to go half a season with only one game when he hit it at somebody 4 times.

bad luck has to be a fluke. injuries and intoxication and intentional human acts aren't really luck-related. luck is a fluke, like drawing 4 aces, or getting drunk before work and coming in an hour late, seeing an airliner hit your floor, like the one guy on 9-11. one of the greatest benefits of getting drunk I've ever seen.

[Brad Harris]

How about the great Bill Lange, who chose love over baseball and ended up with neither?

[Bushrod]

your own definition nullifies your post.

he took someone's life.
he did not intend to = manslaughter, according to you.

fits the situation and my post perfectly.

and you can't even see a "remote, obscure" fit!!!

If Gibson, Drysdale and Marichal had killed a batter, they'd have different reputations today. Should have, anyway.

If I were you, I wouldn't "always" take any position. that's knee-jerk and unthinking. You need to think more deeply on things.

[santotohof]

Off the top of my head, any backup to Lou Gherig or Cal Ripken :grouchy

[baclightning]

Not to be flippant (I realise that death and serious injury are more tragic than never getting into a game), but how about Larry Yount?

First, being the brother of a Hall-of-Famer can't have been that much fun, but for the coup-de-grace, he injured himself while warming up for his only major league appearance, meaning that he never actually threw a pitch in a major league game. That's pretty unlucky!

Then there's Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Pop Lloyd, etc., who never got to play in the majors, either...

[Zito75]

Steve Olin and Tim Crews. Pretty unlucky what happened to them, also pretty stupid to be boating at night while drinking.

[AG2004]

One could make a case for George Muir, the traveling secretary for the Cleveland Spiders in 1899. Just before the season, the Spiders' owners bought the St. Louis club and shipped all of Cleveland's best players there, turning the Spiders into the worst team in major league history. Bill James called it "baseball's greatest disgrace. The 1919 White Sox sold out the big series. The Cleveland owners sold out the whole season."

This meant he got stuck with perhaps the worst single-season job in the history of major league baseball - he had to watch every single game the Spiders played that season, and couldn't do anything about their play.

[mako224]

I am suprised no one, at least on this thread, has mentioned the most devasting momement in PROFESSIONAL SPORTS HISTORY! Then again it did happen a long time ago to a minor league team. It was June 24, 1946: A Washington Motor Coach Company bus, carrying player-manager Mel Cole and 15 of his Indians players to Bremerton, breaks through a guardrail on Snoqualmie Pass and tumbles hundreds of feet down a steep ravine. The bus bursts into flames, and nine men die as a result of the crash. The accident remains the worst in American pro sports history. (according to spokesman-review's 100th anneverserary of the Indians). Everyone on that bus was pretty unlucky, seeing as the driver knew the bus was bad, and that he was going to get a new one at the stopping point! No neglegence was involved in that accident, just some bad luck.

Another pretty unlucky person few would know about, unless you were a dedicated Spokane Indians fan, is the story of a very unlucky pitcher who never got his day in the big leagues. It was July 20, 1903: Ernie Nichols, a 22-year-old pro rookie from San Francisco, drops dead during an off-day outing to the Natatorium park amusement park. he had been sensation, posting a 20-4 record with the season barely half over. (same source as above) He was only 22 and closing in on an unbeatable record, but never made it to the big leagues. What could've been just sends shivers down my spine. A 20-4 record with the season a little over half done, the guy was great, and only could've gotten better not yet in his prime.

These two events are very unlucky momements in baseball history, and I thought people should know, as few know about the Spokane Indians.

[Compy90_2000]

A candidate for unluckiest player would have to be Robin Yount's brother, Larry. In 1971 he was a relief pitcher when he was called upon to warm up before making his major league debut. While warming up he suffered an injury and never came close to the majors again. His career stats are 1 game with no innings pitched.

[mako224]

Just trying to revive an old thread :p

[Mantle7]

The unluckiest guy in baseball is Pete Rose. Here's a guy that has the all-time hits record, won lots of World Series with the Big Red Machine, but there's one problem. HE IS NOT IN THE HALL OF FAME. This guy was probably the one who hustled the most. He played his heart out and he is not in the HOF because of one mistake. They better put him in before he dies because if they don't, that's just terrible.

[tibber]

was it ever proven that j.r. richard did cocaine?

[Captain Cold Nose]

The unluckiest guy in baseball is Pete Rose. Here's a guy that has the all-time hits record, won lots of World Series with the Big Red Machine, but there's one problem. HE IS NOT IN THE HALL OF FAME. This guy was probably the one who hustled the most. He played his heart out and he is not in the HOF because of one mistake. They better put him in before he dies because if they don't, that's just terrible.


