Phillies 100 Years Ago: Mayer Makes Mincemeat Of Cincinnati And The NL Race Rounds Into Shape

August 26, 1915

Phillies vs. Cincinnati Reds

Athletics @ St. Louis Browns

Welcome back!  Today, 100 years ago, Mother Teresa turned five years old.  Also, on this date five years from now, women will be granted the right to vote everywhere in the United States.

When we last left the National League pennant race on August 14^th, the first-place Phillies were holding the Dodgers back by the skin of their teeth, the Boston Braves were surging, as they are apt to do at this point in the season, and the rest of the league was were struggling to stay relevant.  Since then each team played about eleven games.  Amazingly, two of the best teams over that stretch sat in the basement for most of the season.  The Cardinals and Reds, both of who were significantly behind the pack just two weeks ago, pulled themselves out of the realm of insignificance.  St. Louis managed eight wins, including a sweep of the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, and jumped over both Pittsburgh and New York to occupy fifth place.  While Cincinnati didn’t get to claim a new position in the standings, they did cut the lead of the seventh-place Giants to just a half-game. 

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Demaree and Luderus Hand A Beating to the Braves

August 14, 1915

Phillies vs. Boston Braves

Athletics @ New York Yankees

Riding high from their big victory yesterday over the surging Boston Braves, the Phillies showed up to the ballpark today full of confidence and determination.  With the team seemingly righting their path, and it being a beautiful summer Saturday, those that ran the Phillies expected today to be the biggest crowd of the season.  This seemed to be a common refrain: a large crowd was predicted only to have half the number show up.  Well today followed that pattern.  A crowd of 20,000+ was expected, but that did not occur.  Having said that, the crowd that did attend today’s game was nothing to spit at.  About 11,000 fans came to watch Al Demaree continue his hot twirling against the champion Braves, making it the 15^th biggest crowd of the year.  If doubleheaders and games in which Grover Cleveland Alexander started are removed, both well-known for abnormally high draws, today was the fourth largest crowd the Baker Bowl held this season.

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Phillies, Alex Start Home Stand Off Right

August 13, 2015

Phillies vs. Boston Braves

Athletics @ New York Yankees

Hello, there!  It’s been awhile without any 1915 Phillies info.  I was barely home for the past few weeks, running all around the Mid-Atlantic and, due to my mistake with timing posts, I was not able to keep up with the daily goings on of the blog.  Today happens to coincide with the Phillies returning home from a long western road trip, so I think it’s the perfect place to jump back into the swing of things.  This post will catch us up on what was happening to the Phillies and baseball as a whole.  As a side note, I’m preparing an update on the Federal League.  The FL season isn’t super relevant to the Phillies per se, but the league was important in the history of baseball and I want to make sure it gets some time later on in the season.