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 20th-century
American pursuits. No expense was spared
to welcome the world to one of America’s burgeoning cities.
With all of this exuberance, it might
come as a surprise that one of the most anticipated guests was the Liberty
Bell. The relic that best symbolized
Philadelphia had been on a few “jaunts,” as they were called, in recent years
to bring the history of the city and the nation to folks that couldn’t possible
travel the distance to see it in it’s natural habitat. So, of course, when the Panama-Pacific
committee requested the bell’s presence at the exposition, there was no
question that it would make the journey.
In fact, the exposition opened with a teaser of sorts, a ringing of the
Liberty Bell in Philadelphia that was transmitted over a transcontinental
telephone line. In early July the bell
would begin it’s first trip west of the Mississippi River, making numerous
stops before finally settling in San Francisco.
But the previous jaunts had taken a toll on the bell;
handlers noticed that the crack was enlarged and that chunks were missing due
to souvenir hunters. As the deadline for
the bell’s tour loomed, Philadelphia politicians and member’s of the committee
began to get wet feet. What if the bell
broke? What if it was damaged to the
point that it could no longer be shown in Philadelphia? What would become of the careers of those
councilmen that allowed Philadelphia’s prized possession to be destroyed for a
trip to San Francisco? All of these
thoughts ran through the minds of the five men that resigned today from the bell’s
tour today, and there were rumors that four more were on the brink of removing
their name from the committee. That
would mean almost 40% of those charged with planning and ensuring the bell’s
safety quitting only a week and a half before its scheduled departure. And it wasn’t like they could just cancel the
trip since Philadelphia already bought a $21,000 Pullman car to house the bell
across the country (almost $500,000 in today’s money). Obviously a lot of people were upset for a
plethora of reasons and it was embarrassing to the city. The committee had until July 5th
to figure this mess out.[1]
Speaking of messes in Philadelphia, both baseball clubs
finished their repective series with their New York counterparts. The Athletics did their Athletics thing, that
is lost in a gut-punch of a way. They
took the lead early with runs in the first and third only to allow the Yankees
to tie. They retook the lead before
allowing the Yankees to take over. They
fought back again and tied the game
at six. Alas, in extra innings the
Yankees scored the go-ahead run to finish of the A’s. The Mackmen spent the entire month of June at
Shibe Park and only won nine of their 24 games.
Starting tomorrow they would leave for their second western trip of the
year and allow the Phillies to take their spot in Philadelphia.
But first the Phillies had to finish their game with the
Giants. Apparently the Phillies’
starter, Al Demaree, who was a part-time cartoonist, decided to draw the New
York nine as he saw them from his vantage point on the pitchers mound. He was quoted as saying, “I did want to
depict my impressions of the Giants and I still want to say and draw what I
think of them, but a newspaper can go just so far and be sent through the
mail. I’m stopped by the law.” Obviously Demaree is referencing the Comstock
laws that banned “trade in, and circulation of, obscene literature and articles
of immoral use.” So his drawings
couldn’t be printed in an American paper, but maybe they made their way into
the Giants’ clubhouse because they got after Demaree today as if they were the
ones with revenge on their minds.[2]
It was a shellacking right from the start. New York reached base on three errors and
four singles before Demaree was relieved with one out in the second
inning. Well, at least he’d have more
times to work on those cartoons, huh?
Eppa Rixey was Demaree’s replacement and he didn’t fare much
better. When all was said and done in
the bottom of the second, seven Giants crossed the plate, each charged to
Demaree (though there were only five earned runs due to all the errors, but the
seven that scored were on base when Demaree was pitching). The Phillies, to their credit, battled back
with three runs of their own in the top of the third. But even the bravest men lose heart when the
when the outcome looks fixed in fate.
New York scored four more in the fourth and two in the sixth to make the
score 13-3. After two runs were score in
the late innings, just to prove that the Phils had not quit, the game ended in
a 13-5 loss.[3]
And with that terrible performance the Phillies ended their
first grueling western road trip. They
finished 10-14-1, which isn’t particularly good, but considering they were on
the road for an entire month I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt
and say it was a flat-out okay trip. At
times they looked like the best team in the world, like when they took it to
the Cubs and Cardinals in the middle of their journey. But there were times when they looked like
the laughing-stock of a team that collapsed when the pressure got to be too much,
like they had done year after year previous.
The main takeaway from the month on the road was that this team had
heart that prior installments of this team did not. As soon as they were down just about as far
they could be they bounced back and played some of their best ball of the year.
Now, yes, they did falter towards the
end, but that could easily be explained away by sheer exhaustion. Or, hey, maybe this team was the yo-yo that
fans expected, rising and falling all season before settling around .500. Where they stood at this point in the season,
29-25 and 4.5 games behind the first-place Cubs, all outcomes were
possible. But we saw this team hit for
extended periods out west, we know the pitching has been phenomenal, and we
know they have the leadership and desire to do great things; we just haven’t
seen them pull all three phases together at once. They had their opportunity in front of them
for the next month as the rest of the National League made their second visit
to the Baker Bowl. The first chapter of
the Phillies season was their grand opening with eight straight wins and
holding first place for most of April and May.
Chapter two was the May swoon and western road trip that took a lot of
air out of the fans pennant talk. That
means chapter three is about to begin.
This is when it all comes together, the rebound from the low point in
the season (which will actually happen tomorrow…spoiler alert). This is the run to the first National League
pennant to fly over Philadelphia.
[1]
“Liberty Bell Jaunt Gets Awful Blow As Five Members Quit,” Evening Ledger, June 24, 1915, accessed June 24, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1KamAgC.
[2]
Bozeman Bulger, “Demaree Couldn’t Stand Up Under Heavy Fire of His Former
Teammates,” The Evening World, June
25, 1915, accessed June 24, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1LnwCfh.
[3]
“Giants Weakened Today By Loss Of Hans Lobert,” Evening Ledger, June 24, 1915, accessed June 24, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1KamAgC.
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