What was his mistake, not hiding his betting slips better or not choosing bookies and friends who wouldn't talk?

[Bushrod]

pete had miserable luck to run into a succession of stooges in umpire pallone and his giant bag of issues; commissioner sluggo, representing the east coast prejudice ruling baseball, inc. and Chief Inspectagator Ken Starr.

Pete's already in the only Hall of Fame that matters. That other one has been hopelessly diminished by the army of desk clerks and special interests that own it and fight over it.

[Imapotato]

Plenty of good comes from getting drunk. If it wasn't for getting drunk, most of us would never have been born.

Come on now. Everybody's gotten drunk and rowdy, most of us probably dozens of times. I don't think any of us ever expected to die because of it (unless we were stupid enough to try driving after getting drunk and rowdy).

Delehanty was drinking on a train. He wasn't driving, he wasn't opperating heavy machinery. He was sitting on a train. Of course he was drinking; what else would he do? Could he possibly have expected that they'd kick him off the train in the middle of nowhere and he'd get hit by another train/ fall off a bridge/ whatever?

Sorry, you can't say that Delahanty deserved to die because he'd been drinking. If that were true, then 99% of all people on Earth would deserve to die, many of them several times a day.

Ok RMB as much as it pains me is right...

Big Ed put himself in that situation by the following bad choices

1) Only reason he was on the train was 'jumping', ironically, he was about to join McGraw and the Giants and renegging on his Washington Nationals contract

2) Only reason he was kicked off was for being not drunk...but drunk and disorderly...harrasing passangers

3) So drunk that he never thought that stumbling over thin railroad tracks over a bridge wasn't exactly a great idea.

of course there are still rumors that he was robbed and tossed off, since his wallet and numerous other expensive items were not found on his body

Addie Joss is in the same boat...except he was just stubborn and pig headed...he fainted in a game and apologized ot his teammates for being a wimp. If only he got help when he started feeling sick instead of being a tough guy, he could have lived...shame, he was a great P. His teammate was the same Elmer Flick, although I am not sure they had any cure for bleeding ulcers at the time.

Pete Rose and Ray Chapman had their own actions lead to what happened...true Chapman just got hit an inch in the temple that caused death but his head was in the strike zone.

I mean Frank Chance missed ALOT of games by getting hit in the head, he suffered hearing loss, brain hemmoragging and a coma...hows that for luck

I must say Dave Dravecky tops anyone thus far on the list...

[RuthMayBond]

Ok RMB as much as it pains me is right...Duh!
:waving :clapping :laugh :dance I will cherish this post forever

[nolanryan5714]

I must chime in here and say that, although you all have good arguments and perspectives, Craig Biggio is at least in the top 10.

Getting drilled 268 times must be TERRIBLE. :eek:
Thank goodness it didn't take away much from his playing time over the years...

[538280]

Ned Garvin was very unlucky. Look at his win-loss records compared to his ERAs. 57-97 career won-loss record (.370 pct.) with a 2.72 career ERA (124 ERA+).

[plask_stirlac]

Oscar Charleston and Satchel Paige. Two tons of talent, two ounces of opportunity.

Joe Jackson might've been somewhat complicit, but the poor guy couldn't just be on a team going for WS wins.

[zman]

Unluckiest in History? I don't know but Cleveland Indians minor league pitcher Kyle Denney's been shot, hit in the elbow with a bat and had his skull fractured by a line drive. Too early to tell how he'll measure up to the all-time unluckiest players but he shows great promise.

http://sports.espn.go.com/minorlbb/news/story?id=2096095

[HDH]

but what good comes of getting drunk?

So many children

Waddell always wanted to wrestle anyone who he coaxed into it. I understand that he was undefeated. He injured his arm wresling Andy Coakly then the team-mates refused to play until Mack kicked him off the team.

Definitely Drabecki ranks pretty high as unlucky... Except he was a MLB pitcher and played in the WS.

[ElHalo]

The more I think about it, the more it has to be Dravecky. At least things were over quickly for Delahanty. Fosse and Canigliaro didn't die. Chapman lingered for a few days, but his suffering was over relatively quickly too.

But Dravecky? Cancer, arm falls off in the middle of a pitch, arm re-injured in a celebretory pileup, more cancer... all of this would make him unlucky, but not more than a whole lot of other people. No, the kicker to me is that years later, after he's had his arm cut off and thinks all of his problems are in his past, he gets hit by a bus. I'm not a religious man (though Dravecky, inexplicably, is; he has his own internet ministry), but if I were Dravecky, I'd see getting hit by the bus as pretty much definitive proof that God hates me.

