Phillies 100 Years Ago: At Mid-Point, Phillies Posses Pennant Pace

June 30, 1915

Phillies vs. Boston Braves

Athletics @ Boston Red Sox

Athletics @ Boston Red Sox

While the Athletics were up at Fenway Park in Boston showing their defensive deficiencies (the Sox scored 20 runs in the doubleheader), the Phillies were at the Baker Bowl with ace Grover Cleveland Alexander strutting his stuff on the mound.  And luckily for him (and the fans) the Phillies offense decided they would contribute to today’s win!  What a novel idea!  Their opponent was Iron Davis, who was making his first appearance of the year.  Davis, who did not have a particularly “long” or “successful” career, started this one off on the right foot by allowing only one base runner in the first two innings.  Alex matched him. 

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Phils Gut Out Win Vs. Brooklyn and Germany Destroying Russia In Galicia

June 29, 1915

Phillies vs. Brooklyn Dodgers

Athletics @ Washington Senators

The German and Russian armies were engaged in a months long battle that will result in the Great Retreat of 1915.  The Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive was launched in early May as a way for the German’s to relieve the Austrian army from the mounting pressure of the Russians.  For the past two months Germany shattered the Russian armies time and time again, gaining large chunks of territory in the area between Poland and Ukraine known as Galicia.  Today the news got worse for the Russians as they lost yet another battle, capitulating Halych and allowing the Germans to stream across the Dniester River.  Reports were that Russian General Grand Duke Nicholas was pulling his troops to the River Bug where he would attempt a resistance to save Warsaw from the Central Powers (spoiler, it wouldn’t work).  The Russians have spent the past year of the war getting embarrassingly manhandled by the Germans, and while the retreat was tactically the right thing to do, it none-the-less was a major blow to morale.[1]    

Phillies 100 Years Ago: The World Changed One Year Ago

June 28, 1915

Phillies vs. Brooklyn Dodgers

Athletics @ Washington Senators

Today marks the one-year anniversary of arguably the biggest turning point of world events in the twentieth century.  A 19-year old member of the Yugoslav Nationalist group the Black Hand named Gavrilo Princip fired shots into the automobile of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, killing him and his wife, and knocking over the first domino that lead to World War I.  It’s an incredible story with tentacles that stretch all the way through the century and reach into our own time, and since I don’t know that many people know the story, I’ll tell a brief version. 

Phillies 100 Years Ago: International Intrigue With Mexico And Germany; Alexander Throws A Maddux In Phils Win

June 26, 1915

Phillies vs. Brooklyn Dodgers

Athletics @ Washington Senators

Well it looks like the bad news coming from Mexico, or not coming out if you want to be literal, was reaching a new boiling point.  Just a month or so after President Woodrow Wilson threatened intervention if the sides in the Mexican Revolution did not make means to adequately feed the starving citizens, General Gonzales, leader of Venustiano Carranza’s Constitutionalist Army, cut wires from Mexico City to Vera Cruz, effectively isolating the capital from the rest of the world since June 18^th.  Emiliano Zapata, who along with Pancho Villa had been allies with Carranza as of only a year or so ago, was now engaged in an artillery battle with Gonzales’ forces outside the city.  All the while the famine continued.  The United States wasn’t prepared to make a statement or take action until after President Wilson returned from his trip to Cornish.[1]

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Stop, Thief! Dodgers Steal A Win From Phils But Aren't Only Burglars On Long Island

June 25, 1915

Phillies vs. Brooklyn Dodgers

Athletics @ Washington Senators

Out of the Interesting Information Department comes this story: there was a jewel thief running rampant on Long Island this summer!  On the night of June 21^st a rather wealthy couple left their Southampton home to enjoy a nice dinner out on the town.  Upon returning, surely full of all kinds of wonderful spirits, the woman discovered that her 71-pearl necklace, diamond ring, and other assorted jewelry, valued at around $40,000, were missing!  The police and private detective hired for the case concluded that a “porch jumper” (a phrased used repeatedly in multiple papers) had climb his way into a second-story window and had his way with the resident’s valuables.  But the unnamed victims were not the only Long Island family to be relieved of their luxury items; a porch jumper robbed three other homes in a similar fashion in just the past few weeks.  In a strange 1915-ish way, the newspapers actually listed all of the names of people that recently moved into summer homes in the area, essentially rounding up a list of suspects with no suspicion other than they were strangers.  The victims of the most recent robbery offered a $10,000 reward for the return of their jewelry, no questions asked.  By the way, $40,000 adjusted for inflation is about $1 million in today’s money.[1]

