Baseball Brethren

Baseball is a family sport.  America's pastime has subsisted on a passion that has been passed on from father to son, mother to daughter across the planes of time, throughout generations of cheering and jeering cranks.  As Chicago-based comedian, Tom Dreesen, once illustrated this concept using his beloved Wrigley Field as a backdrop, "...you walk up those stairs and you're going to sit in a seat that your great-great-grandfather sat in, your great-grandfather sat in, your grandfather sat in, your father sat in, that you sat in, that your son will sit in, that your son's son will sit in... and you're all going to watch the same game in the same place."

Accordingly, this unbridled passion for the game creates family ties in the stands and on the field.  The long history of the professional game can be traced through many familiar surnames.  Father and son combinations like the Griffey's, the Bond's, and the Boone's have produced some of the greatest talents that sports have ever known.  The Alou's, the DiMaggio's, and the Seagers's have produced brothers in arms and in bats.  In short, family lineage can be traced either by trees or by baselines.

You may have heard of the Hairston's, Niekro's, and the Alomar's, among countless other baseball brethren.  However, there's one surname in the game's great tapestry that has produced more Major League alumni than any of those familial branches:  the Delahanty's.

The eldest of the Delahanty clan, Ed, is the most well-remembered of the bunch, owing to his Hall of Fame selection and mysterious death.  Meanwhile, Frank, Joe, Tom and Jim (above) also populated several Big League rosters across the National, American, and Federal Leagues throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries - that makes for FIVE brothers that ascended all the way to the Major Leagues.  Just for good measure, a sixth brother - Willie - played in the minors for seven seasons without earning a call-up.  Since 1876, no other clan has produced more than three kin from the same generation.

Eat your heart out, Boyer bros!

I picked up the above card of Jim Delahanty because, though he's depicted with Detroit, he actually came up with the Chicago National League Ballclub - with five of them bouncing around, one was bound to blow into the Windy City.  This genuine tobacco card didn't set me back much, likely due to the fact that it's damaged.  The perforated, super-vintage piece is actually a separated panel from an original Hassan Triple Folder collectible.  Here's how the antique would look altogether:

Like I said, my purchase only included the one panel, so this image was lifted from an Ebay auction.

As you can see, these over-sized, fold-able pieces feature a black and white action shot bordered by two colorized players in individual panels - Delahanty was originally paired with his Tigers teammate (and definitely not a pirate), Davy Jones.  Moreover, these panels strongly resembled the iconic design of the T205 tobacco premiums.  The cards, cataloged as T202's, were folded and included in packs of Hassan Cork Tipped Cigarettes in 1912 and, in whole, measure in at 2.25" by 5.5".

I imagine many a contemporary kid separated these bad boys as such, seeing as otherwise, they present a massive storage issue.  Not to mention the fact that, when separated, these player panels are almost the same size as your average cigarette card, as well (but, they are a touch smaller).

If cut up, you basically got three cards for one too, seeing as the information on the back also lined up with each panel.  As illustrated by my new Delahanty, the players each got a brief biographical write-up, while the action shot featured a caption describing the scene on the other side.  Also, Hassan had to get their name out there, as well, lest we forget about their corky fire sticks.

All told, I ended up forking over six bucks (plus shipping) for this 106-year old piece of cardboard.  As it now stands, this card is now one of oldest pieces in my collection and I only had to pay (roughly) the going rate for a retail pack of last year's Stadium Club.   That's a deal that I'll make any day of the week and twice on Sunday!

Anyway, that's enough bragging about financials, let's take a look into the background of the latest player to be added to my Cubs All Time Roster Collection:

The 1901 Chicago Orphans - that's Jim Delahanty, fourth from the right, next to the immortal Frank Chance.

Image courtesy of the Debunking Christianity blog, run by a descendant of the team's skipper.

Like his brothers Ed and Tom before him, Jim Delahanty made a name for himself on the sandlots of Cleveland.  After a few years of playing semi-pro ball and some grooming with minor league clubs (including a stint in Allentown where their infield was 3/4 Delahanty), a bidding war erupted for the second-youngest brother's services.  The infielder signed his first Major League contract in 1901 with the Chicago Orphans, who would assume the much more familiar nickname of "Cubs" a few years later.

Although the "Yellow Kid" would go on to have a nearly two-decade long career in the Bigs as a lauded defender and above-average batsman, to say that his initiation into Major League life went poorly would be a massive understatement.  During that 1901 season, Jim would go on to post a measly .190 batting average in 70 PA's across just 17 games, plus seven errors at third base.  As if that wasn't bad enough, Jim's season came to a premature end after suffering a broken kneecap AND coming down with a nasty case of malaria.  Egad!

That off-season, Chicago "orphaned" Delahanty.  He appeared with the New York Giants that next season for a brief, 7-game cuppacoffee before being demoted back to the minors for a couple more years of seasoning.  Re-emerging with Boston Braves in '04, things got much better for the brother, establishing himself as - according to legendary sports scribe Alfred Spink - "a most graceful fielder and a congenial sort of a fellow both on and off the field."  All told, his MLB career would extend through the 1915 season with a career .283 batting mark for eight clubs - easily the second most accomplished member of his family.  Not bad for a guy who started out with a slash line almost as sickly as his bill of health!

Left to right:  MLB brothers Ed, Tom, Joe, Jim, & Frank Delahanty.

None of the rest of the Delahanty's played for Chicago, so Jim will be the only one of the crew to appear in my CATRC binder, despite the family name showing up in boxscores all over the country near the turn of the century.

Perhaps no other family in the game's lengthy and rich history better exemplifies it's familial nature better than the Delahanty brothers... although the Hairston's (whose ranks include three Cubbies) could certainly make a compelling case, as well.  When I realized that one of the famous Delahanty brothers had been briefly a member of my favorite club, Jim immediately attracted particular interest and I set out to track down a corresponding card for my CATRC.  It took a few years, but I'm ecstatic to finally find one comfortably in my price range... and I didn't even have to settle for a reprint either!  Even if it's just really just a piece of a card, this T202 single might be one of my absolute favorite additions to the Cubs "family."

Welcome to the collection, Jim!