His Mind is Thought to be Deranged: The Tragic Madness of Ed Doheny and the Story of the 1903 World Series
The Pittsburgh Pirates have just lost game seven of the 1903 World Series to the Boston Americans by a score of 7 to 3. Unlike today, history’s first World Series was a best of nine game affair, but now trailing four games to three, the heavily favored Pirates are on the brink of elimination. When news of the defeat reaches Ed Doheny at his home in Andover, Massachusetts, he becomes inconsolable and enraged. Doheny, having been placed on a sort of suicide watch by his wife, is convalescing at his home under the twenty-four hour a day care of a physician. But when he finds out that Pittsburgh has lost, he literally picks up his in-home doctor and throws him through the front door. While his physician is lying on the front lawn Doheny screams, “Don’t ever come back here! Ever!” and then he spits in his face. The next day, still angry about the predicament of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the course of the inaugural World Series, Doheny in a fit of rage ...