May 18, 2015
Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Athletics @ Chicago White Sox
Another day and another probe into the corruption that ran
Philadelphia’s politics around the turn of the twentieth-century. Today, Mayor Rudolph Blankenburg was the
subject of the accusations. In maybe the
best example of irony ever, it was the Republican Party that was levying these
claims of corruption against the progressive mayor. As discussed in an earlier post, the
Republicans ran Philadelphia for almost a century from the 1850s-1950s and were
considered by some to be the most corrupt machine in the nation. They would illegally sell government jobs to
the groups that paid the biggest bribes, stuff ballot boxes in their favor with
the names of people that were dead or had never existed, and generally did
little to improve the city unless it promised a huge payoff. They became such an established institution
in the city that many believed the city would never elect a non-Republican candidate. It was as inevitable as the sun rising in the
east. In 1903 there was an article McClure’s Magazine the summed up the
city’s feelings towards their elected officials entitled, “Philadelphia:
Corrupt and Contented.” Now, the
Republicans had the gall accused Blankenburg of allowing money to influence his
judgment.
Blankenburg represented a real threat to the Republicans
because the mood of the nation had turned progressive and machine-run
governments were being destroyed by corruption examinations all over the
country. Blankenburg was elected as a
result of Philadelphia getting caught up in this anti-corruption fervor, and it
was ironic that it was his administration, and not the Republicans, that would
feel the first thrust of the examinations in the city. The mayor, when told of the allegations, made
a public statement that he accepted an examination and would gladly have anyone
in his government removed if found guilty.
So, we are at the beginning of a story that is sure to provide headlines
in the future. Buckle up for some political
investigations! Strangely, this sort of
petty bickering and charges of corruption is a little reassuring and
disheartening at the same time. It’s
nice to know that our era is not alone in its stagnation and corruption and the
evidence that is the rest of the century proves that it is only a temporary
infliction, but it is as frustrating today as it was 100 years ago.[1] [2]
The Phillies were home today versus the Cardinals. St. Louis put their ace Bill Doak back on the
mound for this afternoon’s game; the same Bill Doak that pitched three days ago
against the Phillies and couldn’t get out of the second inning before manager
Miller Huggins had to go to his bullpen.
Today was different, though, and unfortunately for the Phillies, they
got one of the best performances the young hurler would have all year.
While Doak pitched well enough to baffle the batters he
faced, the Phillies didn’t help themselves out.
Al Demaree, who took the tough luck loss a week ago, returned to his Bad
Al ways. In the second inning, with two
runners on, Demaree grooved a two-strike fastball as straight as could be belt
high in the middle of the plate. Even a
.197 hitter like Art Butler could handle a pitch like that and he drove it off
the left field wall for a double, scoring the two men on base. A few batters later there were two out and
Frank Synder on second; all Demaree had to do was get Bill Doak, who was a
worse hitter than Butler, out and the rally would be over. But either Demaree was over confident or had
a moment of lapsed judgment, because he grooved another straight as an arrow
fastball down Broadway and Doak, too, played pepper with the fence, scoring
another run.
This sequence was representative of Demaree so far this
season; he could pitch like the best in the league for stretches of time and
then lose his process for a pitch here or there and before you knew it the
wheels had completely fallen off of the inning.
But he also had the ability to calm himself and get back to mowing the
team down. Today he did just that. Too bad his teammates lost their
concentration. Beals Becker dropped an
easy pop fly in the fifth that allowed Huggins to reach first. Bud Weiser, too, let a ball play him,
resulting in a run for Huggins and Zinn Beck to reach third. With the next batter, Bill Killefer called
for a curveball low and away but Demaree fired a fastball high and tight;
Killefer didn’t even have a chance to try to make the catch as the ball bounded
to the backstop while Beck scampered home.
Demaree finished off the inning, but when his turn in the order came up
in the bottom of the fifth, he was pinch hit for by Oscar Dugey. The Phillies as a team fail in the field
today and hand-wrapped five gift runs to the struggling Cardinals.[3]
Doak had a momentary slip up in the bottom of the seventh
that allowed Gavvy Cravath and Bert Niehoff to score, but otherwise he was in
total control all afternoon, winning the contest 5-2. For the Phillies the game was reminiscent of
the hitting slump they just escaped from and a reminder that things could go
horribly wrong just as easily as they could score 11 runs. Cravath, Niehoff, and Ed Burns’ four hits
accounted for all of the offense the Phillies could muster. The loss was big because, just over 100 miles
to the north, the Cubs beat the Giants 1-0, meaning Chicago was now only a game
and a half back of the Phillies. This
wasn’t the closest the two teams had been, but it did mean that if the Phillies
didn’t take care of business by beating the teams they were better than, the
Cubs could close the gap completely in only two days. Drama was building for the Cubs’ visit to the
Baker Bowl that was just a week away.
[1]
“Detective Burns Tells Mayor He Has Evidence of ‘Organization’ Corruption,” Evening Ledger, May 19, 1915, accessed
May 18, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1Hn9o5V.
[2]
Donald W. Disbrow, “Reform in Philadelphia Under Mayor Blankenburg, 1912-1916,”
Pennsylvania History Vol. 27, no. 4
(1960): 379-381.
[3]
“Phillies, In Defeat, Discover Marvel In Young Baumgartner,” Evening Ledger, May 19, 1915, accessed
May 18, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1FnrGo9.
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