The 1903 Washington Senators. Photo was taken the day before the Senators 3 to 1 victory in the home opener against the New York Highlanders at National Park.
The Senators–sixth place finishers in 1901 and 1902–were in eighth place by May 8 and never gave up their spot in the American League cellar. The horrible season was made worse when the club’s best player Ed Delahanty was swept over Niagara Falls and died on July 2–Delahanty’s death has been chronicled by many excellent sources.
When this photo was taken, Delahanty had been forced to rejoin the Senators after having signed in the off season with the New York Giants–he was badly hurt financially by the peace agreement between the American and National Leagues–Delahanty, who made $4,000 in Washington in 1902 had signed for between $6,000 and $8,000 (contemporaneous sources disagreed on the amount) and a large advance, which he was forced to return. Despite his financial woes, Delahanty still managed to hit .333 for the last-place team at the time of his death.
The photo above is the last team picture which included the future Hall of Famer:
First row: James “Ducky” Holmes, William “Rabbit” Robinson, Gene DeMontreville, Lew Drill
Second row: William “Boileryard” Clarke, Wyatt “Watty” Lee, Manager Tom Loftus, Bill Coughlin, Joe Martin, Jimmy Ryan
Standing: Delehanty, Albert “Kip” Selbach, Al Orth, George “Scoops” Carey, Casey Patten, John “Happy” Townsend, Charles Moran
Loftus was let go as manager after the 43-94 season. The team would not finish better than seventh place in the American League until 1912.
Ed Delahanty
Baseball History Daily 