[efin98]

Unluckiest in History? I don't know but Cleveland Indians minor league pitcher Kyle Denney's been shot, hit in the elbow with a bat and had his skull fractured by a line drive. Too early to tell how he'll measure up to the all-time unluckiest players but he shows great promise.

http://sports.espn.go.com/minorlbb/news/story?id=2096095

A game of inches...guess he should be glad that his luck held up to keep him inches from getting hurt worse each time.

And that should be it for him with bad luck if bad luck comes in threes...

[ballparks]

The more I think about it, the more it has to be Dravecky. At least things were over quickly for Delahanty. Fosse and Canigliaro didn't die. Chapman lingered for a few days, but his suffering was over relatively quickly too.

But Dravecky? Cancer, arm falls off in the middle of a pitch, arm re-injured in a celebretory pileup, more cancer... all of this would make him unlucky, but not more than a whole lot of other people. No, the kicker to me is that years later, after he's had his arm cut off and thinks all of his problems are in his past, he gets hit by a bus. I'm not a religious man (though Dravecky, inexplicably, is; he has his own internet ministry), but if I were Dravecky, I'd see getting hit by the bus as pretty much definitive proof that God hates me.

As far as I understand, Dravecky is not only a religious man, but a member of the John Birch Society and known in baseball as somewhat of a white supremacist.
I'll save my sad feelings for the Clementes of the world who sacrificed themselves for the sake of others, and for the Gehrigs who were struck down by a terrible uncurable disease and had to face an inevitable debilitating death.

[Barnstormer]

I think Roy Campanella was a pretty unlucky guy. First he was kept out of the majors because he was black. Then he got in and won the MVP every other year, until he was paralyzed in January 1958 (never got to play in L.A.). And it doesn't stop there.

"In spring training of 1954, he chipped a bone in the heel of his left hand and damaged a nerve. It affected his hitting and limited him to 111 games. Surgery helped in 1955, but the problem returned the next year. Then, in January 1958, Campanella was permanently disabled in an automobile accident. Returning home from his liquor store, which he ran in the off-season, he lost control of his car on an icy street. The car slammed into a telephone pole and flipped over, pinning him behind the steering wheel. The crash fractured his fifth cervical vertebra and damaged his spinal cord.

Despite surgery to relieve pressure on his spinal column, nothing could be done to repair the fracture and dislocation of his fifth and sixth vertebrae. Campanella, at 36, was paralyzed from the chest down.

Three days after the operation, his condition worsened when he was stricken with pneumonia and his left lung collapsed. Although the pneumonia passed, Campanella's paralysis remained unchanged.

After three months at Glen Cove Community Hospital, Campy was moved to the Rusk Institute for Rehabilitative Medicine at New York University-Bellevue Hospital. He wouldn't return home until that November.

The accident cost him more than his career. His first marriage, to Ruthe with whom he had five children, broke up as Ruthe was accused of physically and verbally abusing Campy."

Talk about bad things happening to good people.

[Imapotato]

Plenty of good comes from getting drunk. If it wasn't for getting drunk, most of us would never have been born.



Ouch, I thought I was a gift from heaven :(


Dave Dravecky is just plain unlucky, and I still can't believe all he has endured

Fred Merkle, did nothing wrong, was a young pup, followed basic advice when fans swarm the field and now is in infamy for Merkle's Boner

Tony C, could have had a nice career

Austin McHenry, very good rookie campaign, would hit in back of Hornsby for maybe 10 years, but had a tumor in his head

Campy was bad luck as well, his wife married him for $$$ and started beating him when he was paralyzed...I mean gheesh

Gehrig, not only his slow death, but is more recognized for that then his wonderful career

Clemente yea...but Roberto got on a prop plane, there is always risk there...I mean that beautiful pop star died awhile back, JFK Jr., Valens and the guy with glasses...if you fly don't fly with a 2 man plane I suppose, high risk

538 hit a nice career stat on Ned Garvin...poor guy left the Superbas for a more talented Highlander team, and then they started stinking...he couldn't buy a win

[janduscframe]

No votes for Pete Reiser?

[Imapotato]

No Pete was a gutsy aggresive defender, and it wasn't luck just his playing style, much like Griffey Jr

[janduscframe]

Davecky was a John Bircher? I know his teammate the late Eric Show was,but I wasn't aware of Dravecky being one. I didn't know that.

[Metal Ed]

Plenty of good comes from getting drunk. If it wasn't for getting drunk, most of us would never have been born.




