July 17, 1915
Phillies vs. Chicago Cubs
Athletics @ Detroit Tigers
Pennant Fever gripped the Delaware Valley 100 years ago
today! The Evening Ledger declared that no other team in the National League
showed the tenacity and skill that is needed to overtake the Phillies. This is quite a different interpretation than
what was bestowed on this club in years past, or even in May of this
season. But this group of players was
different from previous seasons and had seemed to fix the troubles that plagued
them early on. While the Ledger fully admitted, “There are a few
rough spots in the Philly play that need polishing,” the fact that they had
three legitimate star pitchers in Grover Cleveland Alexander, Erskine Mayer,
and Eppa Rixey made every game winnable.
Manager Pat Moran and the players weren’t quite as ready to declare
themselves the inevitable winners of the league yet, but they were also not
ignorant that the sudden rise in their offense made them the most complete team
in the circuit. Reports of the pre-game
practice yesterday (before the game was rained out) said the club showed “not
the slightest sign of nervousness or strain.
The players were carefree and confident,” but not to the point of
self-defeating cockiness.
Cardinals’ manager Miller Huggins was said to have been glad
the final game in the series was cancelled, despite having his ace Bill Doak on
the mound, because he saw that the three straight losses his club suffered to
the Phillies had demoralized them. They
came to Philadelphia on a hot streak, determined to knock the Phillies back to
the middle of the pack. Instead their
weaknesses were exposed and their pennant dreams took a big hit. Now it was the Chicago Cubs’ turn to visit
the Baker Bowl with visions of reclaiming the top spot dancing in their
heads. The previous two series between
these clubs were also battles for first.
Both times the Phillies prevailed only to lose the spot by failing
against inferior opponents in subsequent series. It was these losses to lesser clubs that
provided Chicago with an opportunity to catch the Phillies in this series
because otherwise, as was “doped out” by the baseball scribes, “the Cubs have
shot their bolt.” But the Ledger did warn of the Cubs offensive
prowess despite their recent slump: “With such batting power the Cubs look good
on paper, but the pitching staff has been erratic, while many games were lost
through poor generalship and judgment.”
Game one looked to be in the bag for the Phillies, what with Larry
Cheney and his 3.93 ERA on the mound for Chicago. Plus, as I mentioned a few days ago, today was
Alexander Day![1]
Grover Cleveland Alexander took the mound today on a
historic run. His last lost was on May
28 and since then he was 9-0 with a 1.07 ERA.
Opponents OPS against Alex during this stretch was an astonishingly low
.327. He struck out 6.06 and walked 1.25
batters per nine innings at a time when league average was 3.81 and 3.00
respectively. This was a truly
otherworldly performance, even for the best pitcher in baseball.
But, alas, all good things come to an end and today was the
end of Alexander’s winning streak. It’s
not that he pitched poorly by conventional standards, but by the standards he
set over the month and a half, it was a sub-par performance. But even saying that ignores the bit of bad luck
that went against him today. In the
second inning, Vic Saier led off with a little dribbler back to the box that
took a tough bounce on the normally sure-fielding Alexander and popped over his
glove for a base hit. The mistake on
what should have been a no-big-deal first out was compounded by a single to Cy
Williams and RBI double from Art Phelan in successive at bats. Even at this point, with no outs and runners
on second and third, the door was opened for Alexander to retire the bottom of
the order and escape the inning with only a run against. He got manager/catcher Roger Bresnahan to pop
up for the first out but then Alexander’s luck really ran dry. Pitcher Larry Cheney hit a shot right to
shortstop Dave Bancroft, who had plenty of time to relay the ball home to get Williams
before he crossed the plate, only Bancroft’s otherwise perfect throw smashed
Williams in the head and ricocheted into the crowd. So not only did Williams score but Phelan was
given an extra base for the ball going into the stands and scored as well. It was the first time Alexander allowed three
runs in an innings since the day he received his last loss.[2]
After a series against St. Louis that saw the Phillies
offense bail out pitchers that gave up early leads, poor Alexander, probably
the most deserving player on the team to be picked up during a temporary lull,
was given no support. Zero. The Phillies failed to score even one run off
of the inconsistent Cheney. Another Cubs’
run scored as a result of an error in the top of the seventh that gave the game its
final 4-0 score. Alexander pitched
adequately, but poor fielding and an uncharacteristically high amount of hits
ultimately did him in. It was a terribly
disappointing result for the 17,000 fans that came to root on the home
team. Chicago gained a game and tied the
Phillies for first, though technically Philadelphia remained in the top
position by a mere three percentage points.
But the resounding effect of the loss was that Chicago gained a ton of
confidence in beating Philadelphia’s best pitcher. All during the off day tomorrow (in 1915 July
18 was a Sunday, and remember there was no Sunday ball in Pennsylvania at the
time) Roger Bresnahan would proclaim his team’s superiority to anyone that
would listen. Oh, his team took down
Alexander the Great and oh, if he had just one more pitcher he’d take the
pennant easily and oh, the Phillies are good but won’t last until to the end. He spewed off statements that we’d called
Bulletin Board material, things that should motivate the Phillies to want to
put a hurting on his club to shut him up.
It would take a few days, but the Phillies used that time to prepare for
revenge.
[1]
“Pennant Notions Seize Phillies And Their Rooters For First Time,” Evening Ledger, July 17, 1915, accessed
July 16, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1MwihMb.
[2]
“Cubs Blank Phillies In Battle For Lead,” The
Sun, July 18, 1915, accessed July 16, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1HwYgUl.
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