July 23, 1915
Phillies vs. Cincinnati Reds
Athletics @ Cleveland Indians
The one-year anniversary of the climax of what would
be known as the July Crisis occurred 100 years ago today. After a little less than a month of
investigation, diplomatic conversations, and other preparations,
Austria-Hungary issued ten ultimatums to Serbia in response to the
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
To sum up the demands, Serbia was told to eliminate all
anti-Austro-Hungarian elements in the entire nation, bring to trial the
architects of the assassination plot, and end military mobilization…all within
48 hours. They were designed to be
almost impossible to comply with, which would result in a declaration of war. Faced with little support from the rest of
Europe, Serbia accepted all of the demands except they refused to allow
Austro-Hungarian police to operate in Serbia.
Well, I guess that means they didn’t accept the demands. War was soon declared, but one has to wonder
if Austria-Hungary regretted issuing the ultimatums now that they had seen the
destruction their decision caused in the past year.
The Phillies and Reds played the single-game meat of their doubleheader
sandwich today. Philadelphia played with
the pressure that comes with an inability to beat a team they were much better
than. When these kinds of things happen,
every player on the team is a bit on edge knowing that their mistake could cost
the club a winnable game. Therefore,
it’s a circular problem: pressure to beat a bad team leads to stiff players
leads to mistakes leads to losing to the bad team. The only way to break the cycle was to simply
execute the way the Phillies had for most of the season. However, they did not play up their normal
standards today.
The Reds pitcher today was Fred Toney. Used as a reliever for most of the season,
Toney excelled to the point that he all but forced his manager, Buck Herzog, to
put him the rotation. His record coming
into today was 4-3, which is shocking because his 1.65 ERA tells a completely
different story about his dominance.
Against Philadelphia this year Toney pitched 11 innings, gave up only 10
base runners, and did not yet allow an earned run. The Phillies countered Toney with George
Chalmers, who was making his first start in 10 days due to fatigue.
The game started with little offense, as most Toney and
Chalmers games do. Neither team scored a
run through the first six innings. In
fact only three players contributed the entirety of the Phillies offense for
the day: Beals Becker, Bert Niehoff, and Possum Whitted. Becker had one of his three hits, this one a
double, in the bottom of the seventh and Whitted drove him in with a single two
batters later to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead.
But in the top of the eighth Chalmers came apart. I’m sure Pat Moran wanted Chalmers to finish
the game to gain some much needed confidence, but the Phillies manager might
have given his starter a bit too long of a leash considering he spent the past
week and a half on the bench nursing sore muscles. At the very least there should have been some
bullpen action at some point during the time it took for the Reds to fill up
the bases. Moran did not go to his pen
and the result was a Buck Herzog single that drove in two runs that gave
Cincinnati the lead.
The game stayed at 2-1 until the bottom of the ninth when
the Phillies got their last chance. Rube
Benton, who relieved Toney, made two quick outs of Bud Weiser and Gavvy
Cravath, but the last out proved difficult.
He lost his control a bit and walked Niehoff. The next batter, Whitted, hit a soaring fly
to center fielder Tommy Leach for what should have been an easy out and the end
of the game, but Leach somehow misplayed it!
The ball bounced away to the area of the field where no player could get
to easily. Niehoff got a great jump off
the bat and before the throw could even make its way to the plate, he slid in
for the tying run! Philadelphia had new
life! However, they were unable to get
Whitted home for the winning run and the game went to extra innings.
In the top of the 10th, with two outs and Leach
on third, Niehoff returned the favor.
Heinie Groh hit a sharp grounder that Niehoff just could not
handle. He did not recover in time and
Leach raced home for the lead. You can
just imagine the 4,000 people in the crowd cheering wildly as the momentum
swung in the bottom of the ninth only to go deafly silent as their collective
hearts were ripped out of their chests when Niehoff bobbled the ball. But there was still hope. With one out in the bottom of the 10th,
Ed Burns smacked a pinch-hit single into right field. Being the slow-footed catcher Burns was, he
was lifted for pinch-runner (and pitcher) Ben Tincup. Pinch-hitter Milt Stock made it two hits in a
row! Tincup rounded second and was
easily safe at third, but Stock misread where the relay from the outfield was going,
thought it was heading to get Tincup and dashed off to take the extra
base. But the throw was headed to second
and Stock was caught in a rundown. The
paper says Stock avoided a tag for a full minute, which seems like an
exaggeration, but it was long enough to plant the dumb idea in Tincup’s head
that he should try to score from third.
He took one too many steps off the bag and a Reds fielder fired the ball over to
third to catch Tincup for the second out and, after all of that, Stock didn’t
even make it to second base. Dave
Bancroft made the third out in the next at bat and the Phillies lost 3-2.[1] [2] [3]
It was a mistake followed by a bigger mistake that did the
Phillies in today. Rumors had it that
Pat Moran, who was coaching first base in the 10th, was the one that
told Stock to stretch his single into a double, but, as they say, it takes two
to tango. Stock’s mistake was compounded
by Tincup’s excursion from third. As a
relief pitcher, Tincup barely ever got to bat let alone run the bases. In fact, the last time he was on the base
paths in any form was in September of 1914.
But it doesn’t take Rickey Henderson to know that a runner on third with
two outs is a significantly better position that a runner on first with two
outs. Mental mistakes will kill a team
that is playing with added pressure.
To close I want to check in with the Athletics. Like I said before, it’s hard to keep
recapping their season by saying, “The A’s lost. Mack destroyed his dynasty,” even though it's totally true, but today is
significant because it is the last day they will finish a ballgame in anything
other than last place until May 13, 1916.
That’s 93 games from now. They
won’t spend a night in the first division until April 24, 1918! Three years from now! And even on that date, when they are fourth
in the American League, their record is 3-4.
It’s just an unbelievable level of losing that the A’s are in for, and
sadly the Phillies were just as bad during the next 10 years. If you watch the Phillies in 2015 and are
disgusted by their play, just imagine what it was like in the 1910s and early 1920s
when there were TWO teams playing
like that in Philadelphia. Then you’ll
get a little glimpse into why Philadelphia fans have always been so angry.
[1]
“Australians Will Play For ‘Anthony Wilding’ Tennis Trophy,” Evening Ledger, July 24, 1915, accessed
July 20, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1Gwgcuu.
[2]
“Errors Decide Close Game,” The Sun,
July 24, 1915, accessed July 20, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1IeyYfn.
[3]
“Reds Take A Fall Out Of Phillies,” New
York Tribune, July 24, 1915, accessed July 20, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1GwgCAM.
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