April 26, 1915
Phillies vs. Boston Braves
Athletics @ Boston Red Sox
Both the Phillies and Athletics had off yesterday, so we
took the opportunity to revamp the blog a bit. I hope you like the new
look. I find that it is much nicer on
the eyes and much less cluttered. There
are more ways to get in touch me now that we’ve added the Twitter widget. Speaking of Twitter, you can follow
@21standlehigh to get the latest information about the blog. A big thanks to Liz for the help and
creativity!
And now back to 1915!
The Battle of Ypres is still raging on, now in its sixth day. They are in the Battle of St. Julien portion
of this month long battle. The Germans
had launched a second round of chlorine gas on April 24th, forcing
the Allied troops to use unique ways of counterattacking the poison, including
wrapping their faces in urine soaked rags.
It wouldn’t be until July when front lines troops received gas masks. Sadly, the gas would soon become so
commonplace that putting one on was part of a soldier’s routine. They also lent a deathly pall to the
battlefield. Soldiers wearing gas masks
while attacking looked like ghosts or grim reapers. Just look at these
pictures of men wearing the gas masks and you can see why the images of the
masks became synonymous with death and destruction that was World War I.
On the other side of the war, the British-led Allies landed
200,000 troops in the Dardanelles at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles. This was the beginning of the land campaign
of the Gallipoli Campaign. The Western
Front had been so bogged down in trench warfare that communication between the
Brits and French in the west and the Russians in the east was difficult at
best. The plan for Gallipoli was to take
the Dardanelles in order to have open communication with Russia and at the same
time split the already weak Ottoman Empire in two. The landing was “successful” in that the
Allies actually got to the beach, but Gallipoli would be a major disaster for
the Brits and the biggest win of the war for the Ottomans. The landings were actually made yesterday,
April 25th, and they cost the Allied troops dearly. Some units experienced 70% casualty rates
just getting onto the beach. This is the
battle where the Ottoman commander Mustafa Kemel Ataturk (later president of
Turkey and leader of the Armenian Genocide, so let’s remember he wasn’t a great
dude) sent a message to his troops when they had run out of ammunition that
said, “Men, I am not ordering you to attack.
I am ordering you to die. In the
time that it takes us to die, other forces and commanders can come and take our
place.” The Ottomans did make a heroic
stand against the British, though the battle would drag on for another nine
grueling months. The loss would almost
destroy the career of the man who had helped plan it, Winston Churchill.
The Phillies and Athletics took the field with the news
pouring in from Europe. I’m sure every
American was secured knowing that the baseball game and not men dying by the
tens of thousands was their biggest concern today. The A’s were up in Fenway playing their final
game of their series with the Red Sox.
Babe Ruth was on the mound and batting ninth for the Sox, which always
astounds me to see him that low in the lineup.
After the game his slash line was .167/.286/.333. Obviously Ruth would be fine, but it’s funny
to think that at this time he was considered one of the great young
pitchers. Imagine the numbers he would
have put up if he didn’t spend his four and a half seasons with the Red Sox
predominantly on the mound. I’m sure the
A’s would have much rather him as the right fielder for today’s game. The Sultan of Swat mowed down the Athletics
over seven innings, only allowing two runs on five hits. Philadelphia’s pitching did what it had been
doing all year: letting up runs. It was
the seventh time in the first ten games that the A’s let up at least five runs
in a game. And it didn’t seem to matter
who was pitching, they all were letting up runs. Chick Davis started the game and gave up four
before Connie Mack pulled him in the third.
Jack Harper got the next inning and two-thirds and allowed two runs,
only one earned. Then Rube Bressler
tried to mop the game up but he couldn’t keep the Sox off the board
either. Now, the Athletics’ defense
didn’t help by committing four errors on the day. They were just failing at every aspect of the
game. Imagine being an Athletics’ fan,
watching them be arguably the best team in baseball for the past fifteen years,
and now they had fallen so far that they looked very much like the 2015
Phillies team. Actually, what’s
happening with the Phillies on the field this year is a good comparison to the
A’s of 100 years ago; both were great teams for years that won multiple
pennants with lots of stars in their prime, only to fall off a cliff . I guess history does repeat itself!
The Phillies from 100 years ago were a little better
off. Grover Cleveland Alexander made his
fourth start of the season and his third against the Braves. Alex had complete control over the reigning
champs: 18 innings pitched, 12 strikeouts, a 0.89 WHIP, and 0.50 ERA. He cruised right along for most of this game,
too, letting up only two runs and striking out 10 through seven innings of
play. The Phillies offense broke out
after their only poor performance two days ago, building a 5-2 in the seventh. They bounced all around the base paths and
played their lively game. They took
advantage of Sherry Magee’s weak throwing arm, giving the crowd a little extra
glee for their club to take advantage of the former Phillies’ faults. The Evening
Post report of the game casually dropped this line at the end of a
paragraph: “The crowd guyed Magee to such an extent that he lost his head and,
after the game, attacked a spectator in the centre field bleachers.” Ah the good old days when frustrated ball
players could beat the hell out spectators.
And apparently it wasn’t just Magee that was acting childishly. The Braves finally got to Alexander and pulled within one run in the top of
the eighth, but the Phillies mounted a counter when Gavvy Cravath went to third
after a Possum Whitted single. Cravath
was caught of the base but the throw to get him out hit him in the shoulder and
bounced into left field, allowing both base runners to score. The Braves team exploded at the umpire,
claiming Cravath purposely knocked the ball away. Multiple Braves were thrown from the game
because they used language unfit for gentlemen, but it seemed like a stunt to
blow off some steam. They had lost five
of six to the Phillies to open the year after all, and for a team that was
picked to repeat as the NL champions, starting the year in the second division
must have felt like the world had turned upside-down. They must have felt like they could do
nothing right, so it’s understandable that they’d take their frustration out on
the umpire. The Evening Ledger closed with this gem about the Braves’ behavior, “It
was a childish action from a bunch of poor losers, who were looking for an
alibi for the defeat.” They didn’t beat
around the bush in 1915, did they?
It was good to see the club bounce back after their winning
streak was broken. Almost two weeks into
the season and the Phillies were still leading the pack. It must have been great to watch Magee
struggle in the park he called home for 11 years while the man the Phillies got
back in the trade, Possum Whitted, seemed to be in on every scoring play and
was batting .424. To draw another
parallel with a recent club, the Magee trade is similar to the Bobby Abreu trade
the Phillies made in 2006; both saw the team trade their best hitter after
years of mediocre finishes only for the team to play better after the star was
gone. Also, whether it was the winning
or the new sense of camaraderie or a little of both, they were exciting to
watch and fun to root for. They were a
point of pride for the community. And it
had been a long time since the Phillies, and not the A’s, were the team
providing the dignity and gratification to Philadelphia. Tomorrow the Brooklyn Dodgers would bring
their second division club to the Baker Bowl.
It looked like a great opportunity for the Phillies to start another
long winning streak.
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