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]
In Cincinnati the Phillies were trying to displace the Cubs and again bathe in the glory of first place. Philadelphia was trying to wash away the recent two-game
losing-streak and had Grover Cleveland Alexander on the mound to soak the competition. Water puns.
Anyway, Alexander was on the mound today and he did Alexander
things. He had to make up for his tag
team partner’s quasi-letdown two days ago when Erskine Mayer was unable to hold a one-run
lead. The Phillies couldn’t afford to
lose two games to the woeful Reds and Alexander’s job as the ace was to put
his team in a position to win.
In the bottom of the first it didn’t look so great for the
big Nebraskan. The inning started with a
walk, sacrifice bunt, and single that gave the Reds the first run of the
game. An unusual wild pitch by Alexander
put a Reds runner at third with one out.
This Cincinnati team proved to be a slippery
bunch. Sorry, more puns...I’ll see myself out. Alexander saw himself out of the inning with
two quick outs, limiting the damage to just one run.
Philadelphia supported their ace in his time of need in the
second inning, pushing two runs across the board. Gavvy Cravath worked a leadoff walk and
scored when Bert Niehoff smashed a triple.
The hit extended Niehoffs hit streak to five games in which he was just
raking it with a slash line of .316/.350/.474.
Fred Luderus hit a sacrifice fly that scored Niehoff and the Phillies
left the inning with a 2-1 lead. They
always say that leadoff walks turn into runs and the Phillies proved them
correct.
Alexander walked the leadoff batter in the second, but he
was different. He was the best, and the
best doesn’t give up runs to leadoff runners he walks. In fact, he bears down and dominates the rest
of the game. After the walk, Alex went
strikeout, groundout, strikeout. The
next 15 Reds hitters were retired in order (there was a walk and a single mixed
in, but both runners were thrown out on the bases, so Alex faced the minimum). When Wade Killefer led off the seventh with a
single, he stood there for the rest of the inning watching Alexander pick apart
his teammates at the plate. Again in the
ninth the Reds tried to get something going when Buck Herzog hit a one-out
single, but nothing could be built against such a pitcher. The Phillies even gave him some insurance
runs that he wouldn’t need. The game
finished 4-1 Philadelphia, and Alexander was the packhorse on this one.[2]
Grover Cleveland Alexander was certainly something. He was strapping the club to his back and
making it impossible for them to lose in every start he made this month. Along with his eight straight shutout
innings, he also struck out six Reds hitters, giving him 108 K's already on the
year. In an era when strikeouts were not
as big a part of the game, Alex was proving to be a prototype for the pitcher
of the future. Today marked the 50th
game of the year for the Phillies and Old Pete’s win made their record
28-22. While that was good enough for
second place now, it put them on pace for 85 wins, which certainly would not be
good enough to take the pennant. Yes,
there was the bad month of May sandwiched between a great April and June, but
the club would have to play more consistently going forward if they were to get
to that elite level. It was critical
time for the Phils because not only were they chasing Chicago, but also the St.
Louis Cardinals made a huge run and now were breathing down their neck. It would be easy for them to play mediocre
ball and get lost in the shuffle of the league.
Alexander went out every time and put them in a place to win the game,
it was up to the rest of the club to take that lesson into the other games.
[1]
“Taft’s Displacement Floods Bathtub in Hotel Cape May,” New York Tribune, June 19, 1915, accessed June 17, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1N2zehM.
[2]
“Alexander Wins Fast Game From Cincinnati Reds,” Evening Ledger, June 19, 1915, accessed June 17, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1BnkWXB.
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