I beg your pardon.

[RuthMayBond]

Chapman lingered for a few days, but his suffering was over relatively quickly too.

But Dravecky? Cancer, arm falls off in the middle of a pitch, arm re-injured in a celebretory pileup, more cancer... all of this would make him unlucky, but not more than a whole lot of other people. No, the kicker to me is that years later, after he's had his arm cut off and thinks all of his problems are in his past, he gets hit by a bus. I'm not a religious man (though Dravecky, inexplicably, is; he has his own internet ministry), but if I were Dravecky, I'd see getting hit by the bus as pretty much definitive proof that God hates me.At least you have definitive proof that God exists :D Yeah, Dravecky much worse than "lucky" Chapman.

[Blackout]

Some would say Ed Delahanty, who died after being kicked off a train for being drunk and rowdy.

Some would say Dave Dravecky, who got cancer in his pitching arm, had half of the muscle removed, came back to pitch again... had his arm basically fall off in the middle of a pitch, re-injured the arm in a pileup celebrating the Giants' 1989 pennant win, got cancer in the arm again, had to get the arm amputated in 1993... and then got hit by a bus a little while back. He's still alive, at least, though.

Some would say Dizzy Dean, who suffered a career ending injury (essentially) in the All Star Game.

Some would say Rube Waddell... wasn't it he who suffered the debilitating arm injury after injuring his arm in a scuffle with a teammate and then sleeping with the injured arm out the window of a train?

Some would say Ray Fosse... or Tony Conigliaro... or Ray Chapman...

Who would you say?

lou gehrig, dude was a great person and in the end he's outshined by Babe Ruth and his #1 claim to fame is having a fatal diseise named after him

that, or that Bob Ojeda guy who always had accidents outdoors and camping

[RuthMayBond]

that, or that Bob Ojeda guy who always had accidents outdoors and camping, including the one he died fromExcept Ojeda didn't die from that

[ElHalo]

that, or that Bob Ojeda guy who always had accidents outdoors and camping, including the one he died from

I think Ojeda would say that the reports of his death have been greatly exaggerated.

[csh19792001]

Sorry, you can't say that Delahanty deserved to die because he'd been drinking. If that were true, then 99% of all people on Earth would deserve to die, many of them several times a day.

Last year I read Mike Sowell's July 2, 1903. It is more a recounting of a bygone era in American History than a biopic, but it does tell us everything that is known about the last days of Big Ed's life.

Delahanty was forcibly ejected from the train at Fort Erie due to "obstreperous behavior". had been manic-depressive for some time, to the extent that he had taken out several life insurance policies. That night, he was particularly lit up, and was brandishing a razor, threatening some of the train patrons.

His body turned up a week later miles downriver, only necktie and shoes intact. His suitcase was found on the train, but his jewelry (gold rings) that he always wore were conspicuously absent from his corpse. Delahanty was an opulent, boisterous, high-living Irishman- cut in the mold of King Kelly (who died in a similarily tragic/pathetic state, peniless, basically freezing to death on a Boston street). Delahanty's showy personality and wealth cause some to suspect that he was robbed, in his inebriated state, and pushed over the falls.

The recorded account as told by the bridge tender (apparently the last person who saw him alive) is dubious and self-contradictory.

Incredibly unlucky? Well, if he was robbed and murdered (which may very well have been the case) then I'd obviously say "yes" (even though his banishment from the freight car was of his own doing). Did he merely slip off the International Bridge? Did he purposefully jump off? The shame (and utter intrigue) of the whole ordeal is that we will probably never know what actually happened that night....

[csh19792001]

Or the Devil rays pitcher (Tony Saunders?) who broke his arm TWICE while pitching...

Roj

Saw films of that- might have been the sickest thing I've seen on a baseball field, with props to the Jason Kendall incident. Did anyone else see the Saunders "injuries"? :ughh

Lyman Bostock is one of the tops, no doubt. He was killed with a shotgun blast while riding in his uncle's car in the lovely city of Gary, Indiana. From what I once read, apparently, the shot was not intended for him, but for one of the other passengers. To add insult to tragedy, the man who killed him was later acquitted and released (probably on his own recognizance), vis-à-vis the good old insanity plea.

http://www.blackathlete.com/Baseball/051104.shtml

[efin98]

that, or that Bob Ojeda guy who always had accidents outdoors and camping, including the one he died from

He didn't die from an accident outdoors, but two of his teammates did: Steve Olin and Tim Crews

[Victory Faust]

In regards to Ray Chapman....

