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.
Princip was one of seven conspirators tasked with killing
the Archduke on his diplomatic journey to Sarajevo to open a hospital. The Black Hand was, for all intents and
purposes, a terrorist organization that wanted the Slavic states of
Austria-Hungary to form as the independent nation of Yugoslavia and decided
assassinating the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne would spark
the revolution. The conspirators were
stationed in different areas and each was supposed to attempt the kill as
Ferdinand drove through town in a caravan along a parade route (that was
printed in the paper, by the way). The
first lost his nerve and let the cars roll by.
A second man launched a hand grenade at the car, but his throw was too
early and ended it up exploding as the first car in parade rode by, injuring many,
but not having the desired effect.
Ferdinand’s driver sped away before any other attempts on his life could
be made. Meanwhile, the conspirators
dispersed to blend in with the crowd, feeling dejected that their one chance
had been ruined. Princip decided to get
a bite to eat at a local café.
Overcome with guilt that so many were injured during an
attempt on his life, Ferdinand demanded to be taken to the hospital so that he
could comfort the victims and show that he wished to unify all areas of his
future empire. It was decided that the
car should take a roundabout way to the hospital in order to avoid the center
of the city where many people had gathered.
Who knew if there were more assassins waiting in the group? Better to be safe than sorry by backtracking over the parade route to
avoid the masses all together. So, with
the Archduke’s handlers’ plan in place the car took off, only no one told the
driver of the change. He made a right turn right into
the center of the city and, when he was told of his mistake, he attempted to
back up but instead stalled the engine…right in front of the café Princip just happened
to be leaving after his meal. At a
distance of five feet, Princip fired twice into the car, hitting the Archduke
in the neck and the Duchess in the abdomen. Talk about serendipity, if you're a member of the Black Hand.
The First World War was the direct result of this killing
and the alliances that tied all of Europe together. It was inevitable. The major powers were bound to each other by
decades-old treaties that forced them to go to war under a number of
circumstances. Otto von Bismarck, the
first Chancellor of Germany, was quoted years before saying that if a major European
war did break out it would due to some “damn fool thing in the Balkans.” While revolting from colonial rule is a
debatable “damn fool thing,” that fact of the matter is that Bismarck was
correct in where the war would began. The effects of World War I allowed the United States and Japan to join the ranks of
world powers. The rise of Nazi Germany
and the Russian Communist Revolution also came from events of WWI, thereby
setting the stage or World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, and the
Vietnam War. And when the Treaty of
Versailles was signed and the former Ottoman Empire divided up to suit the
wants of the Allied nations, it sowed the seeds of discontent that is the
current state of the Middle East. All of
the biggest events of the twentieth century happened because the Archduke's car coincidentally stalled out in the same space on the man that desperately wanted him dead.
To those in 1915, all they knew and cared about was the
Great War was almost a year old. Nobody
could know how drastically the world had changed because of that singular event
that happened one year ago today. To prove
this point, the big news in Philadelphia was that Connie Mack continued his
destruction of his club today when he sold right-handed pitcher Bob Shawkey to
the New York Yankees for $3,000. The
Athletics were not making money because they were not drawing crowds, which is
a direct result of Mack selling off his best players due to financial strains
from falling attendance in 1914. The A’s
had been top-four in attendance since the American League’s formation before
slipping to fifth last season. If Mack
thought it was hard to run on club with 350,000 paid attendees in a year, what
was he going to do at the end of 1915 when only 150,000 fans showed up? Well, we know he goes into a funk where he
tries to buy talent on the cheap while also selling off anything that’s worth a
dollar. And today Shawkey was worth
three thousand of them. The 24-year old
was in his third season with the A’s and wasn’t the superstar he was projected
to be. Still, he won almost 60% of his
games and had an ERA of 2.97 before he was traded. The Yankees received a pitcher that would eat
up innings for them for the next thirteen years. His talent ranged from solid (he had six
seasons with between 2 and 5 rWAR) to great (three seasons with 6.9+ rWAR) and it
wasn’t until he reached his mid-thirties that Shawkey showed signs of
tiring. It makes you wonder just how
dire Mr. Mack’s straits were that would sell such a talent for only $3,000.
Just when the Phillies looked to be taking two steps forward
they took one step back this afternoon.
The batting acumen that reared its head over the past few games was
nowhere to be seen today. Brooklyn’s
pitcher Sherry Smith had a relatively smooth game, allowing only five hits and
two walks in a complete game shutout effort.
No Phillies base runners made it past the first base bag all game. Brooklyn’s defense was superb, mostly forcing
runners at second base and turning double plays so that no rally could be started.[1] [2]
Poor Eppa Rixey was the Phillies pitcher that had no
recourse but to lose. If his teammates
won’t score behind him it’s the only fate that could befall him. Rixey pitched well today, though not
great. He let up four runs, only two were earned, and gave up 11 base runners in his eight innings. He ended up the losing pitcher by the score
of 4-0, but the L should have been pinned on his offense. The loss dropped the Phillies to third place
for the second time this year, but in the terms of catching the Cubs they
remained 3.5 games back. St. Louis was
idle and thereby gained ground for doing nothing. So, while it was true they dropped in the
standings, in the long run it meant very little. Tomorrow the Phils would try to get back at
it when they closed out their series with the Dodgers.
[1]
“No Runs For Phillies With Smith In The Box,” New York Tribune, June 29, 1915, accessed June 26, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1LKJGtk.
[2]
“Brooklyn Blanks Phillies In Third Contest Of Series,” Evening Ledger, June 28, 1915, accessed June 26, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1LACJOs.
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