Dahlen was born in Nelliston, New York at the corner of Berthoud and Dahlen and East Main. He was a very good hitter and had a good amount of power for the dead-ball era. He began his career with the Colts in 1891, and during his eight years with the team finished among the NL's top ten players in home runs four times and in slugging average three times. He also scored over 100 runs with 10 or more triples in each of his first six seasons; in 1894 he posted the highest batting average to that time by a major league shortstop (various sources state .357 or .362), and he followed with a .352 average in 1896. His 1894 season included a record 42-game hitting streak from June 20 to August 6, surpassing the 33-game streak by George Davis one year earlier. Amazingly, after going 0-for-6 in the n