Weren't there some minor-leaguers who were also killed after being beaned? I believe that is the case -- and, if so, I would have to say those poor chaps were decidedly more unlucky than Mr. Chapman.

At least Ray got the chance to sip the cool waters of the major leagues, and to be the idol of all of Cleveland (one of the most popular athletes in the city's history, in fact). And Ray Chapman's name has gone down in history -- for a dubious reason, perhaps, but he is generally regarded by history as a kind, good-natured chap. Not a bad way to be remembered by millions of people.

But those obscure minor leaguers? They suffered the exact same fate as Ray, yet nobody outside their immediate circles really cared. They never realized their dreams of making the majors. Poor souls...

There's a research project for someone, if it hasn't been done already: Who were the minor leaguers who were killed after being beaned?

[wamby]

In regards to Ray Chapman....

Weren't there some minor-leaguers who were also killed after being beaned? I believe that is the case -- and, if so, I would have to say those poor chaps were decidedly more unlucky than Mr. Chapman.

At least Ray got the chance to sip the cool waters of the major leagues, and to be the idol of all of Cleveland (one of the most popular athletes in the city's history, in fact). And Ray Chapman's name has gone down in history -- for a dubious reason, perhaps, but he is generally regarded by history as a kind, good-natured chap. Not a bad way to be remembered by millions of people.

But those obscure minor leaguers? They suffered the exact same fate as Ray, yet nobody outside their immediate circles really cared. They never realized their dreams of making the majors. Poor souls...

There's a research project for someone, if it hasn't been done already: Who were the minor leaguers who were killed after being beaned?

One was Johnny Dodge who was beaned June 18, 1916. He was playing with Mobile in the Southern League. He was beaned, while playing in Nashville, by Tom 'Shotgun' Rogers. Dodge had played in 127 major league games.
Total Baseball gives his date and place of death as June 19, 1916 in Mobile, AL, so the game have actually been played in Mobile.

Tom Burke of the New England League was beaned on August 9, 1906 by Joseph Yeager. He died two days later.

[flash143817]

Fred Merkle wasn't unlucky. He has the world's most famous boner. I could think of many worse things to have.

[Blackout]

He didn't die from an accident outdoors, but two of his teammates did: Steve Olin and Tim Crews

guess my memory was too rusty :D

[whatswailing]

You can call it unlucky or just at the end of his career but Bill Buckner can be considered. To have a whole nation of fans angry at you for the past 18 years over one freaking play that cost a championship just had to be awful. I guess he's not so unlucky anymore now that they've won and aren't as angry at him. My next guess would be Darren Dreifort, can never stay healthy and once again it could be bad conditioning or just bad luck. He's getting a ton of money to be called the man made of glass.

[Iron Jaw]

A candidate for unluckiest player would have to be Robin Yount's brother, Larry. In 1971 he was a relief pitcher when he was called upon to warm up before making his major league debut. While warming up he suffered an injury and never came close to the majors again. His career stats are 1 game with no innings pitched.

Now when they do a remake of "Field of Dreams" a few years from now (they remake just about every movie), Larry Yount can take the place of Moonlight Graham. And they can even change his age, the date of the game he was in, etc., like they did with Graham in the movie (the real Moonlight played in 1905 - he died in 1965. In the movie, Moonlight played in 1922 - died in 1972).

[Iron Jaw]

Of course, nothing can be compared to many of the afore-mentioned tragedies (Chapman, Clemente, etc.).

But speaking on just being unlucky in baseball, I'd throw in Matt Williams. In August of 1994 he had 43 homeruns and was on pace to break Roger Maris' record. No shoo-in, of course, but a great chance.

Then, his baseball union brethern decided they'd had enough baseball for the season, and all of them, including Matt, went home. It's extremely rare when a player is in a position to ever do it again, and in Matt's case, he never was.

Matt Williams always said it didn't bother him too much. But I'd bet, when he watched Mark McGwire march around the bases with that 62nd homerun in 1998, Williams paused to wonder, "What could have been?"

[EdTarbusz]

Fred Merkle wasn't unlucky. He has the world's most famous boner. I could think of many worse things to have.

I have to disagree. It was no boner. He was just doing what players were doing for the entire season. Plus the fact that fans were pouring onto the field, it's debatable that he could have even reached second.

If Evers pointed out this type of baserunning gaffe earlier in the season, it should have been shelved until the winter and then all the teams could have been notified about any change in the way that the rules were to be interpreted. This would have saved a lot of grief later on.

[Captain Cold Nose]

guess my memory was too rusty :D

Ojeda might very well wishes his were after dealing with that directly. Some say the memory of a horrific event is far worse than the event itself.

