July 15, 1915
Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Athletics @ Chicago White Sox
It sure is hot in Philadelphia! When the populous arose to start their normal
Thursday routines they were met with temperatures already approaching 80
degrees with an oppressive humidity. Due
to there being little relief from the omnipresent heat, citizens went down in
fainted heaps all day long. The
newspaper called these spells “prostrations,” and today the number of
prostrations was “abnormally high.” The
high today was 87 degrees, which to us modern people sounds like a rather
reasonable and expected temperature for the middle of July, but we are blessed
to have air conditioning in almost every place we venture. A heat wave for us is an inconvenience, a
time where must be sure to drink water more frequently. In 1915 a heat wave like this killed people
regularly. And if “Weatherman Bliss” is
to be believed, Philadelphia was in for a day or more of the dangerous heat
until a thunderstorm sweeps with its sweet sweet relief.[1]
The game time temperature in Philadelphia was around 86
degrees, but the weather wasn’t the only thing heating up at the corner of 15th
and Huntingdon Streets. The first-place
Phillies, winners of their last two games, were playing some of their most cohesive
ball of the season. St. Louis came to
town thinking they had a real shot at the pennant, but Philadelphia met them
with an offensive onslaught and sensational pitching. The Phillies’ task today was to keep the
fires burning, don’t let up on the startled Cards, and keep the championship
momentum flowing.
Before the game began it probably looked like the Phillies
were in for a tough fight if they were going to prevail because St. Louis’
starter, Hank Robinson, was 6-3 with a 2.18 ERA. For a team’s fourth or fifth best pitcher,
those are incredible stats. But
sometimes stats can be misleading, and in this case they covered up how
hittable Robinson could be. And with
this Phillies offense building up to maximum proficiency, all it would take is
a few hits to finally break Robinson.
Eppa Rixey was his opponent on this day and he had the opposite
statistical representation. He came into
the game 4-7 after having just a horrible month of June. But Rixey was rounding into the form that
would eventually put him in the Hall of Fame.
The first half of the game was full of zeros on the
scoreboard, but that didn’t mean the Phillies weren’t pushing for runs. Multiple times Philadelphia had a guy on
third only to be left stranded by teammates that couldn’t get the clutch base
knock. They tried situational hitting
approaches and suicide squeezes but nothing seemed to get the runner that last
90 feet. While Robinson looked shaky at
times, he maintained his composure and aptly pitched himself out of most jams. Rixey, on the other hand, seemed to have
complete control over his pitches and faced little if any resistance from St.
Louis. Still, a couple of runs in
support would do wonders for the guy that occasionally let his confidence wane
if things didn’t go his way.
Then, in the top of the fifth with the score tied 0-0, the
roles flipped for a moment. Rixey lost
his ability to fool the Cardinals as the base hits and walks piled up. Before he knew what hit him St. Louis put
three runners across the plate. Early in
the season Rixey was known to, as the Evening
Ledger put it, “crack in a pinch,” and if ever there was pinch to crack
over it was this inning. But Rixey was a
new man. Sure, letting up three runs in
an inning was great, but it certainly
wasn’t insurmountable. Rixey didn’t lose
his confidence today in the face of torment and his teammates rewarded him for
his effort.
Robinson, meanwhile, continued right along with vulnerable
confidence. His box score made it seem
like his performance was better than it actually was, and though he probably
took some solace in that he had not yet conceded a run through five innings,
his luck was about to run out. In the
bottom of the sixth, Dode Paskert was already on base when Gavvy Cravath came
to the plate with only a walk to his credit.
Robinson grooved a pitch on the outside corner of the plate that the big
slugger smacked to the opposite way directly to right fielder Tom Long. Whether he lost it in the sun or the heat got
to him or whatever it was, Long dropped the easy out. Screams of total disgust and anger rang out
of the St. Louis dugout as manager Miller Huggins lambasted his player. To be fair, it should have been an easy
out. Huggins tore Long a new one while
he was still in the field, as he ran back to the dugout after the inning, in
the dugout while Cardinals hit, and on and on for the rest of the game. Poor Long just made a mistake, but it was
costly. Bert Niehoff was up next and he
drove an extra base hit that scored Paskert and Cravath. Fred Luderus then knocked in Niehoff to tie
the game at three. All the while
Huggins’ obscenities echo through the stadium.
Robinson was pulled after the three unearned runs were
scored and the game turned back to the pitchers. Hub Perdue and Dan Griner combined for 3.1
innings of shutout ball while Rixey was sure not spoil the new life he was
given. With the score 3-3 after nine,
this game was going to extra innings.
Good old Eppa Rixey strolled to the mound to pitch his 10th
inning of work today (it was also his 23rd inning pitch on the
week). He did his job to retire the
Cardinals and give his team a chance. He
finished with 10 innings pitched, nine hits, three runs, and nine strikeouts; a
fantastic performance for the budding star.
Bill Killefer and Milt Stock combined for the walk-off run and earned
Rixey the win that he deserved so much.[2]
Philadelphia enjoyed their third win in a row and their
third day in a row sitting atop the National League. Once again it was a great team effort to thwart
a challenging foe from gaining ground.
Tomorrow’s game against the Cardinals is rained out due to those
much-needed heat-breaking thunderstorms the Weatherman Bliss said would roll
through the Delaware Valley. On July 17
the real fun would begin. Chicago came
to town for a four game set that would determine would controlled the NL going
forward. And, because the rainout
allowed for an extra day’s rest, Philadelphia got to witness the great clash of
the best teams on the best day possible…Alexander Day!
[1]
“Blazing Sun Causes Many Prostrations,” Evening
Ledger, July 16, 1915, accessed July 15, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1TCy0gR.
[2]
“’Twas The Making Of Rixey And Breaking Of The Cards,” Evening Ledger, July 16, 2015, accessed July 15, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1K7ygQg.
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