April 22, 1915
Phillies vs. Boston Braves
Athletics @ Boston Red Sox
Before dawn on April 22, 1915, Allied soldiers outside the
town of Ypres were in the midst of hours of bombardment from German
artillery. As the sun began to rise in
their front, the bombing began to fall quiet.
Allied soldiers poked their heads up to see German soldiers firing over
5,000 canisters at their lines. Along 4
miles of battlefront, a thick slow moving green-yellow gas began to emerge and
cling to the air, choking the inhabitants of the trenches and sending them into
disarray. Over 5,000 men would die of
asphyxiation in only a few hours after the attack; another 2,000 would be taken
prisoner because they were too disabled to protect themselves. The gas masked Germans made a break through
the Allied lines on the Western Front, but probably due to ignorance of just
how effective a killer the gas would be, did not follow their advance and the
fight was a stalemate. Lines were
reestablished as the month-long annihilation known as the Second Battle of
Ypres commenced. When it was done, the
lines would remain relatively close to where they had begun and 100,000 men
were dead or wounded.[1]
[2]
The Evening Ledger
gave a full column to the initial day of the battle, but there was no mention
of the first manufacture chemical weapon attack in the war. More concerning to Americans was that trade
through the North Sea would be suspended due to the anticipation of a naval
battle between the British and German fleets.
And of course sea trade would trump a battle; American interests were
directly related to the North Sea while Ypres was a battle amongst many battles
with vaguely French or German sounding names.
Nobody could be expected to have known that warfare was changing, that an
incredible increase in killing efficiency had been unleashed. Nor did they know that Ypres would be bombed
until it looked like the surface of the moon.
It was one of those strange moments in time where the world had changed
forever but many people, especially Americans, were simply left unaware of how
drastic a shift there had been.
Obviously, there is no gentle way to transition from the
death of thousands to a game. Half a
world away from the destruction of human life was groups of men playing ball
for the enjoyment of their peers.
Probably the last thing on the Phillies players’ minds was the field in
Belgium; the war was not theirs and they had a winning streak to continue. The fans were rejoicing because their club
was coming home to play their first series in Philadelphia. Not only that but Grover Cleveland Alexander
was going make his third start of the season.
The home opener proved to those in attendance that this
Phillies club was indeed different from previous incarnations. The fans were witness to a fiery approach to
the offense. No long were the Phillies slow-footed,
playing station-to-station, and waiting for a big blast type of club. This team was taking the extra base on hits
to the outfield and stealing as soon as they got to first, constantly in motion
and putting the pressure on the Braves.
They were exciting because they were in constant motion almost as if
they were the dictating how the game would be played. Possum Whitted, Bert Niehoff, and Fred
Luderus all stole bases in this game.
Bill Killefer, the Phillies catcher, dropped a suicide squeeze down with
two outs to drive a run in when completely shocking Braves pitcher Otto Hess
fielded the ball and promptly threw it 30 feet over the first baseman’s
head. “[The Phillies] simply forced the
breaks and completely rattled and outgamed a team that has been called the
gamest that baseball ever saw.” This
team was energetic and played a compelling brand of ball because their
confidence was growing with each win.[3]
The Phillies defense did not quite match up to the offense
today. The fielders committed three
errors in the game, almost all of them causing runs to score. Alexander was only charged with one earned
run out of the four runs the Braves scored on this afternoon. Otherwise he pitched another fantastic game,
striking out 7 in his third complete game in the first two weeks in the
season. Luckily, the Braves had an even
worse day in the field, kicking four balls and providing the Phillies with six
unearned runs. The final score of the
game was 8-4 Phils.
Before the game the Phillies switched dugouts from the third
base side to the first base side, deciding to change their vantage point for
the first time in their 33-year existence.
Is it a coincidence that on the same day they switched dugouts the
Phillies set a Philadelphia record by winning seven games to start the season,
beating out the 1875 National Association Athletics; or that they tied the 1872
Athletics for the Philadelphia record for most games to start a season without
a loss? Yes? Oh, that is a coincidence? Still, it’s an interesting fact. And don’t ever put it past ball players to
notice things like this and put maybe a bit too much faith in the talisman. Moran said he made the switch because staring
into the colors on the advertisements on the right field wall made batters’
eyes go bad. I guess that’s a rational
reason to switch dugouts, right? Whether
it was superstition or clear eyes at the plate, the Phillies were doing
something that only a few Philadelphia clubs had ever done before. They weren’t just winning; they were
dominating in all aspects of the game and beating the best clubs the National
League had to offer in the process.
Tomorrow they went for the overall record for best start to a season in
Philadelphia history. Even the dynasty
Athletics under Connie Mack didn’t win eight to start a season. Moran would hand the ball to Eppa Rixey for
the first time this year to accomplish the feat.
[1]
“Battles- The Second Battle of Ypres, 1915,” firstworldwar.com, accessed April
20, 2015, http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/ypres2.htm.
[2]
“Second Battle of Ypres Begins,” history.com, accessed April 20, 2015, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/second-battle-of-ypres-begins.
[3]
“Phillies’ Rattling Attack Revelation to Ball Fans,” Evening Ledger, April 22, 1915, access April 21, 2015, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045211/1915-04-23/ed-1/seq-12/#date1=1915&sort=date&date2=1915&words=PHILLIES+Phillies&sequence=0&lccn=&index=6&state=Pennsylvania&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=phillies&year=&phrasetext=&andtext=&proxValue=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=10.
No comments:
Post a Comment