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 12th and had already claimed the
consciousness of one man, “William Linsey, 2345 Master street, was overcome by
the heat at 16th 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.
There was a big difference between the Phillies of today and
the Phillies of 1915: the 2015 Phillies did not roll into Pittsburgh in first
place. As the Phillies warmed up at
Forbes Field they must have felt a collective ease in knowing they were playing
with such a high level of precision. The
bats were finally hitting again, as evidenced by their thrashing of the Cubs
just two days ago, and as long as they were smoking that ball around the park
they were going to win because the pitching had perform so well as of late. If they were already confident in their
abilities, having their ace Grover Cleveland Alexander on the mound must have
made them feel invincible.
Al Mamaux was Alexander’s opponent in Pittsburgh today. I know it seems like I say this a lot, but
Mamaux was having a career year. He
compiled a 6.1 rWAR in 1915 and 8.8 in his other 11 seasons in the big leagues
combined. This was the 21-year old’s
third year with the Pirates, but he played sparingly in his first two
seasons. Mamaux came into the game with
an 8-1 record and 1.41 ERA, and was also on a five-game winning streak. In fact, his last no decision came on May 14
against the then spiraling Phillies when he allowed only two runs in seven
innings, giving the game to a bullpen that could not hold his lead. Certainly this up-and-comer dreamed big
about beating the masterful Old Pete.
Mamaux started the game by retiring the Phillies in
order. Alexander let up a single when
the Pirates’ leadoff hitter, Max Carey, dropped a surprise bunt right back to
the box that no fielder was able to make a play on. So much for Alexander’s no-hit bid
today. But he settled down and got out
of the inning allowing only one other hit.
The two star pitchers then traded 1-2-3 innings for a while. Mamaux struck out five Phillies his first
time through the order and did not allow a hit (he did walk Bill Killefer, so
the perfect game ended in the third).
Alexander relied mostly on his defense to retire the Pirates since he
only managed one strikeout.
The pitchers dictated everything until Mamaux took his turn
at bat in the bottom of the third. And,
yes, Mamaux is a pitcher, so technically his single was also a result of fine
play by a pitcher, only on the offensive side.
Either way, Mamaux was on base and went to second when Alexander
unleashed a pitch that surprised the usaully sure-handed Killefer and got by him for a passed
ball. Carey then took his second turn at
the plate and made his second hit of the day, a single to right that he turned
into two bases when Gavvy Cravath threw home to stop Mamaux’s advancement. Pittsburgh had second and third with one out;
this was Alex’s first jam of the game.
Next up was Doc Johnston, and while he was an average hitter at this
point in the season, he took an Alexander pitch deep enough to centerfield to
allow Mamaux to speed home for the game’s first run. The Phillies retaliated in the top of the
fourth. Dave Bancroft, who seemed to be
at the center of a lot of the Phillies scoring recently, drew a no-out walk and
was sacrificed to second by Bobby Byrne.
After Beals Becker became Mamaux’s sixth strikeout victim, Gavvy Cravath
ripped an opposite field single to score Bancroft and tie the game at one.
Then the pitchers really
took over the game. Alexander notched a
shutdown inning when he struck out three Pirates in the bottom of the fourth
while allowing only one walk. He didn’t
allow another base runner until the bottom of the eight when Johnston beat out
an infield hit. Mamaux was only slightly
worse. Fred Luderus singled off of him
in the fifth but it amounted to
nothing. Then in the seventh Cravath,
Bert Niehoff, and Luderus all reached base, but errors in judgment lead to outs
on the base paths and no runs on the board.
Only seven players on either team reached base since the bottom of the
fourth and none made it so far as third base.
This game was going to require extra innings.[1]
But if you thought extra innings meant these two horses were
going to take a backseat to the action and let someone else finish their game,
well you would be wrong. Mamaux and
Alexander did what they had done all day in the tenth; six batters came up and
six batters went down. In the eleventh
Killefer finally broke through with a single.
He was followed up by Alexander helping his own cause with a hit. Bancroft went down for the first out but then
Bobby Byrne stepped up to the plate and ended Mamaux’s reign of terror. A quick single scored Killefer and got
Alexander to third. Becker took a Mamaux
pitch deep enough to allow both runners to tag up, resulting in a run scored
for Alexander. Finally Cravath, the big
bat in the middle of this order, came through with his third base hit and
second RBI of the game to give the Phillies a 4-1 lead. Old Pete retired the Pirates in the bottom of
the 11th and the Phillies were winners once again.[2]
So let’s talk about Alexander for a second. This was his second game in row where he
earned a win by pitching 11 innings.
After the Phillies scored the tying run in the fourth inning Alex struck
out 11 of the 26 batters he faced while only allowing one hit and one
walk. And the one run he did let up
today wasn’t even an earned run, so his ERA dropped all the way to 1.53 on the
year. His story is much like that of the
team he leads: a great beginning to the season, followed by a bad May, but with
a major rebound in June. Now Alexander
and the Phillies were flying high with wins in five of their last six
games. More importantly they were having
fun again. They were making the tough
plays, they were getting the clutch hits, and the pitching remained
phenomenal. I’m sure the fans back in
Philadelphia were letting the thoughts that this team could really turn into
something special creep back into their heads after they were so disappointed
last month. There were only 10 more days
left of this road trip before the team and fans were reunited in what was sure
to be an explosion of excitement about the future.
[1]
“Alexander and Mamaux Engage In Pitching Duel,” Evening Ledger, June 14, 1915, accessed June 12, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1GyO3rk.
[2]
“Alexander Stays Great,” The Sun,
June 15, 1915, accessed June 12, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1HzLaY2.
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