July 22, 1915
Phillies vs. Cincinnati Reds
Phillies vs. Cincinnati Reds
The United States sent a third diplomatic note to the German
government concerning the latter’s use of submarines against commercial
steamers. As you may remember, a week or
so ago the Germans declared that they would continue to use submarines in the
North Sea as a matter of preservation against the British blockade, but agreed
to spare ships coming from the US that wore neutral insignia and reported their
presence beforehand. It took between two
and three hours to fully telegraph the U.S.'s 1200 word note to Copenhagen, where it
would then be forwarded to an ambassador in Berlin for translation and delivery
to German authorities. While the State
Department kept the contents of the note a secret, insiders in Washington
believed the US once again urged Germany to accept responsibility for the
deaths of those on board the Lusitania and affirmed its citizens’ right to
travel when and where they wished while also forgoing threat of war should these
demands not be met. A delay in response
from Germany was expected now that the Central Powers’ armies were making a
push to take the city of Warsaw. For the
record, the Lusitania sunk more than two months ago and the two nations have
had a grand total of three communications on the subject.[1]
The National League dealt with a communications issue of its
own when famed second baseman Johnny Evers instigated a fight with umpire
Ernest Quigley. Evers earned the
nickname “The Human Crab” as much for his abilities to quickly shuffle sideways
after hard hit grounders as his hot-headedness.
He often made umpires the subject of his rage but in 1915 his
“disgraceful actions” became an almost weekly occurrence. “Evers had been using vile language and
making life miserable for umpires for the last month, and Quigley could not
stand his remarks.” Cursing was one
thing. Constantly accusing umpires of
being puppets in a scheme orchestrated by President John K. Tener (who was a
former governor of Pennsylvania) to keep the NL pennant race close was
another. But the final straw came when
Evers apparently purposefully spiked Quigley as he slid into home. Now, Quigley was a respected arbiter that
officiated college and Olympic basketball and major college football games in
addition to his work in professional baseball, but every man has his breaking
point. After receiving the spikes to his
unprotected leg, Quigley hauled off and punched Evers right in the face. Surprisingly no one blamed the umpire in his
transgression as many believed Evers had it coming to him. The Evening
Ledger went so far as to say the Evers’ actions deserved a ban from
baseball!
There were no umpire v. player disputes in today’s game in
Philadelphia, but the Phillies did have a real problem on their hands. The last place Cincinnati Reds were in town
for a five-games-in-three-days series that should provide no problem for the
Phils. However, at the end of the first
game of today’s doubleheader, the struggling Erskine Mayer proved he had not
regained his early season form. The Reds
scored the fewest runs of any team in professional baseball, yet Mayer could
not seem to get them out. In the first
six innings the Reds got eight hits, two walks, and six runs before Mayer was
mercifully allowed to hit the showers.
To illustrate how bad Mayer was today, the Reds scored a total of seven
runs in their previous four games. The 6-1
loss today was another in a line of bad starts for Mayer in July where he has
seen his ERA rise from 1.83 to 2.30 in five games. The Evening
Ledger declared that it was time to “sidetrack [Mayer] for another twirler
until he gets back in shape.” The
Phillies did have the luxury of three other starters performing at a
particularly high level, as well as two young guys named Ben Tincup and Stan
Baumgartner that pitched well in relief and deserve a chance to start, so
manager Pat Moran certainly had options if his number two pitcher needed a
mental break.
Game two featured one of those valuable starters. Al Demaree carried a 4-0 record and 1.58 ERA
in the month of July in his start in the evening game, determined to keep the
lid on the Reds offense. For seven
innings Demaree worked magnificently, mostly keeping the Reds off the bases and
stranding them in the rare times they got on.
He slipped a bit in the eight, allowing one unearned run, but finished
the game by surrendering only four hits.
That’s quite a turnaround from the first game. Cincinnati’s pitching was something that
needs to be mentioned. First, Pete Schneider
started both games in the doubleheader, earning the win in the first and the
loss in the second. His defense failed
him on two occasions when easy pop flies were dropped, leading to three runs. The Phillies accused Schneider of “emery
ballism,” meaning he purposefully scratched up the ball to give it the effect
of a spitball. Why he didn’t just spit on it, because spitballs were legal in 1915, is unknown. The
second thing I want to mention about the Reds pitching is that the men that
relieved Schneider in the second game were named King Lear, Ivey Wingo, George
Twombly, and Limb McKenry. Now those are
some Deadball Era baseball names![2]
After the first game, the naysayers out there were probably
harping on the Phillies inability to beat the worst teams in the National League
when it mattered most. The second game
quelled those arguments for the time being, but the thought was still
there. Philadelphia was 2-4 this season
against the Reds and the last time they dropped from first place was due to a loss
in Cincinnati. It was all well and good
for the Phillies to beat the Cubs and Cardinals of the league, but teams win
pennants when they beat inferior teams consistently. At the end of the day the Phillies did blow a
slight chance to increase their lead in the NL pennant race because Brooklyn
split their doubleheader with the Cardinals and Chicago lost in Boston. But, with an optimist’s perspective, they
basically finished the day as they started.
No harm, no foul. With six games
left against Cincinnati this week there was a good chance they would reverse
their fortunes and end up with a winning record against the worst team in
baseball. And if things didn’t pick up
right away, the Phillies could always take solace in the fact that at least their
second baseman wasn’t getting punched in the face by umpires.
[1]
“U.S. Cables Final Reply To Germany,” Evening
Ledger, July 22, 1915, accessed July 20, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1CH5qH2.
[2]
“Johnny Evers Bringing Trouble On Himself and Boston Braves,” Evening Ledger, July 23, 1915, accessed
July 20, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1RJKk1b.
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