May 27, 1915
Phillies vs. Chicago Cubs
Athletics @ Cleveland Indians
Today was the last day of the Athletics woeful western road
trip. The trek that Connie Mack believed
would be the turning point of his club’s season turned out to be a nineteen-day
reality check. The A’s were losers in 9
of the 14 games so far on the road, though today’s match with the Indians was a
chance for progress. A win represented a
sweep in Cleveland, the team directly ahead of them in the standings, and their
first winning-streak this season of more than two games. Unfortunately, not too much time passed
between the umpire’s shout of “Play Ball!” and the wind being sucked out of the
Athletics’ sails. Chick Davies allowed
four Indians to score in the bottom of the first and another in the next frame,
putting his club in a deep hole and jacking his season ERA to 8.71. His replacement after the second was Bud
Davis, another unreliable reliever that allowed four more runs to score over
the next six innings. To the Athletics’
credit they did managed to mount a comeback in the fifth and eighth, scoring
eight runs of their own. But, alas, it
was one short. The A’s limped back into
Philadelphia with a 12-22 record, 10 games out of first place and firmly
entrenched in the American League basement.
A cartoon was printed in the May 28th edition of the Evening Ledger where the White Elephant,
with a forlorn look and a beat up suitcase in his hand, was greeted by a
Philadelphia Fan who wanted to welcome “the old cripple” back to town, encouraging
him that “now’s your chance” to get back in the AL pennant hunt. This was not to be, but here is that strange
occurrence where Phillies fans were always looking for the omens of doom and
the Athletics fans were encouraging and hopeful.
Even if there was a black cat around the corner according to
every Phillies fan, the club was actually giving them reason to be optimistic. Philadelphia had feasted on lefties so far
this year but Roger Bresnahan tapped left-hander Jim “Hippo” Vaughn to start today’s
game for the Cubs. The Phillies, eager
to show the Cubs’ manager his mistake, tacked four runs on Vaughn in the first
inning. The crushing blow came with two
men on when Gavvy Cravath received a 3-2 fastball that he launched over the
fence to the delight of the 10,000 or so spectators that packed the park. Vaughn was given the chance to take control
back in the second, but back-to-back doubles from Bud Weiser and Bill Killefer
proved that today was not his day. To be
fair to Hippo, the Phillies were on fire.
Cubs’ reliever Jimmy Lavender felt the flames next when he hit Erskine
Mayer, gave up singles to Dave Bancroft and Bobby Byrne, and was capped off by
a sacrifice fly from Cravath. In two
innings the Phillies scored seven runs and chased two pitchers from the game. Mayer cruised along on the mound, as pitchers
often do when given such a lead, and even though things got interesting when
the Cubs scored four runs between the fourth and the seventh, Erskine was
always in control. The Phillies won the
game 8-5 and took first place back from Chicago.
The Chicago Cubs, the club that had been so hot of late that
they ripped control of first place away from the Phillies, were beaten twice in
row in Philadelphia. Under the Evening Ledger’s headline “Cubs Not So
Fierce, After All,” the author begins his column, “The much-dreaded Cubs failed
to make much of an impression on local fans.
There is plenty of power at the bat in the Cub line-up, but little speed,
and not enough fighting spirit to make the team a pennant contender, unless it
changes vastly within the next few weeks.”
The Phillies, on the other hand, played the Cubs like they had with the
Braves and Giants to start the year, scoring runs in bunches and holding very
good opponents back with sensational pitching.
The club would need for this trend to continue as tomorrow marked the
beginning of a road trip in which they would play 25 games in 28 days, visiting
every other city in the National League.
It certainly wouldn’t be easy to manage much success during such a
grueling expedition, but the players probably felt the superiority that comes
with beating the best teams in the league for first place. But speaking of omens, the Phillies crossed
paths with the Athletics as they came back into town. Could their failure of a road trip foreshadow
things to come for the Phils? Let’s all
bring our talismans with us just to in case.[1]
[1]
“Now Up To Athletics’ Pitchers To Put Team In The Running,” Evening Ledger, May 28, 1915, accessed
May 28, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1BpeV7o.
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