Dan Lally

Baseball history is filled with stories of Irish American players, particularly in the 19th century, whose promising careers were derailed by alcohol abuse. Few stories are more tragic than that of Dan Lally. Called “Handsome Dan,” Dapper Dan,” and “the Adonis of the diamond” during his playing days, Lally was a consistent .300 hitter during a career that spanned two decades. However, his excessive use of alcohol resulted in him playing for more than 20 teams in a dozen different leagues, but just parts of two major-league seasons. He later became destitute, was incarcerated for a time, and died in a mental institution.

According to Lally, his problems all began when he was playing for Minneapolis around 1903. During a game against Kansas City, he came to bat with runners on base. His hit cleared the bases and “his one thought was the smile and wave of the handkerchief that would be his reward from the wife on the front seat in the grandstand.” When he looked up, he found that rather than seeing his game-winning hit, his wife had been smiling and talking to another man. “We couldn’t get along after that,” said Lally. “I saw she did not love me, and I struck out by myself, but booze got the best of me.”1 The record shows, however, that he had a problem years before.

Daniel J.2 Lally was born August 12, 1867, in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Tom and Ann Lally, both Irish immigrants. He had three older brothers (Thomas, John, and Michael) as well as two older sisters (Mary and Anna).

Nothing is known of his childhood, but as a teenager Lally started out as a pitcher with an amateur team called the Rutherfords in 1885, playing with his brother Tom.3 After another season with the Rutherfords in 1886, Lally began his professional career with Haverhill (Massachusetts) of the New England League in 1887. He had a record of 16-23 but began to show his proficiency as a hitter, batting .362 in 77 games. He signed with Toronto of the International Association for 1888 but was released in early May after appearing in just two games. Lally spent the rest of 1888 with amateur teams in Quebec.

In 1889 Lally hooked on with New Haven (Connecticut) of the Eastern Association. By then converted to a full-time outfielder (and sometimes first baseman), Lally batted .309.4 He had another strong season in New Haven in 1890, and again in 1891 before the team folded. In August 1891 he was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates.5 He made his major-league debut starting in right field against the Chicago Colts on August 19 at Exposition Park III in Pittsburgh. He singled but committed an error in right that led to two unearned runs in the 10-5 loss to Chicago.

Lally settled in as the Pirates’ regular right fielder for the rest of the season. Shortly after his arrival in Pittsburgh it was reported that his outfield work had “not been phenomenal.”6 A few weeks later, however, he was viewed as “covering the position in a very satisfactory manner.”7 In 41 outfield games (37 in right and four in center), he committed nine errors in 56 chances for a woeful .839 fielding percentage. Lally batted .224, his batting being described as “spasmodic” by the Pittsburgh Post, but the account added that “he displays a willingness to advance interest of the team on every occasion.”8 After the season ended it was speculated that the Pirates would decline to re-sign him for 1892.9

Lally hooked on with the Columbus (Ohio) Reds of the Western League in 1892. When that team disbanded in midseason, he finished the year with the Memphis Giants of the Southern Association. By then reports had begun to surface that Lally’s poor play in Memphis, and failure to stick with Pittsburgh, stemmed from excessive drinking.10 That condition would plague him the rest of his playing career and life.

Lally started the 1893 season with the Southern Association’s Atlanta Windjammers but later that season was back east with the Erie (Pennsylvania) Blackbirds of the Eastern League. There were no reports that Lally adopted more temperate habits, but he batted over .300 with Erie that year and again in 1894. There were also reports that he had worked hard to correct his defensive liabilities while with Erie.11

After the 1894 season James Franklin, president of the Buffalo club of the Eastern League, purchased the Erie franchise of the same league. It was understood that based on the interpretation of the National Agreement in place at the time, no other EL clubs could sign the Buffalo/Erie players, which included Lally and his teammates, but that teams in other leagues and associations, under the protection of the Agreement, were free to do so. Accordingly, John Barnes, manager of the Minneapolis Western League club, pursued Lally and signed him to a contract.12 No formal decision was reported, but an anonymous EL manager predicted that “the National Board would surely decide against the Erie and Buffalo clubs.”13

Taking advantage of an offense-oriented league and the short dimensions in the Millers’ home field, Athletic Park, the left-handed hitting Lally batted .400 in 123 games. Among his 236 hits were 50 doubles. 13 triples, and 37 home runs, amassing 423 total bases and a .717 slugging percentage. Yet those lofty totals did not even lead his own team. Miller first baseman Perry Werden hit .428 with 45 homers.

