Grave Markers for Dan Lally and Dan Marion

All the details have now been finalized, including the design for each grave marker selected. Payment has now been made. Last week I met with Ed Thompson of the Milwaukee Archdiocese Cemeteries at Mount Olivet Cemetery and discussed the arrangements with him.

There will be an hour-long ceremony at Mount Olivet Cemetery on July 30 at 3 p.m. The cemetery is located at S. 35th and Morgan. It will honor the memory and baseball playing career of each player, Dan Lally and Donald "Dan" Marion. Marion was a pitcher who died in 1933. Lally was an outfielder who died as a resident of the Milwaukee County Insane Asylum (county grounds) in 1936. The major league record of both players may be accessed through baseball-reference.com. Each player had a career in the American Association, Lally with Minneapolis and Marion with Milwaukee.

According to Minor League Registry, Lally was committed to the Wisconsin State Asylum in 1910, located in what is known as the Milwaukee County Grounds. I'm not sure if he was ever released, but I believe he was. However, according to the death notice in the Milwaukee Journal, he died at the county hospital on April 14, 1936 and was, I believe, a registered patient/inmate there.

Marion died after collapsing behind his home, a rooming house located at 814 N. 5th St. (downtown) in Milwaukee on January 18, 1933 as the result of an internal hemorrhage.

Both players were penniless at the time of their death.

Anyone interested in contacting me about this event may contact me directly at pureout@msn.com

I am still in need of donations.

I discovered that the grave of Marion was unmarked when I first visited the Mount Olivet cemetery in 2004. At the time I place a temporary marker there built of wood and glass. After revisiting the cemetery the following year, the marker was still in place but the glass was broken. The following year the marker was gone. In the interim time period I learned that Lally was also buried there, only about 50 yards from the site of Marion's grave, if that. Last December I started a fund raising effort through my baseball history journal, the American Association Almanac. Many people came forward within the next few weeks to show their interest in helping preserve the memory of these two early 20th-century ballplayers, both of whom wound up in Milwaukee because of their baseball career.

Now there will be a permanent reminder of the baseball career of each player, and for those interested in pursuing baseball history through the visitation of cemeteries will have a new destination to pursue, thanks in large part to the subscribers of the American Association Almanac.

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