[EdTarbusz]

Ojeda might very well wishes his were after dealing with that directly. Some say the memory of a horrific event is far worse than the event itself.

It was bad enough that Ojeda left the country for a short time after the accident.

[Bill Burgess]

I have to disagree. It was no boner. He was just doing what players were doing for the entire season. Plus the fact that fans were pouring onto the field, it's debatable that he could have even reached second.

If Evers pointed out this type of baserunning gaffe earlier in the season, it should have been shelved until the winter and then all the teams could have been notified about any change in the way that the rules were to be interpreted. This would have saved a lot of grief later on.
Since Johnny Evers had brought this very play up earlier in the season, the league administraters should have notified all the teams that not running out a hit to the next base, would hence-forth be called an out.

It is wrong to not enforce a rule, and then all of a sudden enforce it, without having notified everyone before hand.

Bill

[EdTarbusz]

Since Johnny Evers had brought this very play up earlier in the season, the leauge administraters should have notified all the teams that not running out a hit to the next base, would hence-forth be called an out.

It is wrong to not enforce a rule, and then all of a sudden enforce it, without having notified everyone before hand.

Bill


My thought exactly. This clarification could have waited until the 1909 season.

[Brian McKenna]

My thought exactly. This clarification could have waited until the 1909 season.

I think the NL president's nerves paid for his misjudgment.

And by the way just another instance IMO of McGraw's pettiness and vindictiveness.

[EdTarbusz]

I think the NL president's nerves paid for his misjudgment.

And by the way just another instance IMO of McGraw's pettiness and vindictiveness.

I just finished Crazy 08 and it had a good account of the whole Merkle mess.

[Brian McKenna]

Maybe the story is not a flashy but many miss the AL part of the 1908 story. Just an incredibly great year for baseball. Too bad Henry Chadwick couldn't hang on to see it.

[EdTarbusz]

It was interesting to find out that Bill Bradley's screwing around on a routine pop-up ultimatley factored into the Naps second place finish. That was a bonehead play.

[philipthegreat]

Ray Chapman would have to be unluckeist guy. Out of thousands of ball players who have played the game he is the won who gets killed. Ray fosse is also unlucky. he was in the way of charlie hustle...

[Dodgerfan1]

Mike Coolbaugh has to be one of the unluckiest guys in all of baseball.

[Brian McKenna]

Ray Chapman would have to be unluckeist guy. Out of thousands of ball players who have played the game he is the won who gets killed. Ray fosse is also unlucky. he was in the way of charlie hustle...

There have been many boys and men killed as a result of action on a ballfield. Chapman's case just happened to be at the game's top level - Mike Powers and Cal Drummand also died from on-the-field injuries sustained during a ML game.

[Dalkowski110]

How about Ron Necciai? He tore his rotator cuff in an Army training exercise. And what about Johnny Beazley, who was hit by sharpnel during WWII in his leg and could never effectively push off again? Or maybe any player KIA...

[THE OX]

I am suprised no one, at least on this thread, has mentioned the most devasting momement in PROFESSIONAL SPORTS HISTORY! Then again it did happen a long time ago to a minor league team. It was June 24, 1946: A Washington Motor Coach Company bus, carrying player-manager Mel Cole and 15 of his Indians players to Bremerton, breaks through a guardrail on Snoqualmie Pass and tumbles hundreds of feet down a steep ravine. The bus bursts into flames, and nine men die as a result of the crash. The accident remains the worst in American pro sports history. (according to spokesman-review's 100th anneverserary of the Indians). Everyone on that bus was pretty unlucky, seeing as the driver knew the bus was bad, and that he was going to get a new one at the stopping point! No neglegence was involved in that accident, just some bad luck.

.......and I thought people should know, as few know about the Spokane Indians.

The SABR minor leagues group featured an article on the death of pitcher Darwin "Gus" Hallbourg, 87, the last surviving player from the June 24, 1946 crash of the bus carrying the Spokane Indians to a game in Bremerton. Here's a link furnished by Rod Nelson from the SABR group:

http://www.ksla.com:80/Global/story.asp?S=7221940&nav=0RY7

One of those injured at the time was the fabled minor league manager Ben Geraghty, who was Hank Aaron's favorite skipper, and managed Aaron at Jacksonville in 1953. I recall reading somewhere that Geraghty was very protective of his players, and it was suggested that the 1946 Spokane Indians bus crash may have been a big reason for his attitude. Ben unfortunately died very young at age 50 in 1963 while managing Jacksonville in the International League.