Lally had another strong season with Minneapolis in 1896, batting .329 in 139 games.14 He got off to another strong start in 1897, batting .385 through mid-May, when Millers manager Walter Wilmot and club boss Chris Von de Ahe of the St. Louis Browns engineered a trade that sent Lally to St. Louis in exchange for pitcher Bill Hutchison. Lally joined the Browns while on an Eastern road trip at the Polo Grounds against the Giants on May 29. Back in the big leagues after a six-year hiatus, Lally was inserted into the lineup as the regular left fielder for St. Louis.

Lally had a solid season at the plate for the Browns, batting .284 in 88 games, but his defensive woes returned. He was changed with 24 outfield errors that yielded a substandard .896 fielding percentage. Late in the season, reports of his excessive drinking began to resurface. Shortly after joining the team Lally was fined for drunkenness but, after he promised to reform, Von der Ahe rescinded the fine. In mid-September, the Browns returned from a five-week, 31-game road trip sporting a dismal 27-96 record. When the team reached St. Louis, an upset Van de Ahe fired manager Bill Hallman,15 fined first baseman Mike Grady $100 for “emptying several breweries in Boston and Pittsburg,” and also levied a $200 fine on Lally, who was reportedly drunk on the field during a series in Brooklyn.16 Nevertheless, Lally was placed on the Browns’ reserve list for 1898.

Over the winter Von der Ahe traded Grady to the New Youk Giants; when a deal to acquire Brooklyn first baseman Jack Doyle fell through, the Browns planned to move Lally to first to replace Grady.17 However, in early March the Browns traded Lally to Columbus of the Western League for Pete Daniels.18 In May Columbus manager Tom Loftus sent Lally back to Minneapolis in a transaction that was labeled a “loan,”19 but he was recalled by Columbus in July. Lally batted .301 in 114 games combined with both teams.20

That offseason Lally was on the move again. In April 1899 St. Paul manager Charles Comiskey traded third baseman Sam Gillen and pitcher Lem Cross21 to Columbus for Lally.22 He turned in still another .300 season, batting .312 in 127 games for the Apostles.23 Before the 1900 season the Western League changed its name to the American League and Comiskey moved his St. Paul franchise to Chicago to become the White Stockings. Lally followed, but in early May during Minneapolis’ first visit to Chicago, Wilmot reacquired him and Lally finished the season with the Millers. In 138 games combined, Lally batted .262.24

When Wilmot took over management of the Louisville club in the Western League in 1901, Lally was one of the former Millers players he brought with him. The franchise was transferred to Grand Rapids, Michigan, during the season. In February 1902 Lally signed up for his third tour of duty with Columbus, by then hosting a franchise in the newly formed American Association.25 In a June 21 game, however, Lally “made his appearance on the field in no condition to play ball” – likely a euphemism for being drunk. The game story explained, “Dungan hit a high fly to left that should have been easy picking for Dan. Instead of settling himself under it, Lally never made a move and allowed the ball to fall to the ground about twenty feet behind him.” Manager John Grim pulled Lally from the game and Columbus president Thoms Bryce, who was traveling with the team, fined him $25 and suspended him for the balance of the season.26

Many.300 hitters are given second and third chances, so Lally then reunited with Wilmot in Minneapolis. He apparently had an uneventful season and a half with the Millers, but having reached his late thirties, Lally’s skills had begun to decline. His batting average dropped, and he was moved to first base. In May 1904, he was released by Minneapolis.27 Several sources reported that he had agreed to terms with the Dayton Veterans of the Central League and accepted transportation money, but he never made it to Ohio. Instead, he hooked on with the Crookston (Minnesota) Crooks of the Northern League. After just four games in Crookston, Lally was on the move again, reuniting with Wilmot, who was by then managing the Butte (Montana) Miners of the Pacific National League. Records show that Lally batted .359 in 69 games for Butte, but in August Wilmot sold him to the Portland Browns of the Pacific Coast League.28 No reports of any disciplinary issues were reported, but after the season Lally denied reports that he had been suspended by Butte.

