Ed Delahanty’s daughter Florence Delahanty Randall wrote to the Hall of Fame on May 16, 1946 offering to donate her father’s, “…Silver Plated Baseball Bad (sic), which was presented to my Father the late Ed Delehanty, by Baseball Fans at Philadelphia during the height of his baseball career.”

Note her spelling of her father’s last name “D e l e h a n t y” with the second “e”. We’ve never seen it spelled that way in any reputable baseball publication. She also closes the letter spelling the game the same way.

The curator of the Hall of Fame during this time was Ernest Lanigan. In this offering of May 21, 1946, Lanigan states, “It was very thoughtful of you to think of the Baseball Museum in connection with the bat and we will be very proud to have it and to see that it is prominently displayed.”

Later in the letter, Lanigan mentions all the ball-playing Delahanty brothers, writing, “When I was living in Philadelphia, I saw your father play often. Knew Joe well, Frank and Jim slightly.”

In the correspondence dated June 9, 1946, Ernest Lanigan writes, “Enclosed find your father’s playing record. Shortly I will send you copies of the box scores of his first minor league game and his first major league game.

“I am enclosing some press releases on Jesse Burkett,Dan Brouthers, Jim O’Rourke, and Mike Kelly. I think you saw some of these men play.”

The mention of the four 19th century players and the allusion to Delahanty makes this a highly desirable letter on National Baseball Museum letterhead.

Quite an interesting piece here as runs batted in is not listed. They were not kept as an official statistic during Delahanty’s career. Lanigan was instrumental in getting the stat into the mainstream and eventually into every Major League box score. Delahanty died a mysterious death. A drunken Delahanty was kicked off of a train traveling over Niagara Falls. A few minutes later, he fell to his death. Exact circumstances are unknown.

By June 26, 1946 Ernest Lanigan and the Hall received the bat. Lanigan writes, “Some stories of the Hall of Famers are enclosed and some pictures.”

Lanigan enclosed a story about Ed Delahanty and of his daughter’s generous donation.

Lanigan wrote an article about Delahanty and sent it to Big Ed’s daughter. The article reads, “Another admirer…gave the great hitter a silver bat… Ed’s daughter — Mrs. J.K. Randall of Mobile, Ala. — has presented it to the National Baseball Museum.”

A box score of Delahanty’s first minor league game also adorns the article.