Mr. Hallbourg was a minor league pitcher from 1939-1948, winning 21 games in the WT-NM league in 1940. He was 7-6 with Spokane in 1946.

[Steele]

What about Alice Roth? Wife of a sportswriter covering a Phillies game in 1957. Richie Ashburn fouled off a pitch that struck her in the face, breaking her nose. Play was stopped. When it resumed minutes later, and Mrs. Roth was being carried away in a stretcher, Ashburn hit another foul that again struck her.

Steele

[Bill Burgess]

For pure hell, the sad saga of Marty Bergen is hard to top. He was an excellent catcher for 4 seasons, over-coming mental illness.

Then one night, he awoke from a nightmare, and seized by delusion, killed his 2 small kids, wife, and then himself. Now that's what I call bad luck.

http://baseball-fever.com/showpost.php?p=297809&postcount=74

[LeoD]

For pure hell, the sad saga of Marty Bergen is hard to top. He was an excellent catcher for 4 seasons, over-coming mental illness.

Then one night, he awoke from a nightmare, and seized by delusion, killed his 2 small kids, wife, and then himself. Now that's what I call bad luck.

http://baseball-fever.com/showpost.php?p=297809&postcount=74

Wasn't he Bill Bergen, the great .170 life time hitter's brother?

[Bill Burgess]

Wasn't he Bill Bergen, the great .170 life time hitter's brother?
That would be affirmative. Maybe Bill never got over his depression.

[hellborn]

For pure hell, the sad saga of Marty Bergen is hard to top. He was an excellent catcher for 4 seasons, over-coming mental illness.

Then one night, he awoke from a nightmare, and seized by delusion, killed his 2 small kids, wife, and then himself. Now that's what I call bad luck.

http://baseball-fever.com/showpost.php?p=297809&postcount=74

How did anybody figure out that he was delusional from a nightmare if he killed himself? Unless it took him a while to die...

He may have already been mentioned in this long thread, but I'll toss in Walt Bond.

[Bill Burgess]

How did anybody figure out that he was delusional from a nightmare if he killed himself? Unless it took him a while to die....
If you read the article, they worked backwards to realize he was mentally ill. It is my words that he woke from a nightmare, and confused reality from dream.

His father found everyone already dead. No one ever found out what drove him. It would have been weird to assume the wife did it.

[hellborn]

If you read the article, they worked backwards to realize he was mentally ill. It is my words that he woke from a nightmare, and confused reality from dream.

His father found everyone already dead. No one ever found out what drove him. It would have been weird to assume the wife did it.

I was lazy and didn't read the article, my bad.
Yeah, I think that human nature would tell us that it was about 99.99% likely that the man did it, unfortunately.

[BigStellyPADRES4LIFE]

The more I think about it, the more it has to be Dravecky. At least things were over quickly for Delahanty. Fosse and Canigliaro didn't die. Chapman lingered for a few days, but his suffering was over relatively quickly too.

But Dravecky? Cancer, arm falls off in the middle of a pitch, arm re-injured in a celebretory pileup, more cancer... all of this would make him unlucky, but not more than a whole lot of other people. No, the kicker to me is that years later, after he's had his arm cut off and thinks all of his problems are in his past, he gets hit by a bus. I'm not a religious man (though Dravecky, inexplicably, is; he has his own internet ministry), but if I were Dravecky, I'd see getting hit by the bus as pretty much definitive proof that God hates me.

Actually thats definitive proof god loves you.... He doesnt give you suffering you cant handle, this means he thinks very highly of dravecky.

[E.Howard 32]

I think of:

Ken Hubbs - Young star with the Cubs, NL Rookie of the Year and Gold Glover in 1962 died at age 22 in a plane crash.

Herb Score - Young pitcher with so much promise and so much speed, hit in the face by a line drive at age 23, pretty much ended his career.

Eddie Gaedel - Yep, Veeck's midget ballplayer. The guy with the 1.000 on base percentage. Eddie only batted once, walked, then ten years later, died of a heart attack after being mugged in Chicago at age 36.

[Erik Bedard]

Off the top of my head, any backup to Lou Gherig or Cal Ripken :grouchy

Ryan Minor?


He may have already been mentioned in this long thread, but I'll toss in Walt Bond.

Good one. Has his way blocked for a number of years, has two good years as a full-time player, is sent back to the minors, and the same year he gets called back up, dies of leukemia.

From the BR Bullpen:


Walt Bond, who died young, had one of the all-time best cups of coffee when he slugged .800 in 50 at-bats for the 1962 Cleveland Indians. His performance was particularly noteworthy since the team as a whole slugged .388.