Phillies 100 Year Ago: Phillies Western Road Trip Ends With Cartoon-like Performance

June 24, 1915

Phillies @ New York Giants

Athletics vs. New York Yankees

San Francisco held the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 as a way to celebrate both the opening of the Panama Canal and the revitalization of the city since it was devastated in the 1906 earthquake.  The centerpiece was the Tower of Jewels, a 435-foot structure covered in gems that would reflect the brilliance of the sun during the day and illuminate with the help of searchlights in the night.  There were exhibits from the Smithsonian Institute, Grand Prix car races, and halls dedicated to metallurgy, transportation, agriculture, and other 20^th-century American pursuits.  No expense was spared to welcome the world to one of America’s burgeoning cities. 

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Phils Bounce Back After Yesterday's Tie and A's Pitcher Sets A Record

June 23, 1915

Phillies @ New York Giants

Athletics vs. New York Yankees

Athletics vs. New York Yankees

There was some big news from around the country today.  First of all, Robert Lansing’s interim status was removed as he was sworn in as the Secretary of State.  Lansing had been acting in that role since William Jennings Bryan resigned on June 9^th due to disagreements with President Woodrow Wilson’s approach to diplomatic relations with Germany.  In Philadelphia, the body of a Max Rutnick, a 23-year old man that had been missing for several weeks, washed up in the Delaware River near Fort Mifflin where soldiers out for a swim discovered him.  The Rutnick family feared that Max had taken his own life because he could not find work and now those fears were confirmed.  Lastly, a devastating earthquake rocked the Imperial Valley in Southern California and northern Mexico, killing at least 20 people and causing over $1,000,000 in damages.  Martial law had been declared in the Mexican city of Mexicali while entire sections of towns along the border were destroyed.  It wasn’t a totally happy day 100 years ago, to say the least.

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Alexander And Marquard Don't Allow The Clubs To Play Much Baseball

June 22, 1915

Phillies @ New York Giants

If you like offense, this game was not for you.  Two of the top pitchers in the National League, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Rube Marquard, put on a dazzling pitching clinic at the Polo Grounds this afternoon.  The game began with an ominous sky, gray and brooding, threating to wreck this remarkable matchup.  Hitters would have had trouble with these two aces anyway, but the reporters made note that the ball coming to the plate had a similar color to the sky, and with the sunlight blocked out by rain clouds, there was almost no chance for the offenses.  Curveballs looked to break by feet, fastball zoomed past with force, and the batters marched from the dugout to the plate only to do an about face before returning their seat on the pine. 

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Phillies Play Riveting Game In Steel City While A's and Yanks Have Explosive Doubleheader

June 21, 1915

Phillies @ Pittsburgh Pirates

Athletics vs. New York Yankees

Athletics vs. New York Yankees

We had a real progressive article in the Evening Ledger 100 years ago today.  In his article, “Should Husbands Learn To Cook?,” Perry Balsam ponders the question of why on good God’s green Earth a man would ever need to learn how to cook in a non-professional setting.  Sure, men know how to cook outside on barbeques and campfires and the like, but you certainly can’t light the kitchen on fire to cook something!  Right?  What Mr. Balsam concludes, though, is that, yes, men should learn to cook, but ONLY to have the necessary skills in case of emergency.  But where will these men learn to cook?  Certainly not with their mothers!  “Mothers are too indulgent.  They have not sufficient grip of their sons’ time and attention.  With the small minority who remained fast to their mother’s apron strings we have nothing to do.  They are happily the exceptional few, and when they come to make husbands they fall into that new and despised class of husbandettes.  We are dealing with men.”  So, obviously, it is up to the man’s wife to teach him to cook, but for God’s sake don’t teach him anymore than scrambling an egg!  You’ll ruin him!  Only husbandettes know how to do more than scramble an egg.  The article ends by allowing that “grouches and self-appointed champions of men’s rights” may say they will never learn to cook, but those types “lack breath of imagination and have narrow souls.  You will find their kind glooming the divorce courts or else shaking their bars in prison cages.”[1]

