July 21, 1915
Phillies vs. Chicago Cubs
Athletics @ Detroit Tigers
Remember the strike that happened yesterday Bayonne? There was a clash between strikers and
policemen that got very violent. Well
more details were made public today about just how deadly the riot was. Reports stated that the strikers became
enraged and tried to break down the fence that separated them from the Standard
Oil plant’s main buildings. Police filed
in to stop the potential destruction of property, but soon rifle shots rang out
from both sides. For almost 10 minutes
the two sides battled in front of the plant.
When it finally subsided there were two dead, three mortally wounded,
and 10 other seriously injured, including a little girl and boy. Sadly, the girl was standing two blocks away
when she was struck in the shoulder by an errant bullet. State police were called into the melee but
were too late to stop five fires from being set to the plant. Even though the fires were put out and the
riot hushed, strikers insisted that they were not going to back down from their
demand of a raise in salary due to the recent increase in production from aiding the
Allies in the European War. It appeared
this fight was not quite over after the first day of destruction.[1]
There was some good news in the Delaware Valley today, if
you were a Phillies fan, that is. Grover
Cleveland Alexander was scheduled to pitch against the Cubs and was surely
looking to avenge his sub-par performance from the first game of this
series. Chicago put Karl “Rebel” Adams
on the mound despite not being a very good pitcher. The young man from Columbus, Georgia (I
assume he earned his nickname from his southern roots) was used mostly as a
relief pitcher by the Cubs and in his 16 career games he was 0-1 with a 4.91
ERA and 1.61 WHIP. Ouch. It’s no wonder that he was out of baseball by
the end of this season. But the Cubs
were in a pickle because manager Roger Bresnahan burned four starters in
yesterday’s beating at the hands of the Phillies. He probably assumed that lightning would not
strike twice against Alexander and Adams would allow the top of the rotations
guys to rest while he acted as the whipping boy.
This game did not go according to plan on any level except
that Alexander pitched his heart out.
The Phillies failed to knock the young Georgian around, though they did
score when Beals Becker drove Bobby Byrne home in the third. Still, the hot-hitting Phillies only scored
four hits and a run off of the woebegone hurler. But it didn’t matter in the end because the
rains came in the sixth and the game was called early.
The game lasted the requisite 4½ innings, so it was
official. Alexander was credited with his seventh shutout as he got back on the horse called Dominance and shut the Cubs
out. He face a bit of trouble in the
fifth when, much like in the first game of the series, Alex found himself with
Cubs on second and third and no outs.
But unlike last time when the Phillies superstar let three runs score,
this time he got out of the inning unscathed and in dramatic fashion. First, Art Phelan went down on strikes. The next victim was Roger Bresnahan. He struck out on three pitches. After the game Bresnahan said, “Both fast
balls he gave me jumped a foot, at least, and not until the ball was right on
me…the third was a curve ball, the like of which I have never seen and I don’t
expect to see another like it in a hurry.
Alexander is easily the king of them all.” In a shocking decision, Alexander intentional
walked the next batter to load the bases, almost like a playful cat allows its prey to
think it has escaped before it pounces for the kill. The third out was came way of a Polly McLarry
strikeout, ending the only threat the Cubs mounted all day. During an interview after the game, Bresnahan
told reporters that he was glad the game was called. “Contrary to expectations, Bresnahan was not
a bit peeved because the teams were not able to continue the game. He frankly admitted that nothing but an
accident would have enabled the Cubs to win after they had lost that one great
chance.”[2]
Wow! What a huge
compliment from Bresnahan, a man that was involved in professional baseball
since 1897. Alexander’s total domination
of the Cubs, which, remember, was the best hitting team in the National League,
proves that the little misstep from earlier in the week was a fluke. He still remained the best and could be
counted on to do his part to get the Phillies a win every time he took the
mound. And win they did! Philadelphia won six of their last seven
games and played the best ball in the league, if not the country. For the second straight series, the Phillies
opponents left Philadelphia totally bewildered and dumbstruck by the beatings
they took at the Baker Bowl. And it wasn’t
like they were the dredges of the league; St. Louis and Chicago both harbored
realistic hopes that they could pull away from the pack by beating Philadelphia. Instead it was the Phillies that pulled
away. Brooklyn was idle today, and while
they gained sole possession of second place due to Chicago’s loss, they fell to
2.5 games behind the Phillies. The
upcoming stretch of games, however, would prove what kind of club Pat Moran had
on his hands. Next up for the Phils were
the Cincinnati Reds, who were the bizzaro-Phillies in that they lost six of
their last seven games and plummeted all the way to being the worst team in the
league. Twice so far this season the
Phillies took control of first only to lose it in their next series against the
worst teams in the league. They had
something to prove over the next eight games against the Reds. That’s right, eight games. I hope you like
Cincinnati because we are about to become very intimate with them!
[1]
“Two Die; Three Fatally Shot In Strike Riot,” Evening Ledger, July 22, 1915, accessed July 17, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1CH5qH2.
[2]
“Alexander Now In Best Shape Of His Baseball Career, He Says,” Evening Ledger, July 22, 1915, accessed
July 17, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1MyDF3h.
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