Edward Richard Doheny (November 24, 1873 – December 29, 1916) was an American

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He played for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

from 1895 to 1903. Doheny finished his career with a

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

of 75–83. During his last MLB season, he was declared insane and committed to an

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

Baseball career

Doheny was born in

Northfield, Vermont Northfield is a New England town, town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The town lies in a valley within the Green Mountains and has been home to Norwich University since 1866. It contains the Northfield (CDP), Vermont, village of No ...

, in 1873. He started his professional baseball career with the New York Giants of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(NL) in 1895. He signed with the team in September, and that year, he had a win–loss record of 0–3 and a 6.66

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA)."Ed Doheny Stats"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved May 15, 2021. In 1896, Doheny went 6–7 with a 4.49 ERA. In 1897, he went 4–4 with a 2.12 ERA. In 1898, Doheny went 7–19 with a 3.68 ERA and led the NL with 19

wild pitch In baseball, a wild pitch (WP) is charged against a pitcher when his pitch is too high, too short, or too wide of home plate for the catcher to control with ordinary effort, thereby allowing a baserunner, or the batter (on an uncaught third stri ...

es. In 1899, he went 14–17 with a 4.41 ERA and led the NL with 37

hit by pitch In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided ...

es and 21 wild pitches. In 1900, he went 4–14 with a 5.45 ERA. In 1901, he went 2–5 with a 4.50 ERA before the Giants released him in July. Later that month, Doheny signed with the NL's Pittsburgh Pirates. During the rest of the year, he went 6–2 with a 2.00 ERA and helped the Pirates win the NL championship. In 1902, he went 16–4 with a 2.53 ERA and helped the Pirates win the NL championship again.Seamus Kearney and Tom Simon
"Ed Doheny"
sabr.org. Retrieved May 15, 2021.

1903 season

In May 1903, in an away game against the New York Giants, Doheny popped up and then threw his bat in the direction of Giants

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

Frank Bowerman Frank Eugene Bowerman (December 5, 1868 – November 30, 1948) was an American catcher and manager in Major League Baseball with the Baltimore Orioles, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the New York Giants, and the Boston Doves, as well as a player-manag ...

, angering the crowd. For this, Doheny was suspended for three days. In July, Doheny left the Pirates and returned to his home in

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

. He had been acting strangely and was convinced that he was being followed by detectives. As the ''Pittsburg Post'' noted on July 29, "his mind is thought to be deranged". Doheny returned to the team in August. He pitched well and ended the season with a record of 16–8 and a 3.19 ERA, helping the Pirates win the NL championship. He played his last game on September 7. Doheny continued to suffer from paranoid delusions, and on September 22, his brother took him back home to Andover. Doheny was then placed under the care of Dr. E. C. Conroy and a nurse, Oberlin Howarth. Doheny's condition did not improve and was worsened after he read about the Pirates' fourth loss in the

1903 World Series The 1903 World Series was the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball. It matched the American League (AL) champion Boston Americans against the National League (NL) champion Pittsburgh Pirates in a best-of-nine series, wit ...

. On the night of October 10, he forcibly removed Conroy from his home. Early the next morning, Doheny attacked Howarth with a cast-iron stove leg and knocked him unconscious. The police arrived, and Doheny held them off while threatening to kill anyone who approached. After an hour, the police finally overpowered him. Doheny was declared insane by doctors and committed to an asylum in

Danvers, Massachusetts Danvers is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts. The suburb is a fairly short ride from Boston and is also in close proximity to the renowned beaches of Glo ...

.Abrams, Roger I. (2003). ''The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903''. Northern University Press. pp. 163–164. Doheny finished his nine-year MLB career with a 75–83 record, a 3.73 ERA, and 572

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s. He never recovered from his mental illness and died in an asylum in

Medfield, Massachusetts Medfield is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,799 according to the 2020 United States Census. It is a community about southwest of Boston, Massachusetts, which is a 40- ...

, in 1916.

References

*Dennis DeValeria and Jeanne Burke DeValeria (1995). ''Honus Wagner: A Biography''. University of Pittsburgh Press.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doheny, Ed 1873 births 1916 deaths 19th-century baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers New York Giants (NL) players Pittsburgh Pirates players Baseball players from Vermont People from Northfield, Vermont Deaths in mental institutions

Baseball career

1903 season

See also

References

External links