Lally next showed up with the Nashville Vols of the Southern Association in 1905.29 By June, though, they had sold him to Charleston (South Carolina) of the South Atlantic League.30 His record in Baseball-Reference is blank for 1906. There were reports from February of that year that Lally had signed with Dayton of the Central League.31 However, they could not agree on salary terms; Lally apparently sat out the entire season. A report from September 1906 noted, “Dan has been out of the game all of the present season because of a claim on his services held by the Dayton club.”32 Lally never played again.33

In 1897, Lally had married May Conway in Minneapolis; he made that city his offseason home for several years. He is shown in Minneapolis city directories from 1905 and 1907 with an occupation of ball player. A report from Minneapolis in February 1907 said that Lally had been located in New Jersey and that “his playing days came to a sudden end.” The report added, “No one seems to know just how it happened, but those who saw him last say that he seemed to have locomotor ataxia, or else some mental trouble.”34, 35

In April 1909, reports surfaced that a Dan Lally sued a wealthy Minnesota lumberman, William Burkholder, for $100,000 in damages, charging” alleged alienation of his wife’s affections.” The report said that Lally was “a Columbus outfielder of six years ago”36 and “shone in the outfield of the Butte team some six years ago,” and was living in Minneapolis.37 In January 1913, Lally – then described as “down and out, living at the Salvation Army headquarters” – agreed to drop the suit if Burkholder provided transportation for him to Milwaukee.38

In 1910, a report surfaced that the wife of “Dan Lally, former Minneapolis baseball star” sued him for divorce on the grounds of desertion.3940 At the same time the Minneapolis Journal ran a story from Milwaukee that described Dan Lally, old-time ball player as, “a blear-eyed prisoner” and that his friends had arranged to send him to a sanitarium to “give him a new start in life.”41 Lally admitted that liquor was the cause of his condition and that his problems started some years back when he played for Minneapolis (though “intensified” would appear to be more accurate).

Few specifics are known of Lally’s whereabouts over the next two decades. The 1910 US Census shows him in Milwaukee as a lodger, working as a laborer in a factory, but he could not be found in the 1920 Census. Owing to his alcoholism and/or mental illness, he must have been institutionalized at some point because beginning in 1918, and throughout the 1920s, Milwaukee city directories show him living in locations such as a sanatorium, a soldier’s home, and in facilities labeled as “SAIndustrialHome” and “U S PHS Hosp” in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

The 1930 Census lists Lally as an inmate at the Milwaukee County Infirmary (formerly almshouse) at Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. He must have been released at some point, for in 1935 Lally was encountered by police in Milwaukee, and he asked them to take him to jail. He explained that his only source of income, $35 a month from the Association of Professional Ball Players of America, quickly went for alcohol. He said that he was penniless and had no friends or relatives to help him.42 A year later, on April 14, 1936, Lally died at the Milwaukee County Hospital and was initially buried in an unmarked grave. He left no known descendants.

A man named John “Bud” Lally umpired briefly in the National League during Dan Lally’s career, and the two men were sometimes confused (Dan’s TSN player contract card erroneously lists umpiring experience). A fund-raising effort sponsored by the American Association Almanac resulted in the placement of a permanent grave marker for Dan Lally at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Milwaukee in 2008.43 He never went by “Bud” at any point of his life, but his new grave marker prominently displays the erroneous nickname.

Acknowledgments

This story has been reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Paul Proia.

Sources

Unless otherwise noted, statistics from Lally’s playing career are taken from Baseball-Reference.com; genealogical and family history was obtained from Ancestry.com. The author also used information from clippings in Lally’s file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Notes

1 “Dan Lally Tells a Pitiful Story,” Minneapolis Journal, February 13, 1910: 21.

