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 13th. The win over the second place Tigers pulled
the Mackmen to within 12 games of the first place White Sox. It was their 18th win on the year,
a feat the Phillies accomplished on May 25th.
Speaking of the Phillies, their game against the Cubs was
the other reason Philadelphia’s baseball fans were excited for the day’s
action. As we talked about yesterday,
the game today decided who was the first place club in the National
League. All eyes were checking out this
game, whether in person or through telegraph messages, to see which team was up
to the task. It would be great if the
Phillies could put together a complete game behind Erskine Mayer and prove to
the nation that they were the team to beat.
As I mentioned yesterday, Cubs pitcher George Pierce was
having one of his best seasons as a professional. He started the year off flipping between the
rotation and the bullpen, equally effective in both roles. Then on May 15 he hit his one bump in the road
while pitching against the Giants when he gave up six runs on seven hits and
two walks in four innings. He responded
to that clunker by pitching better than he ever, putting up a measly 1.27 ERA
in four appearances. Today was his first
time pitching against the Phillies in 1915 and, well…it wasn’t a great
experience for him.
The game began routinely enough for Pierce. Dave Bancroft started off yet another game
with a base hit, this time a single to left, and once again he was caught in a
force play on Bobby Byrne’s groundball.
Byrne was later thrown out trying to steal second, ending the
inning. So far, so good for Pierce. Mayer matched Pierce’s zero when he set the
Cubs down in order in their half. It was
déjà vu in the second as the fan favorite Possum Whitted returned to the
starting lineup with a single to right but was later caught stealing. Mayer gave up a double to Vic Saier, though
Chicago could not capitalize. At the end
of two, the game was tied 0-0.
The offense started to open up in the top of the third. Six men came to the plate for the Phillies
and five reached base. Bancroft starred
with a RBI double, stolen base, and run scored as the Phillies hung two on
Pierce. More runs probably should have
been scored but Fred Luderus ran into an out trying to go first to third on
Bill Killefer’s single to center (TOOTBLAN) and Bobby Byrne was thrown out
trying to get back to third on a failed attempt at a double steal (the third
caught stealing of the game for the Phillies).
Two runs seemed innocuous enough at the time, but this was just the
beginning for the Phillies.
Mayer thanked his teammates for the early lead and ran with
it, retiring the Cubs through four innings while only letting up one hit. The Phillies showed their appreciation for
Mayer’s effort when they busted out in the fifth. Luderus singled. Killefer singled and both men advanced an
extra base on a throwing error by Frank Schulte. When Mayer singled to right, scoring Luderus,
Roger Bresnahan had decided he had seen enough from his starter to know he was
on the precipice of failure and tapped Zip Zabel to come in out of the
bullpen. However the change in pitchers
had no effect on the Phillies except maybe to make them score more effectively. A wild pitched scored Killefer. Then Bancroft got his third hit of the day,
which set up a three-run home run to deep right field for Beals Becker. In all, five runs came across in the inning
for the Phillies on six hits and the score was 7-0. But they weren’t done yet! In the sixth they manufactured three more
runs on three hits off of the Cubs third pitcher of the evening. Two more runs in the top of the seventh made
it a 12-0 game. And for just a little
cherry on top of this sundae, the Phils added one more in the top of the ninth
to show the Cubs, and the rest of the league, who the real National League
front-runners were.[1]
The 13-0 victory for the Phillies opened a lot of eyes. Erskine Mayer pitched magnificently today,
allowing only two hits and two walks in his second complete game shutout of the
season. He was proving that he was every
bit as good as the leader of the Phillies staff, Grover Cleveland
Alexander. It may sound ridiculous
because of how great Alexander had pitched, but their numbers were not far off
from each other. Alex started more
games, 14 compared to Mayer’s 12, but both had earned 10 wins. The difference in ERA was minuscule at best,
Mayer’s was 1.85 and Alexander’s 1.67.
Opponents OPS against was .472 to .545 in Alexander’s favor. The only category where Alexander had a
significant lead on Mayer was in strikeouts, with the tally 90 to 35. But, hell, if the top two starters in a
rotation both put up sub-2.00 ERAs, it’s going to set the stage for many
victories.
Today was a statement game for the Phillies. In baseball’s version of a symbiotic
relationship, Mayer’s pitching lead to confidence for the Phillies at the plate,
which allowed Mayer to pitch without the pressure of a close game. The result was the utter destruction of the
Chicago Cubs. It was almost like there
were two classes of teams on the field today; like a spring training game where
the Phillies play a local nine as a fun exhibition rather than a professional
game. First place once again belonged to
Philadelphia and the rest of the league took notice. If they could manage to thump the top of the
standings like that, what would Philadelphia do to the rest of the clubs? This team deserved a little praise after
bouncing back from the May they went through.
Hell, even this road trip was a disaster until a week ago. They started the trek off at 1-7 and have
since won six of eight games. That is a
remarkable turnaround. It was probably
difficult for them to get into the train cars that would take them to
Pittsburgh with how big their heads must have been after taking the
Cubs down four of the five times they played.
The worst of this grueling trip was over now and they were playing their best ball
in weeks. All that was left was to play
the three worst teams in the National League and return to Philadelphia as conquering
heroes of the west.
[1]
“Bancroft’s Double Scores First Run In Cubs’ Contest,” Evening Ledger, June 12, 1915, accessed June 11, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1FM5CjM.
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