July 20, 1915
Phillies vs. Chicago Cubs
Athletics @ Detroit Tigers
There was a strikebreaking riot in Bayonne, New Jersey 100
years ago today. The Constable Hook
plant of the Standard Oil Company was the such biggest plant in the world and
shipped a large amount of petroleum and gasoline to the Allies in Europe to
keep the armies moving. With the recent
increase in production, the almost 5,000 workers felt they deserved a 15% raise
on their wages and picked today to walk off the job and demonstrate for this cause. The strike threatened to delay six steamships
that were docked and ready to take a fresh supply of fuel to Europe. About 50 police showed up and “attacked 1200
of the strikers” with “revolvers and clubs.”
There was no mention of whether the police tactics were successfully in
breaking the strike, but the paper wanted you to know that the Police Inspector
was hit in the head with a rock and “most of the employes [sic] are foreigners.” What a day!
A strike for higher wages, a riot, and a pinch of nativism to boot![1]
The Phillies looked to continue their offensive flow that
started in the late innings of yesterdays game today in the third game of the
Cubs’ series. The third, and most
recently minted, star of the Philadelphia rotation, Eppa Rixey, received the
ball to start game. Eppa was an
Alexander-like 2-1 with a 1.14 ERA in the month of July. He was opposed by the savvy spitballer Jimmy
Lavender. Although it took a long time
for Lavender to make a big league squad, once he was given the chance he
performed admirably for many seasons. So
far this season Lavender pitched pretty well.
His 2.61 ERA overshadowed his 5-5 record. When he faced off against Philadelphia today
he was still nursing the effects of a broken rib he suffered in April when he
slipped in the bathtub. It was no secret
that Pat Moran loved Lavender as a pitcher and in 1917 he traded Al Demaree to
Chicago for his rights. Lavender pitched
one below average season in a Phillies uniform and was not offered a contract
in 1918. He opted to retire and grow
crops for the war effort.[2]
The scoring today was a bit like a faucet; there was a slow
drip for most of the game before someone finally turned it on full blast toward
the end. Chicago started the scoring in
the top of the first, taking a 1-0 lead.
The clubs traded zeros (and the Phillies didn’t even get a man on base)
until the bottom of the sixth when Fred Luderus and Ed Burns hit back-to-back
doubles. Luderus scored on Burns hit and
Dave Bancroft put the Phillies ahead when he drove Burns in on a single. In the top of the seventh Chicago scored
again to tie the score 2-2.
The eighth inning was one of the highest scoring full
innings the Phillies were involved in all year.
It started when the Cubs took the momentum from their previous turn at
bat and really made Rixey pay. Hit after
hit made it look like Rixey was pitching batting practice. When it was all said and done the Cubs scored
three runs to make the score 5-2. But
the Phillies were not demoralized. They
did not fade quietly into the night.
They brought their bats out in the bottom of the eighth and picked poor
Rixey up. Zip Zabel replaced Lavender
after six great innings of work. Many
wondered why Cubs’ manager Roger Bresnahan felt it necessary to remove a pitcher
that had given up only 4 hits and two runs so early in the game, especially
considering that Bresnahan was like a predecessor of Dusty Baker or Ryne
Sandberg in his ability to abuse his pitchers’ arms. But Roger’s gonna do what Roger’s gonna do
and he felt Zip Zabel was a better option.
He wasn’t. After pitching a
successful seventh, Zabel walked Bobby Byrne with one out in the eighth. Guess what?
Bresnahan had enough and brought in George Pierce, his third starter of
the game. Well Pierce was much worse
than Zabel. It started when Dave
Bancroft reached first on a throwing error by third baseman Art Phelan. The pinch-hitter Milt Stock walked to load
the bases. Guess what? Bresnahan
pulled Pierce and burned another starter.
This time he went to Larry Cheney, who you might remember beat Grover
Cleveland Alexander three days ago.
Gavvy Cravath certainly remembered when he smacked the second pitch he
saw to left field for a single and two RBIs.
With runners on first and third Bresnahan expected Bert Niehoff to
attempt a suicide squeeze and brought his infield in to protect. Maybe he even told Cheney to throw Niehoff a
meatball to entice the squeeze. Either
way it was the wrong move because Niehoff teed off on a first pitch fastball,
sent it over the center fielders head, and bounced it off the wall in the
deepest part of the ballpark. Two more
runs scored and Niehoff made it all the way to third on the throw. Next up was Possum Whitted, and even though
Bresnahan literally set his infield up to protect against a suicide squeeze on
the last hitter, he pulled his infield back a bit, allowing Whitted to drop the
perfect bunt into No Man’s Land. Niehoff
scored on the squeeze and Whitted made it all the way to second when Cheney
threw the ball into right field.
Apparently Bresnahan thought it quite all right to allow an obviously
rattled Cheney to continue in this game, probably because he burned too many arms
already, but it was once again the wrong move.
Cheney unleashed a wild pitch that allowed Whitted to move up to
third. On the very next pitch Cheney
threw another to the backstop. Whitted
raced home for the sixth run of the inning.
Luderus and Burns mercifully were put out to end the inning with the
Phillies up 8-5.
In probably the most exciting game of the season for the
Phillies, they managed to tough it out through a rough patch and steal a
victory from what looked like a sure defeat.
Sure Roger Bresnahan played a big role is losing the game for his club,
but a win is a win. Chicago posted
another run in the top of the ninth off of Al Demaree, but their spirits were
broken and they couldn’t overcome the Phillies lead. This was the second series in a row where the
Phillies played Comeback King and crushed the hopes of a very good team. They were now two games up on Brooklyn and
Chicago, their biggest lead in first since May 17. This whole playing as a team thing was really
working out for them! Even when they
weren’t playing at their best they still found ways to win the game. Tomorrow they closed out their series with
the Cubs with Old Pete Alexander on the mound, looking for a little revenge for
the loss he suffered in the first game of the series. They were now half of the way through the season according to games play. A win tomorrow would put the Phils 10 games
over .500 and go a long way in crushing the Cubs hopes for a pennant.
[1]
“Police And Strikers Fight At Bayonne,” Evening
Ledger, July 20, 1915, accessed July 17, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1VaH4uW.
No comments:
Post a Comment