Bond, who was huge for the time - 6 ' 7 " - was signed by the Indians in 1957, and had 131 at-bats with the Indians in 1960 at age 22. It was a tough time to try to break into the outfield, as the Indians had Harvey Kuenn at age 29, Jim Piersall at age 30, and Tito Francona at age 26. He had another 52 at-bats in 1961 with the Indians before the terrific cup of coffee in 1962.

He played in Jacksonville during much of the 1962 season.

He was not in the majors in 1963, but Houston bought him and made him a regular outfielder in 1964. He responded by hitting .254 with 20 home runs. His 20 home runs were by far the highest on the team (the next best was 12 and after that 8), and his 85 RBI led the team as well. His 7 triples tied for the team lead. His .254 batting average was much higher than the .229 team average. At age 26, he was six years older than youngsters Joe Morgan and Rusty Staub, who were struggling to find places on a team that had oldsters such as Nellie Fox at age 36.

In 1964, his batting average went up to .263, twenty-six points higher than the team average. His power dropped, although his .366 slugging percentage was also twenty-six points higher than the team slugging percentage.

He did not play in the majors in 1966 (he played in Denver), but finished up with another great cup of coffee with the Minnesota Twins in 1967 when he slugged .562 in 16 at-bats. Harmon Killebrew slugged .558 that year for the Twins, and it was also the Rookie of the Year season for Rod Carew.

He died of leukemia at age 29.

[THE OX]

As long as we're talking about Walt Bond and the mid-1960s, how about Jim Umbricht?

[Ytown Tribe fan]

I'd rule out players who had long, great careers before falling victim to disease or accident. Lou Gehrig himself would agree with that, and he did so, famously, in his speech at Yankees Stadium.

Clemente had a long and great career as well.

To me, the player would have to be destined for greatness at an early age, fall victim to illness or accident while still young, and never recover.

Even players such as Koufax and Joss had half of a great career, or slight more than half, before their careers ended abruptly.

Steve Busby comes mind.

[FrenchyLefebvre]

I was going to nominate Alice Roth (Richie Ashburn) as well.
And Pete Rose, just unlucky that he's dumber than a doorknob and probably was just born that way. (Still one of my favorite all time ballplayers though.)

How about Don Mattingly? Some folks think he's a jinx. He came up in 1982, one year after Yanks' WS appearance. The Yanks wouldn't see a WS again until the year after he retired. And we all know the funky turns of events in NY since Donnie had returned in a coaching capacity (season following their last WS win).
Wonder if that's why they chose Joe G. instead? :nod:
Superstitious Front Office? :crazy ;) (Just kidding.)

[scottybr7]

Without a doubt it's Ray Chapman. It took a tragedy to change rules. Carl Mays should get some consideration as well. One pitch that got away, try living with that on your conscious. Think how many times people have been hit in the head, and it was his pitch that killed somebody.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

How about Aubrey Epps?

Who?

Well, he was a 23 yr old catcher who got called up on the last day of the 1935 season for the Pirates, went 3 for 5 with 2 singles and a triple, 3 RBI, 1 run ... and never played in the majors again.

I'd sure like to know why. The Bucs weren't awful during that time, but they weren't great either. They had no one special catchig until 1941 when they came up with Al Lopez.

Maybe he just didn't get along with Pie Traynor, maybe he got married and got a real job (this was 1935, after all). Maybe he broke a leg and missed his shot.

Who knows? It was a hell of a debut for a young catcher.

[Brian McKenna]

How about Aubrey Epps?



How many careers would soon be derailed by WWII?

[EdTarbusz]

Aubrey Epps was a journeyman Minor Leaguer who did his best playing with Memphis in the Southern Association, he was an all-star there in 1938. In late 1935, he was hospitalized four time with pneumonia. He got into a beef with Pirates management about where he would play in 1936. He wanted to go back to the Southern Association, he got sent to Scranton of the New York Penn League. He appears to have been good hit, no glove-he made 2 errors in his only game with the Pirates. He faced pitchers Lee Grissom (making his 3rd start of the year) and Paul Derringer. He was called up in August of 1935 and sprnt about 6 weeks on the bench. His only appearance was on the last day of the season in the second game of a double-header.

Epps worked as a cop in the off-season and nearly quit baseball in 1938. I couldn't find any record of him past 1941. He was single, and of draft age in 1940 and probably entered the service in WWII.

I would go so far as to call Epps lucky. Unlike hundreds of his contemporaries he actually got a chance to appears in the Big Leagues.