Thursday, November 6, 2003

FINAL OUTS: After reading about the sad death of Reds outfielder Dernell Stenson today, you may have taken a look at SI's list of baseball players who died during their professional careers, and had some questions about some of the more curious listings.

Here's details on three of the odder ones:

Ed Delahanty (1903) -- Big Ed got violently drunk on a train fron Detroit to New York, and when they reached Niagara Falls, they kicked him off. The Hall of Famer started to wander across the International Bridge. He didn't make it all the way.

Len Koenecke (1935) -- Remember that stunt R.E.M's Peter Buck pulled on that plane that time? This was worse, with Koenecke going loco on a chartered plane, ending with the co-pilot battering him to death with a fire extinguisher to prevent the passenger from forcing a crash landing. Great story.

Doc Powers (1909) -- The A's catcher was chasing a foul ball behind home plate in the first game at Shibe Park history, and crashed into a concrete wall, causing severe abdominal injuries. After numerous operations, he died of gangrene two weeks later.

(Via Clutch Hits and TheDeadBallEra.)

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