May 19, 1915
Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Athletics @ Chicago White Sox
We haven’t talked much about the Athletics in the past week
or so because there are only so many ways to say that they are a bad team, but
today is a significant day for the club.
Let’s start by playing a little catch up and we’ll lead up to the
news. In the last seven games the A’s
played they had lost six, including three losses to the St. Louis Browns,
possibly the only other team in professional baseball as bad as Philadelphia. After St. Louis, the A’s moved on to Chicago
where they have so far dropped two of three.
This western trip that Connie Mack had hung his hat on as the turning
point of the club’s season was proving the Tall Tactician’s short-comings in
prognostication. The pitching and
defense had not got the bump Mack had hoped for and was now averaging 5.22 runs
per game against, second worst in baseball and by far worst in the American
League (the next worst team in the AL was Cleveland, who was averaging 4.63 runs
per game against). Unfortunately, the
A’s average runs against would increase after their day game against the White
Sox.
Weldon Wyckoff once again got the start for the A’s. Though he had had three chances, he had not
won a game in 10 days. That isn’t to say
he had pitched poorly, just that he hasn’t been consistent and was in desperate
need of run support. Today the Athletics
gave it to him! The A’s ran up six runs
through their turn at bat in the fifth, scoring in three innings, and giving
Wyckoff a five-run lead to work with.
“Back in the misty, dark days of the long ago our pale-hosed pastimers
counted that game lost when Mack’s legion gained a five-run advantage, but
times have changed,” rang the Rock Island
Argus, poetically foreshadowing the collapse about to transpire. Wyckoff allowed three runs in the bottom of
the fifth, but still held the lead at 6-4.
He pitched well in the sixth and seventh but was relieved in the eighth
due to fatigue. In came Herb Pennock,
the apple of Mack’s eye, to close out a much needed win. Too bad the future Hall of Famer was not
quite at his best yet. Eleven men to
come to the plate in the eighth inning for the White Sox, five of them drew
walks, two of them singled, and another doubled. In a matter of minutes Pennock and the
defense of the Athletics had let five runs go up on the board and their chances
out winning to go out the window. It was
9-7 loss, their third in a row, leaving them with a record of 9-19. The Evening
Ledger ran a cartoon of the A’s White Elephant mascot on crutches with two
broken legs, one labeled Bressler and the other Wyckoff, with the caption “The
Pace That Kills.” The cartoonist could
have certainly used Pennock’s name on the broken legs as Herb was making it
more and more difficult for Mack to keep his spot on this club’s roster.[1]
Now for the news. The
loss today coupled with the Browns having the day off meant the Athletics were
in last place for the second time this season.
The last time they were in the basement for more than one day was in
April of 1911. In fact, that was the
only other time the A’s were ever in
last place. One hundred years ago today
marked only the fifth day in the club’s existence that they finished a day in
last place. Can you imagine such a
thing? Fifteen years of professional
baseball and this was only the fifth time they spent a day in last place. It
really hammers home how dominant Mack’s teams had been that they had the same
amount of days in a last place as appearances in the World Series at this point
in their history. This fun fact wasn’t
destined to last, but I think it helps get you into the mindset of the
relationship between the A’s and the Phillies in 1915 and why this season was
such a sea change in the world of Philadelphia baseball.
Today was also a bit of a failure for the Phillies, but not
quite as monumental as it was for the A’s.
The Phillies seemed to be back mired in a mini-hitting slump. Dan Griner, who probably had no more
significant place in baseball history than when he led the league in losses in
1913, somehow made the Phillies lineup look like a Little League team. They were retired in order for nine inning;
the two hits the Phillies managed against Griner were singles that were erased
by double plays. And it wasn’t like they
were victims of the BABIP gods because there were no hard hit balls off Griner
the entire game outside of the two hits.
Obviously, if you can’t get a runner past first base then you can’t
score any runs, and the Phillies were shut out for the second time in a
week. George Chalmers got the hard luck
loss today, though once again it wasn’t his fault. He struck out nine Cardinals and only allowed
seven base runners through nine innings.
The five errors the Phillies made in the field accounted for the three
runs scored against them (though one was charged to Chalmers, hence why he got
the loss).[2]
This might be a new low for the 1915 Phillies. They had lost two in a row to the second
division Cardinals and had almost zero success at the plate or in the
field. Luckily the pitching staff was
still operating on the level of a division winner, but it wasn’t enough to
overcome the failures of the other phases of the game. Much like Mack’s western trip, this home
stand was supposed to be a chance for the Phillies to put a few games between
them and their competition, but the poor and inconsistent play allowed the Cubs
and Braves to hang around. Hell, even
Brooklyn and Pittsburgh were within striking distance at this point. Philadelphia was used to them have a July
swoon that took them out of the running for a pennant, but this club might not
even make it to July if they couldn’t find their bats and gloves soon. The fans could take solace that the last
place Reds were coming to town, so there was still a chance to salvage the home
stand before the pivotal series against the Cubs. But you could imagine the fans’ patience
waning as the refrain from this portion of the season was “they’ll get ‘em next
time.”
[1]
“White Sox Laugh At Big Handicap,” Rock
Island Argus, May 20, 1915, accessed May 18, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1cL9j1j.
[2]
“Chalmers, Hard-Luck Hurler Of Phils; Cincinnati Reds Here,” Evening Ledger, May 20, 1915, accessed
May 18, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1eb9GTT.
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