2 No middle name could be found in census and vital records.

3 “Bergen Point Athletic Club Vs. Rutherford B. B.C.,” Bayonne (New Jersey) Times, July 30, 1885: 1.

4 “The National Game,” New Haven Morning Journal, October 21, 1889: 2.

5 Lally had first caught the attention of Pittsburgh management while with Toronto in 1888 when he pitched in a preseason exhibition game against the Alleghenys.

6 “Made It Three Straight,” Pittsburgh Post, August 20, 1891: 6.

7 “The Work of the Season,” Pittsburgh Post, September 5, 1891: 6.

8  “The Work of the Season,” above.

9 “Late Sporting Notes,” Pittsburgh Press, November 2, 1891: 7.

10 “Long Distance Bleacher Howls,” Omaha Bee, August 1892: 10.

11 “Base Ball News,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Weekly Union Leader, September 14, 1894: 3.

12 “A Case for The National Board,” New York Sun, January 6, 1895: 8.

13 “Al. Johnson’s Visit,” New York Sun, January 6, 1895: 8.

14 Spalding’s Official Base Ball Guide for 1897, American Sports Publishing Company, New York. Henry Chadwick, ed.

15 Contemporary reports said that Hallman was replaced as manager by shortstop Monte Cross.

16 “Cross Is Now Manager,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 21, 1879: 10.

17 “Browns Team For 1898,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, November 14, 1897: 15.

18 “Lally for Daniels and Crooks,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 4, 1898: 5.

19 “Base Ball Briefs,” St. Paul Globe, May 30, 1898: 5.

20 “Figures That Talk,” St. Paul Globe, October 23, 1898: 41.

21 His is listed as Lem Cross in Baseball-Reference but according to his SABR biography https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/lew-cross/, his first name was Lew.

22 “Comiskey Gets Dan Lally,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 12, 1899: 11.

23 “Batting Records,” St. Paul Globe, October 16, 1899: 5.

24 Reach’s Official Base Ball Guide for 1900, A. J. Reach Co. Philadelphia, 85.

25 “Dan Lally Will Play in the Left Garden,” Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch,. February 9, 1902: 18.

26 “Lally Again an Offender,” Columbus Dispatch, June 22, 1902: 19.

27 “Lally Has Been Released,” Minneapolis Tribune, May 23, 1904: 2.

28 “Signs and Heavy Hitter,” Portland Oregonian, August 27, 1904: 9.

29 “A New Player,” Nashville Tennessean, February 2, 1905: 7

30 “Dan Lally Sold to Charleston,” Nashville Banner, June 16, 1905: 6.

31 “Central League Gossip,” South Bend (Indiana) Tribune, February 23, 1906: 3.

32 “Dan Lally May Become a Manager,” Grand Rapids (Michigan) Press, September 27, 1906: 6.

33 Lally’s record in Baseball-Reference shows him with Tulsa and Muskogee in 1907 but independent research by the author confirmed that this player was a different Dan Lally. Lally’s TSN Player contract card (https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll3/id/121417/rec/4) states that he was an umpire in the South Atlantic League in 1907. Rather, the umpire was John “Bud” Lally, not Dan. The contract card also erroneously states that Dan Lally batted right-handed.

34 “Log Cabin Baseball Tales,” Minneapolis Tribune, February 3, 1907: 30.

35 Locomotor ataxia is a painful wasting disorder, almost always caused by syphilis.

36 “Grizzlies Won Saturday,” Hutchinson (Kansas) Gazette, April 19, 1909: 7.

37 “Dan Lally is in Trouble,” Anaconda (Montana) Standard, April 21, 1909: 9.

38 “Settles Suit for Fare,” Lacrosse (Wisconsin) Tribune, January 23, 1913: 1.

39 “Wife Sues Old Baseball Star,” Minneapolis Journal, May 24, 1910: 1.

40 Dan’s wife May’s marital status was listed as divorced on the 1910 US Census.

41 See “Dan Lally Tells a Pitiful Story,”

42 “Penniless Now, He Asks Police to Lock Him Up,” Racine (Wisconsin) Journal, May 6, 1935: 1.

43 https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/aagraves