Unluckiest Man in Baseball History

[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 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 from

Except 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"? h

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.