Phillies 100 Years Ago: A Rare Sunday Baseball Game For Phils, Who Probably Wish They Had Gone To Church Instead

June 20, 1915

Phillies @ Cincinnati Reds

The Phillies and Reds played their final game of the series today.  Interestingly enough, this was only the second game the Phillies played on a Sunday all year.  Pennsylvania’s Sunday Blue Laws, enacted in 1794, prevented “vice and immorality, and of unlawful gaming, and to restrain disorderly sports and dissipation.”  So, that meant no baseball in Philadelphia on the Lord’s Day.  Connie Mack had called for the legalization of Sunday baseball since 1911 because he believed that the club could make about $20,000 for each game.  Mack and the Athletics were never wealthy, so that extra cash flow would really help keep the club afloat.  You can imagine what the pro-blue laws crowd though of Mr. Mack’s appeal for Sunday games for purely financial reasons.  It didn’t go over well.  They also preached that Sunday games would cause noise and commotion in the neighborhoods around the park, making it difficult for devotees to peacefully pursue their religious practices.  Mack used other cities as examples of successfully enacted Sunday games (Cincinnati was one; they repealed their blue laws in 1902).  Still, with the legislation packed with blue law supporters and almost zero help from the Phillies (who weren’t exactly raking in the money, either, yet seemed ambivalent about making tens of thousands of extra dollars a week), bans on Sunday baseball remain in Philadelphia. 

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Taft Has Bathtub Blunder and Alexander Proves Cincy is All Wet

June 19, 1915

Phillies @ Cincinnati Reds

Athletics vs. Chicago White Sox

Do you remember former President William Howard Taft?  Of course you do.  He was the president so fat that he got stuck in a bathtub.  Well, 100 years ago today President Taft had yet another bathtub related folly.  You see, the president had attended the Peace League meeting in Philadelphia before taking the long train ride from the city to Cape May, New Jersey where he was to be the guest at the Pennsylvania Bankers’ Association annual conference.  The train took a bit longer than expect to reach its destination and the “completely fagged out” ex-president just wanted to take a bath before joining the dinner.  Downstairs, there were grunts of impatience and frustrated glances at watches from the bankers, who had expected Taft to join them an hour ago.  Then the drips started.  It was slow at first, small droplets descending from a small wet stain on the ceiling.  As the spot grew, so did the bewilderment and chagrin of the party below.  The plumber was called to find the source of the leak before the leak became a flood and washed the conference out of the hotel.  Quickly the plumber ran to the room above the dining hall and, breaking the normal protocol, broke into the room that happened to be occupied by President Taft.  It seems as though the president filled his tub too much and spilled most of it over the sides when he dunked himself.  The result was a room with a water-soaked floor occupied by a naked ex-president.  But, all’s well that ends well, the neither the hotel nor the conference was ruined and Taft was making jokes about overflowing the ocean as he boarded his train home.  The poor guy was the only person in history to be the President and the Chief Justice of the United States, but it’s these damn bathtubs stories that keep his memory alive.[1]

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Phillies Puzzled In Porkopolis & Eddie Collins' Triumphant Returns To Shibe Park

June 17, 1915

Phillies @ Cincinnati Reds

Athletics vs. Chicago White Sox

In a fun twist of fate, the first and last place teams in the American and National Leagues faced off today and both involved teams from Philadelphia.  It was a sad reunion at Shibe Park as Eddie Collins, former Athletic and the greatest second baseman of the era, made his first trip back to his former home park since Connie Mack sold him to the White Sox for $50,000.  It was unfortunate for Philadelphia because Collins was the leader of the great Athletics teams that won four pennants and three World Series in five years, a real baseball hero for this town, but he would forever after been known as a White Sox.  I’d be surprised if the average sports fan on the street even knew the Collins was an instrumental part to the city’s first really great team.  Mack’s financial situation and paranoia with the Federal League after the 1914 season cost this city a legend.  But I digress.  Collins mixed a little nostalgia for the fans in with his revenge on Mack in his first game back by really taking it to his former club.  He was three for three with a double, walked, run scored, RBI, two stolen bases, and was involved in getting 10 of the 27 outs.  That, my friends, is a hell of a game.  Chicago won the game 3-0 and maintained their one-game lead over the Tigers for first place.

