EDWARD "DANNY" GREEN was born on November 6, 1876 in Burlington County, New Jersey. He played baseball in Camden with one of the better semipro teams there and in the minors with the Springfield, Massachusetts franchise in the Eastern League. An outfielder, he first played professionally in 1896 with the Carlisle Colts of the Cumberland Valley League. The next year he went to the Massachusetts to play with the Springfield Ponies of the Eastern League, where he hit .301 with 55 extra base hits and 45 stolen bases. He played 87 games for Springfield in 1896 and was hitting .323 when he was called up to play in the major league.

Danny Green made his major league debut with the National League's Chicago Orphans (later renamed the Cubs) on August 17, 1898. One of the fastest players in the game, he hit well for average, with some power and was a good fielder with an excellent arm. He played four years for the Orphans before jumping to the American League's Chicago White Stockings in 1902, where he played four more years. Danny Green continued to play professionally through at least 1910, and may have played some semi-pro ball after that.

Newspaper accounts state that he was severely injured when hit by a pitched ball, which led to paralysis and "softening of the brain", that is to say, he was considered insane due to diminished capacity. At least one account also states that he had contracted tuberculosis. His symptoms as described are also consistent with those of advanced syphillis, and one account states he had paresis f the brain. By August of 1912 he was confined to a sanatorium near Chicago. In January of 1914, two friends from Camden, policemen Wright Cox and Albert Keaser, arranged for him to be sent back to New Jersey to be near his mother and sister. Danny Green was admitted to the Camden County Insane Asylum at Lakeland, where he passed away on November 9, 1914. He was survived by his son Edward Green, who was attending school in Chicago, a sister, and his mother.