July 5, 1915
Phillies vs. New York Giants
Athletics @ New York Yankees
Athletics @ New York Yankees
Happy Independence Day a day late, everyone! It was a bit of a slow news day in 1915. The Liberty Bell departed Philadelphia for
the final time on its jaunt to San Francisco for its special display at the
Panama-Pacific International Exposition today.
Fingers crossed that it doesn’t crack any more and people don’t take
chunks out of it for souvenirs. There
were 13 dead and 50 injured in New York due to accidents surrounding Fourth of
July events, including firework mishaps and drownings. From the New
York Tribune: “One of the deaths and thirty-five of the injuries were
caused by the premature explosion of fireworks or the reckless shooting off of
firearms. Williams Sexton, of 151 East
Thirty-sixth Street, Manhattan, was burned to death while playing with a
firework known as a ‘sparkler.’” New
York was promoting a “safe and sane” celebration of the Fourth, but it didn’t
look like they achieved their goal.
Finally, Frank Holt, the man that tried to assassinate J.P. Morgan on
July 3, told police that he didn’t intend to hurt the financial tycoon, only to
show him how dangerous the weapons Morgan sold to the European belligerents
could be. “I went to the Morgan home in
order to force him to use his great influence to stop the shipment of
explosives. That is why I took some
explosives with me, in order to be able to demonstrate to him, ad oculis, what
the use of machines of murder means, but I did not wish to hurt any one. I wanted him to be in the same danger (him
and his family) that we are imposing on Europe.” Oh, okay.
He didn’t want to hurt Morgan,
just put him and his family in the same peril as soldiers in the bloodiest war
ever. That’s easy enough to
understand. By the way, there was new
evidence that Holt might actually be a man named Erich Muenter that disappeared
from Harvard in 1906 following the mysterious poisoning of his wife. I take it back; it was a juicy news day in
1915![1] [2]
A miraculous thing happened in New York that didn’t involve
premature firework explosions: the Athletics won two games! It was only the third time the Mackmen won
two games in a row since the beginning of June and the last time,
coincidentally, came as a doubleheader sweep of the Yankees. Today’s games, the third doubleheader the A’s
have played in a row, were won on the backs of pitchers Bullet Joe Bush and
Rube Bressler. New York smacked both
starters around a bit, getting 16 hits and seven walks between them, but Bush,
Bressler, and the Athletics’ defense held the Yankees to only three runs
total. Philadelphia’s offense did just
enough to win. They needed three runs to
win game one and got four; they needed two runs to win the second match and
that’s exactly what they got. The wins
didn’t do too much for the A’s in the standings, they were still 19 games
behind the White Sox, but there are so few highlights for the 1915 Athletics
that it is important to mention them when they pop up.
The Phillies game wasn’t much of a game if you like
offense. If it’s scoring you want, there
was only one inning of that. In the
second, Fred Merkle sent a Grover Cleveland Alexander fastball over Possum
Whitted’s head and off the centerfield wall for a double. He didn’t score. He just stayed on second while Alexander
finished the rest of his teammates off in order. Normally I wouldn’t mention that but it was
the only base runner New York got off of Old Pete for the entire game. In the bottom of the second, Fred Luderus and
Bill Killefer hit back-to-back RBI singles to give the Phillies the only runs
they’d get or need in the game. From the
third inning until the game was over, Alexander was literally unhittable. He finished his fourth complete game shutout
of the year, the second in which he faced only one more than the minimum, with
six strikeouts and dropped his ERA to 1.40.
Alexander was about as automatic as a pitcher can get and so far this
season he was hands-down the best player in baseball.
The opening for The Sun’s
recap of the Giants and Phillies game was as follows: “The Giants strengthened
their position as the rear guard by losing to the Phillies. They were shut out, but they kept Alexander
from pitching a no hit game.” If the
thing you hang your hat on is that your team didn’t get no-hit, you’ve either
got a terrible team or you’re facing a dominant pitcher. In the Giants’ case, it was both. This was Alexander’s fourth game of the
season where he achieved a Game Score of 90 or higher, yet he still had not
blanked his opposition in the hits column all year. He came close; this was his third one-hit
game in the past month and a half, but he never had the luck that is needed to
complete history. “Never in the history
of the game has a pitcher shown such marvelous form as the big Nebraskan has
this season, and yet the breaks refuse to favor him.” I guess this is a case of splitting hairs
because the most important thing is for Alex to win the game, which he did with
relative ease to pick up his 15th victory. The Cincinnati Reds spent their day after
Independence Day beating the Cubs in Chicago not once but twice, pulling them
up to fifth place in the National League and more importantly getting the
Phillies with a single game of first place.
Philadelphia didn’t have an easy route to first, though, because they
faced Rube Marquard and Christy Mathewson in the next two games. It is true that Marquard and Mathewson were
both struggling this season, and their performance is a big reason the Giants
were in last place, but both men were Hall of Famers and always posed a
threat. And if the Phillies were going
to take home the pennant they needed to win series like this one against New
York. We’ll pick back up tomorrow with
Rube Marquard versus Erskine Mayer and see if the Phillies can pull out a win.[3] [4]
[1]
“Thirteen Dead, Fifty Injured, Fourth’s Toll,” New York Tribune, July 5, 1915, accessed July 5, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1G1gZ6k.
[2]
“Morgan Resting Comfortably; Holt Plotted to Seize Family; Warned Kaiser of
Militarism,” New York Tribune, July
5, 1915, accessed July 5, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1G1gZ6k.
[3]
“Merkle’s Hit All Giants Can Make Off League Star,” The Sun, July 6, 1915, accessed July 5, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1HESwJo.
[4]
“Resignation of Fielder Jones Body Blow To The Federals,” Evening Ledger, July 6, 1915, accessed July 5, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1GZINK4.
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