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Athletics Beat Ty Cobb and the Tigers while Phillies Falter in Pittsburgh

June 16, 1915

Phillies @ Pittsburgh Pirates

Athletics vs. Detroit Tigers

This afternoon the Tigers played their final game in Shibe Park until August.  Detroit was one of the most consistent teams in the American League, finishing each day no more than 4 games out of first since the season began.  In their previous series, they dropped two of three games to the Boston Red Sox, allowing the Chicago White Sox to overtake them for first place.  They probably weren’t too upset about it, though.  After all, they were making the trip down the Eastern Seaboard to take on the Athletics, the worst team in major league baseball.   A long train ride, a quick sweep of the Mackmen, and with a little luck they would be leading the league before they hopped the train on Thursday to ride the rails down to Washington to finish off their road trip.  Easy as pie.  But, as these things sometimes go, it wasn’t that simple.  For whatever reason the A’s fought hard against Detroit, battling them to a 13-inning victory in game one.  Then, despite committing five errors, the Athletics held the vaunted Detroit offense to just two runs.  Alas, Philadelphia was only able to manage one of their own and lost a close game.  The two games that Detroit thought would be cakewalks turned into barnburners.  They would have to win today to avoid losing their second straight series (they only lost three all season before running into the Sox and A’s).

Phillies 100 Years Ago: The Heat Wave Wasn't The Only Thing Heating Up In Philadelphia

June 14, 1915

Phillies @ Pittsburgh Pirates

Athletics vs. Detroit Tigers

The Evening Ledger had a story 100 years ago today about how the recent heat wave started to harm people in Philadelphia.  The soaring temperatures started on June 12^th and had already claimed the consciousness of one man, “William Linsey, 2345 Master street, was overcome by the heat at 16^th street and Ridge avenue today.”  As of 8 am the temperature was already in the mid-70s with the humidity at 87%.  Hey, that sort of sounds like what we are dealing with right now in the Delaware Valley!  Want another coincidence?  The Phillies were playing in Pittsburgh 100 years ago, just like they are today.  It’s strange how things like that work out. 

Phillies 100 Year Ago: Phillies Hand Out A Thumping, Take First Place Back From Cubs

June 12, 1915

Phillies @ Chicago Cubs

Athletics vs. Detroit Tigers

Philadelphia baseball fans were buzzing today for two reasons.  First, the Athletics played the Tigers in Philadelphia for the first time, meaning Ty Cobb was making his 1915 debut in the city.  This was the Georgia Peach’s eleventh year in professional baseball and was coming off his worst season since taking over the everyday centerfield job for the Tigers in 1907.  Of course, a bad season for Ty Cobb meant he only put up 5.8 rWAR in an injury-plagued season that caused him to miss more than a third of Tigers’ games.  A real slacker, that guy was.  Anywho, Cobb was back to being Cobb in 1915 and so far had played every game, garnering a slash line of .414/.545/.552 and 34 stolen bases.  In today’s extra inning game at Shibe Park, Cobb went 2 for 5 with four more stolen bases, to delight of the fans' hearts and dismay of the fans' faces.  Philadelphia and Detroit played in a “long, slow game,” according to the Evening Ledger, but the A’s managed to pull out a victory in the bottom of the 13^th.  The win over the second place Tigers pulled the Mackmen to within 12 games of the first place White Sox.  It was their 18^th win on the year, a feat the Phillies accomplished on May 25^th.

