May 31, 1915
Phillies @ Boston Braves
Phillies @ Boston Braves
Athletics vs. Boston Red Sox
Athletics vs. Boston Red Sox
A double dose of doubleheaders 100 years ago today! In fact it was doubleheader day all across
baseball as the nation celebrated Memorial Day.
It was common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to
schedule doubleheaders on national holidays to attract fans to the ballpark on
days when they had off from work. This
tactic rose and waned in popularity over the next few decades before it hit a
steep decline in the 1950s. Before the American
and National Leagues joined forces major leagues were competing against each
other and doubleheaders were a nice way to attract more fans to a game. The BOGO of early baseball. By the 1950s the games were so popular that
clubs didn’t have to use the doubleheader as a marketing tool anymore and were
actually losing money to play them. So,
once the money got into the game the doubleheaders on holidays went out of
fashion.[1]
The big news for the Athletics is that a new collegian was
manning second base. Newspaper reports
had it that before the A’s last western road trip Connie Mack took his
assistant, Ira Thomas, and went scouting college talent. The most immediate return was a youngster
that went by the name Lewis Ryan. In
1915, much like today, college players could not join professional teams without
losing their eligibility, but sometimes they would join a club for a tryout
under an assumed name allowing them to avoid the scrutiny of the NCAA. Hence why this man went by the name
Ryan. There was a lot of pressure on
this Ryan because Mack was well regarded for mining unsung talent from the
college level; the dynasty he built in the early 1910s was the result of
college players. Now, with the A’s
obviously in a rebuilding mode, every player that got the tryout was viewed as
the potential next superstar. Ryan
turned out to be Lew Malone, and if that name doesn’t immediately spark
memories of his great exploits, it’s because he burned out like many of the
players Mack would tryout this season.
In 1915 Malone was only 18 years old, which, unless he was a true once
in a generation talent, is very young to be playing in the majors. He was overmatched from the jump and would
share second base responsibilities with Nap Lajoie for the rest of the year. He played in six games total in 1916 and 1917,
took 1918 off to probably fight in the war, and had his last year in the majors
in 1919 at the age of 22.[2]
In the games today the Red Sox delivered two more losses to
the Athletics. The first game was a
pitching duel between Rube Foster of Boston and Bullet Joe Bush. They combined for six shutout innings before
Harry Hooper’s sacrifice fly and Heinie Wagner’s RBI double put the Sox ahead
in the seventh. Rube Oldring cut the
lead to one when he singled in Jack Lapp in the bottom of the eighth, but the
morning game belonged to pitching and Foster closed out the complete game
victory by the 2-1 score. The second
game seemed to be a carbon copy of the first.
Both teams scored two runs in their respective halves of the first
inning and then proceeded to trade goose eggs for the next five. The second pitchers duel of the day ended
after A’s pitcher Bob Shawkey (along with his defense) allowed seven Red Sox to
cross the plate in the seventh. There’s
no real explanation for why Mack would leave an obviously fatigued Shawkey in
the game to let up 12 hits and seven runs, but he did. After such a rally so late in the second game
of a doubleheader the life was taken out of the A’s dugout. The final score stayed 9-2 in favor of
Boston.
Up in Beantown the Phillies were getting similar treatment
from the city’s National League representative.
George Chalmers, who had appeared in three innings in the team’s
previous two games with unimpressive results (15.00 ERA), started for the
Phillies. He was opposed by the 31-year
old righty that was enjoying his finest year in the big leagues, Tom Hughes. Hughes brought his 2.04 ERA into the match
and utterly dominated the struggling Phillies lineup. Dave Bancroft got on base to lead off the
game and scored an unearned run on a error by Rabbit Maranville, the only run
the Phillies would manage against Hughes.
Though he was very wild in this one (he walked seven batters), Hughes
performed well enough that the Phillies only managed six hits. Walks are great at setting up rallies but it
takes a base hit here or there to drive those runners in and the Phillies were
just not up to the challenge in the morning game. Chalmers pitched well for Philadelphia,
scattering 9 hits in a complete game effort, but runs scored in the third and
fourth innings did the club in. The
Phillies did however finally manage a win in the second game of the
doubleheader. Dave Bancroft had an
opportunity to make a triple play in the bottom of the first, but an errant
throw kept it to only a twin killing.
Everyone in the Phillies lineup had at least one hit and the first five
men in the order scored a run. Erskine
Mayer pitched very well and got the win for the Phillies.[3]
Today’s split with the Braves meant the Phillies were only a
half game behind Chicago, but the series was an eye opener. Or maybe a better metaphor would be the
machine from A Clockwork Orange that forced the person’s already opened eyes to
remain open against their will. As we’ve
seen, the club had been playing some truly terrible baseball. In their last 10 games they were 3-7. To play the reigning champions provides a
measuring stick for progress and the Phillies came up wanting in their trip to
Boston. There’s not much to say that
hasn’t already been said about this club.
Hits are in short supply, defense is shaky at best, and great efforts by
the pitching staff are going to waste because of it. Fans of the team must have had the early
season visions of a pennant for the Phillies dance right out of their heads by
this point. What started with such hope
and such great baseball has turned into a mess where the team was 12-15 since
their opening eight-game winning streak.
The win to close out the series with Boston was nice because it laid the
frame for building something positive.
And with Alexander on the mound tomorrow, things were looking up for the
Phillies.
[1]
Chris Jaffe, “History of the Doubleheader, Part III,” The Hardball Times, July 26, 2010, accessed May 31, 2015, http://bit.ly/1nFyRjL.
[2]
“Phillies’ Trashing In Boston Bring Test of Team’s Nerve,” Evening Ledger, June 1, 1915, accessed May 31, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1EKoZrO.
[3]
“Wild Throw By Bancroft Spoils Chance For Triple Play In Second Game,” New York Tribune, June 1, 1915, accessed
May 31, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1ByYSUH.
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