Which Phillies should have their jersey number retired next?
By Mitch Larson
3. Ed Delahanty
When you’ve been a professional baseball franchise for as long as the Philadelphia Phillies have, you are sure to have had some storied players wear your cap. Whether it’s from the live or dead-ball era, there has been no shortage of spectacular players who have played for the Phillies and have been among the best the sport has ever seen. One of them was Ed Delahanty.
Delahanty had a Hall of Fame career across two stints with the Phillies. The first lasted just 130 games throughout the 1888 and 1889 seasons. He then left to play for the Cleveland Infants of the now-defunct Players’ League before returning to the National League and Philadelphia in 1891. He would stay with the Phillies until he left for the Washington Senators in 1902, playing in the eighth-most games in franchise history.
Ed Delahanty was a five-tool player for the Phillies in the dead-ball era
One of the greatest pure hitters of all time, Delahanty had a career batting average of .345 which currently ranks eighth all-time among major leaguers. He managed to hit over .400 three different times on his way to two batting titles, but he could do much more than just make contact.
Delahanty had some great power for his era. In 1893 he managed to slug an NL leading 19 home runs. Just for context, this was nine more home runs than the St. Louis Browns ball club hit all year, and as many as the Louisville Colonels had that season. He also had a knack for driving runs in, Delahanty’s 1,288 RBIs still rank second in team history.
He was a genuine five-tool player and he even led the NL in stolen bases with 58 in 1898. The production that Delahanty was able to give the Phillies was incredible for his era and remains impressive today.
Considering Delahanty played in an era before players wore numbers on the back of their jerseys, he doesn’t have one to be retired. That shouldn’t be an issue though. Instead, the Phillies can honor him the same way they have Pete Alexander and outfielder Chuck Klein, with a script “P” above the Alley Store in Ashburn Alley.