Phillies 100 Year Ago: Philadelphia Fails to Score in Loss to Chicago

June 11, 1915

Phillies @ Chicago Cubs

Athletics vs. Cleveland Indians

The Phillies and Cubs renewed their battle for first place in the National League today after having the day off yesterday.  The standings in the NL were crowded; Philadelphia came into today with a half game lead over the Cubs, but Brooklyn, St. Louis, Boston, and Pittsburgh were all within three games of first, leaving only the New York Giants and Cincinnati Reds as second division teams.  In a fit of irony or arrogance, perhaps both, Giants’ manager John McGraw was given space in The Evening World to discuss his thoughts on NL season, saying, “More sand lot baseball has been played in the National League this season than I have ever seen since breaking into the Big Show…It is criminal – criminal, that’s all, that the Giants haven’t cinched the pennant now.”  I mean, for him to say that while his club sat in seventh place in an eight-team league takes some real balls.  He then meandered through some erroneous “they don’t play the game like the used to” rhetoric about how players in 1915 are paid too much money and they don’t hustle and that if they have a hangnail they spend a week at the hospital when guys when he used to play would go out there with one leg and on and on and on in this nonsensical fashion.  I bring this up just to show that this cliché is as old as baseball; people of the older generation always told the current generation they were doing it wrong.  Eventually, more than half of his column later, he got to his point that the league is prime to be taken by a dark horse this year.  McGraw believed that he Cubs would fail because they “haven’t the pepper to cop the flag.”  The Phillies, however, had a real shot at the pennant according to Little Napoleon.  He complimented Grover Cleveland Alexander as a great pitcher leading the best staff in baseball while also giving credit to Dave Bancroft for solidifying the infield in his rookie season.  His prediction about the Phillies wound up coming true, proving that McGraw did know his baseball when he didn’t act like an arrogant horse’s ass.[1]         

Phillies 100 Year Ago: Philadelphia Retakes First Place After Chi-Town Showdown

June 9, 1915

Phillies @ Chicago Cubs

Athletics vs. Cleveland Indians

Okay, here we go!  The battle for first place in the National League was on!  After yesterday’s game against the Cardinals, the Phillies took the 300 miles train ride from St. Louis to Chicago (which could have taken over 9 hours) while the Cubs got to sleep in their own beds last night.  Obviously this was a mismatch of fitness and the Phillies would play today’s game fatigued, but they did have their best weapon, Grover Cleveland Alexander, on the mound to guide them to victory.  If the Cubs weren’t physically tired, they almost certainly were mentally exhausted.  As I mentioned yesterday, the pressure of being the league leader may have got to Chicago because they weren’t playing the same quality of ball of late that they exhibited on their rise to the top.  Since taking the top spot in the NL from the Phillies the Cubs were 4-4 and lost two series to the struggling Pirates and Giants.  The mediocre streak gave the rest of the league a chance to catch up with them; on the day the Cubs took over first place only the Phillies were within two and half games of them, but as of today Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Boston were all within striking distance.  Both teams had something to prove in this series.  The Cubs had to show they were still the class of the league despite the recent struggles.  The Phillies needed to show that their recent winning wasn’t just a fluke of playing a weak opponent.  Let’s get to the action!

Phillies 100 Years Ago: The Phillies Battle St. Louis and Earn Big Series Win

June 8, 2015

Phillies @ St. Louis Cardinals

Athletics vs. St. Louis Browns

An event that happened today 100 years ago that exhibits how people received and digested their news during that era.  The Germans had sent a note back to President Woodrow Wilson that explained their recent attacks on ship liners, including the Lusitania.  It was not the note Wilson was hoping for that would outline Germany’s new, restricted use of submarines; instead it was a promise to pay for US ships that had been attacked in error and to investigate the attacks more closely.  Wilson stated that this was welcomed news, but it did not answer his questions fully.  He intended to draft another correspondence with the German government to define the nations’ roles with each other a little better.  Now, all of this is relatively banal, run-of-the-mill politicking and those that read this news back then would probably agree, but late in the day Wilson’s new note caused some disagreement within the administration.  As it turned out, Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan did not agree with Wilson’s approach to the German letter and resigned.  Many evening editions of east coast newspapers only got the first half of the story, saying nothing of Bryan’s resignation, and the western newspapers didn’t know what to print with their late editions.  So, as with the Ogden Standard from Ogden City, Utah, there was a large, bold headline that ran the length of the first page that read “SECRETARY BRYAN RESIGNS,” but the article associated with it claimed that all within the cabinet agreed with Wilson’s letter, which would be forwarded to Berlin very soon.  It’s interesting to see that stories could make their way across the country in only a few hours, yet the information was not readily available to everyone.  Most people on the east coast had to wait for the morning editions to get the updates while those in California knew about the resignation but not the circumstances surrounding it.[1] 

