July 13, 1915
Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Athletics @ Chicago White Sox
Did you ever have one of those days where you’re bored at
work, just sitting at your desk thinking, “Man is it time to leave so I can get
a drink yet?” Well, if you happened to
work at Carney’s Point du Pont powder mill in 1915, you wouldn’t even need to
wait until work was over to imbibe!
Apparently many of the 12,000 employees at the plant near Pennsgrove,
New Jersey had fallen into the routine of getting stone-cold drunk before
taking their shifts at the plant that made black powder, nitrocellulose, and
many other highly explosive materials. There
were five explosions in the past five days!
One man was killed and three seriously injured in the blasts. Reports had it that on the last payday 52
employees were arrested at a near-by bar a few hours after their shift had
ended. That is a ton of people! Concerned citizens surrounding the plant
voiced their fear that the drunkards responsible for the explosives that could
“demolish three cities” might not be the best people to man the plant. After some careful consideration, du Pont
announced that they would no longer allow anyone that smelled of alcohol to
enter the premises. Progress.[1]
If there’s one job that you can’t be under the influence and
perform adequately it’s baseball, unless you’re Dock Ellis or Mark Buerhle
(#CurrentEvents). Actually I’m sure many
of these Deadball Era players took the field, let’s say, not fully rested from
the night before more often than we’d think.
Anyway, we have more important things to talk about today. The main one is it’s Alexander Day! Yaaayy!
Grover Cleveland Alexander was being called “Alexander the Great, the
king of pitchers” in the newspapers. He
certainly was proving to be the best pitching in the game so far this
season. Could Alex bring about something
special for his club today? Hmm…let’s
find out.
Philadelphia’s bats decided to come out and play after being
almost silent in the previous day’s doubleheader. A run in the first gave Alex all he was going
to need on the afternoon, but the Phillies hitters had venom today. In the fourth they scored four runs and in
the seventh they added three more to their total, giving them eight on the
day. Amazingly they scored so many runs
by dinking and dunking the Cardinals to death.
Out of 14 hits for Philadelphia, only 3 were for extra bases (including
Dave Bancroft’s third home run of the year).
They successfully executed six hit-and-runs. SIX!
From beginning to end the Phillies maintained constant pressure from the
plate and exhibited a knack for scoring that had not been seen in the Baker
Bowl for weeks.
Now, back to Alexander.
Old Pete had himself yet another great start today. St. Louis didn’t have the skill to match what
Alex was throwing at them today. They
managed just six hits and a walk, none of which were strung together to form
anything resembling a scoring chance.
Nope, Alexander just went out and threw another shutout, his eight of
the season. Cole Hamels doesn’t even have
eight shutouts in his career and Alex did it in half of a season! Also, this was Alexander’s 17th
win this year and 9th in a row.
During his win streak he’s averaged giving up less than one run a
game. This man was achieving pitching
transcendence! He’s on pace for 41 wins
this year! There are just not enough
words to describe Alexander’s performance so far for the Phillies. He’s the most valuable player in baseball and
dragging this team that’s performed mediocrely to a first place finish.[2]
Did somebody say first place? Check the Cubs score. They lost.
That means by the hair on their chinny-chin-chin the Phillies retook first place from the Cubs! The
separation is a matter of one one-thousandth but, hey!, first place is first
place! The journey has been long, but
for the first time since June 16 the top of the National League standings says “Philadelphia.” It’s fitting that Alexander is the one to
restore them to prominence, but it’s also nice to see the offense explode in
the victory. Now comes the real
challenge: holding first place for the next two and a half months. The Phillies have gained and lost the top
spot twice this season because they seemed to grow content with their place and
lose their concentration. A big step in
the right direction would be a win tomorrow against St. Louis, which would have
the duel effect of keeping Philadelphia in first and knocking a potential
threat down a peg. Al Demaree is slated
to once again pitch for his big league life and keep his club on top.
[1]
“5 Explosions At Du Ponts’ Cause War On Liquor,” Evening Ledger, July 14, 1915, accessed July 10, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1LWnJtn.
[2]
“Behold The Phillies! Precedent A-Smash; They Have Come Back,” Evening Ledger, July 14, 1915, accessed
July 10, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1dQv7c3.
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