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Bats Break Out In St. Louis

June 7, 1915

Phillies @ St. Louis Cardinals

Athletics vs. St. Louis Browns

Coming off of yesterday’s loss, the Phillies looked to bounce back with a win in the third game of their four game series with the St. Louis Cardinals.  Eppa Rixey, who was only making his fourth appearance in the past month, was given the start for Philadelphia.  His was a case of inconsistencies.  His first three starts this season resulted in an ERA of 1.73 in 26 innings, yet he received two hard-luck losses to the Dodgers to make his record 1-2.  I don’t know if it was a decision based on his record or if it was just the way the rotation was rolling, but Rixey didn’t get another start for almost three weeks and when he did it did not go as he planned.  He allowed nine runs in 11 and two-thirds innings in two starts, and while all of those runs weren’t charged to him, the 10 walks and 13 hits let us know he was pitching poorly.  It’s a bit ironic that after his nice start to the season he was pulled from the rotation yet when he was pitching poorly Pat Moran went to him routinely.  Oh well, I’m not here to judge Moran’s decisions; just let you all know what he did.

Phillies 100 Year Ago: Bill Doak Soaks Phillies in St. Louis

June 6, 1915

Phillies @ St. Louis Cardinals

Well, we have another entrant into the World War and the Ottomans are not going to be happy about it.  Romania’s King Ferdinand I announced his country’s mobilization would commence immediately and that his troops would join on the side of the Allies.  This was a stab in the back of sorts to the Central Powers because Romania had signed a defensive treaty with Austria-Hungary in 1883.  But Romania stated they would not being joining the Central Powers because they saw Austria-Hungary as the aggressors and therefore the treaty did not bind them to war.   Plus there was that sweet sweet Transylvania land in Austria-Hungary that Romania really wanted back.  So, with the promise of lands to be gain, Romania started up its war machine.  Other news filtered through the channels that Bulgaria was also thinking about shedding its neutral cloak.  There was no word as to which side the Bulgarians would join but the country had taken an anti-Russian stance recently and was tied by treaties with the Central Powers.  They were kind of enemies with every other country in that region, though, so they were a bit of a wild card.  There were lands they wanted from the Allies but their hatred for the Ottomans ran really deep.  And as we’ve seen with Romania, those treaties that seem so secure on paper sometimes don’t stand the test of war.  If Bulgaria declared for the Allies it would effectively signal the end of the Ottoman Empire.  The Ottomans were already very weak and barely holding on as an international power before the war started.  Now if they were cut off from their allies and surrounded by enemies in the east, there wasn’t much hope for them.[1]   

Phillies 100 Years Ago: German May Want Peace But St. Louis Wants No Piece Of Alexander

June 5, 1915

Phillies @ St. Louis Cardinals

Athletics vs. St. Louis Browns

Today is the 100-year anniversary of Denmark’s constitutional amendment allowing for women’s suffrage.  Denmark was the eighth territory or nation to permanently allow women the right to vote following the Pitcairn Islands (1838), Isle of Man (1881), New Zealand (1893), Cook Islands (1893), Australia (1902), Finland (1906), and Norway (1913).  Most European nations granted suffrage after World War I and the United States did so in 1920.

In other world news, it appeared that President Woodrow Wilson’s most recent letter to Germany may have convinced the warring nation that diplomacy could end the conflict sooner rather than later.  Germany’s ambassador to the United States, Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff, sent an envoy to Berlin to advise the government on how to handle their official reply to Wilson, which meant the reply probably wouldn’t be prepared until at least June 20.  Think about that.  It took more than two weeks to travel from the US to Germany.  In 1815 it would have taken months!  Now it takes hours!  Maybe in 100 years it will only take minutes.  Anyway, back in 1915, leaked information to the media had it that Germany was going to declare that their relations to the US could not be severed without significant harm and that the US should be the mediator to end the war.  Sadly, we know that this will not happen and the war will continue in its horrendous state for four more years.[1]

Phillies 100 Year Ago: Phillies Big Win In Brooklyn and A Look At American Diplomacy With Mexico

June 3, 1915

Phillies @ Brooklyn Dodgers

Today the State Department announced it would arrange transportation for Americans in Mexico suffering in the current famine to return to the United States.  The American Red Cross was also sent south of the border to distribute food to starving Mexicans.  President Woodrow Wilson stated his belief that, as Americans, it was their duty to help those that were suffering.  When asked if the US would intervene militarily in the relief effort, the president and Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan both stated that any reports of American army and navy being used to help the Mexican people was overblown.  They said that there were capable leaders in Mexico right now and if they would stop fighting long enough to set up an interim government there would be no need for intervention.  The president and his cabinet were going to let these leaders figure out how to organize their government on their own, but if it took more than two weeks the US would step in to act as a catalyst.  This was probably some maneuvering on the part of Wilson to set the US up as the good guys in the potential conflict.  Reports were slowly trickling back east that as many as six Americans were killed on their own land by Mexican troops.  A source from the White House later reiterated the administration’s desire to stay neutral but added a veiled threat that if Americans on the border kept getting murdered by roving bands from these Mexican rebels, the US would not hesitate to take their pound of flesh as retribution.[1]              

Phillies 100 Years Ago: A Double Dip With the Dodgers and the NL Race Tightens

June 2, 1915

Phillies @ Brooklyn Dodgers

Phillies @ Brooklyn Dodgers

The last series in which these two clubs clashed, it was the Dodgers that took two of three games to pull them up to sixth place in the National League.  Since then they went 9-6, doubling their wins for the year and pulling to within three and a half games of first place.  Once thought destined for the second division, the Dodgers were proving they belonged in the pennant race conversation.  Their hitting was nothing to write home about, but somehow they always seemed to get the job done.  Only two regulars had an OPS+ over 100; Jake Daubert’s was 124 and Zack Wheat came in at 106.  Casey Stengal played right field for this team, but a .237/.294/.353 slash line indicated that he was in the midst of his worst professional season to date.  It wasn’t necessarily even the pitching staff that made Brooklyn a venerable club; they finished fourth in the NL in ERA, sixth in WHIP, and averaged more runs against per game than runs scored per game.  Their Pythagorean Record was seven games worse than their actual record, meaning this club play like a 73 win team but actually won 80 games.  It looks like the Dodgers of 1915 were competitive due to just dumb luck, getting the breaks, and not regressing to the mean.

Phillies 100 Year Ago: US Threatens Two Nations, Walter Johnson Beats the A's, and the Phillies Fall Closer To Third Place

June 1, 1915

Phillies @ Brooklyn Dodgers

Athletics vs. Washington Senators

A few days ago the German government responded to President Woodrow Wilson’s demands that they quit all unrestricted submarine warfare and apologize for the lives lost when the Lusitania was sunk by more or less telling the United States that they needed to shut up while the grown ups are talking.  The ship was armed to threaten U-boats and therefore was a ship of war, according the Germans.  They also let the president know that if he really wanted to place blame he should look no further than Britain, who had not only did a poor job of warning the captain of the submarine threat in the area but also continued to blockade the North Sea, forcing Germany to use submarines just to survive.  The Germans did have a point in regards to the blockade.  By the end of the war the civilian death total that resulted from hunger or disease due to the blockade would number between 400,000 and 800,000.  Britain had the best navy in the world at the time and could choke off all sea trade to the Central Powers; and while Germany was an up-and-comer as a naval power, they couldn’t compete with the Brits unless they employed the advantage of the submarine.  But Wilson would not back down.  This had gone beyond the Lusitania and was now about respecting international law.  He met with his cabinet today and decided that he would force the German government to declare their official position on the use of unrestricted submarine warfare.  If they didn’t respond or declared they could continue with this tactic, Wilson was prepared to ask the Congress for war.[1]