July 1, 1915
Phillies vs. Boston Braves
This morning, in 1863, Major General Henry Heth was ordered
to move his division into the nearby town of Gettysburg, not, as the story
often goes, to raid a supply of shoes for the Confederate army, but to perform a
reconnaissance in force. Southern forces
bumped into what they thought was Pennsylvania militia the previous day but
General Robert E. Lee, knowing that the Army of the Potomac was his general
vicinity, wanted to make sure his army was not being snuck up on. Heth’s orders were to determine the strength
of the Union forces at Gettysburg but not to engage in a battle. Well, Heth ran into a full division of
Brigadier General John Buford’s dismounted cavalry on the outskirts of town,
and before he knew it his division was engaged in the battle Lee hoped to avoid. Buford’s men, vastly outnumber yet fighting
from defenses made in preparation for an assault, held Heth’s division for most
of the morning, allowing the I Corps time to reinforce his line. All morning troops on both sides flooded to
the fight and battled in an arch northwest of the town. The undermanned Union line held on for most
of the day, but the right flank proved untenable and broke under pressure from
Major General Richard S. Ewell’s Corps.
The retreat through town was panicked, giving the Confederate troops the
impression that they had once again routed the Union army, but, unbeknownst to
anyone at the time, the fight was to last for two more days. The fighting had ceased for the most part
today and Union troops came into the line all night, forming the famous
fishhook formation on Cemetery Ridge. Today in 1915, Americans would have
commemorated the 52nd anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg with
many of the troops that fought still alive.
The United States had more prescient war news to deal with
today as more Americans died at the torpedoes of a German submarine. A British steamship from the Leyland Line
called the Armenian that left Newport News with a shipment of mules was sunk off
the coast of Cornwall on June 28. On
board were 22 Americans that were now missing (the newspaper states that 15
were “negro muleteers,” as if to lessened the shock by reassuring that there
were only seven white deaths). Strain
resulting from the Lusitania sinking between the German and American
governments seemed to be relaxing recently, but, as the New York Tribune stated, “…should it prove that the Armenian was
what she appeared, an ordinary merchantman, not a transport of the British
government, it will be extremely difficult for the United States to continue
relying on ordinary diplomatic methods.”
Of course, Germany has been on record that it did not want war with the
United States, and truth be told could not afford to take on yet another
foe. And the United States experienced
the greatest exporting year in the country’s existence due to trading with the
belligerents, expecting to reach a billion dollars on the year for the first
time in history, so they weren’t too keen on ruining their arrangement with
war. But, from the American point of
view, it sure looked like war would be hard to avoid if the German government
was taking the President Woodrow Wilson’s patience as weakness.[1]
[2]
Back in Philadelphia, the Phillies were full of confidence
to play their second game against the Braves after clobbering them
yesterday. The day started with a little
luck when Bill James, the hero from last year’s World Series and the man tapped
to start the game for the Braves, was too injured to pitch. Coming into 1915, the 23-year old James was a
sensation, many comparing him to Grover Cleveland Alexander, in fact. He was the best pitcher down the stretch of
the Braves miracle run in 1914 and pitch so well against the Athletics in the
World Series that many believed that he would eventually be regarded as the
greatest pitcher in baseball history.
But coming into today’s game James was 4-3 with a 3.02 ERA, which wasn’t
terrible unless you compare it to his 26 victories, 1.90 ERA (150 ERA+), and
8.2 rWAR the previous season. James was
given a few days rest prior to today’s game when he complained of shoulder
trouble, probably a torn rotator cuff that could not be fixed by medical
professionals at the time. He made three
more appearances in July with mixed results before being shut down for the
year. For the next three years he still
wasn’t feeling right in his arm and couldn’t even get on the field. World War I interrupted his life in 1918, as
it did for many Americans, and he served in the infantry. In 1919, James made his final attempt at a
comeback, pitching 5.1 innings in relief game for the Braves that didn’t raise
any eyebrows. He walked off the field never
to return to the majors, as those who saw him in 1914 asked themselves “what
if…”[3]
James’ substitute on the mound was Pat Ragan. He was selected off waivers from the Brooklyn
Dodgers on April 28 and had so far been pulling his weight in Boston. Ragan hit a bump in the road early on in a
start against Pittsburgh in May where he let up seven runs and 10 hits in only
five innings, but since then he has been on fire, racking up four wins and a
1.68 ERA. He struggled early against the
Phillies, as well, giving up a leadoff single to Bobby Byrne, who scored when
Gavvy Cravath smashed a double. Phillies
were up 1-0 after one.
Erskine Mayer, who was married the day before, spent his
honeymoon on the mound for Philadelphia and he, too, struggled a bit
early. He set the Braves down in order
in the first, but Red Smith took him deep to start off the second inning, tying
the score at one. Both pitchers settled
into a groove after allowing their runs.
Ragan scattered five hits over the next seven innings, and while he
didn’t strike out a single Phillies, he was dictating the terms. Mayer matched Ragan in proficiency, but he
was also helped out by his defense. The
Braves threatened in the fourth when the loaded the bases with one out. Sherry Magee, the former-Phillie that
expected to be playing with a better club this year when he asked for a trade
in the offseason, stepped up with revenge on his mind. Mayer got Magee to swing a low pitch,
smashing back up the middle where Dave Bancroft made a great catch, promptly
threw to Bert Niehoff at second, who slung it over to Fred Luderus to complete
the inning-ending double play. The
pitchers traded goose eggs until the ninth, which turned this precision game
into a wacky one.
George Schmidt hit a one-out single to put the game-winning
run on board. Mayer then beaned Magee
with a pitch to dig himself deeper into trouble. Rabbit Maranville hit a grounder that moved
the runners along at his expense. With
the pitcher on deck, Mayer intentionally walked the Braves catcher Hank
Gowdy. The bases were loaded with two
out when the Braves pulled a play that caused the Evening Ledger to as “Bone or Good Baseball?” Okay, let’s play You Make The Call. If you were Boston’s manager you would 100%
pinch-hit for Ragan, right? He’s already
thrown eight innings and you have a real chance to drive in the go-ahead run
from third. Why would let the pitcher
flail away and almost assuredly make the final out with a run only 90-feet away
in the ninth? Well, George Stallings
would disagree with you. He let Ragan hit. But this was not the “bone” the paper was
talking about. On a 2-2 pitch, the “big,
clumsy fellow” Schmidt decided to straight
steal home! He just took off! The paper surmised that Schmidt might have
been playing the “they’ll never expect me to steal home” strategy, but it’s
probably more likely he lost track of the count. Either way, Mayer’s pitch, a ball inside to
the right-handed batter, serendipitously was the perfect ball to catch Schmidt
at the plate. Instead of a bases loaded,
full count situation, the Braves were retired on a sure-fire “bone” play.
On Stallings orders, Ragan went back out to the mound to
pitch the bottom of the ninth. First up
for the Phillies was the home run king himself, Gavvy Cravath. A few pitches into the battle, Ragan got
Cravath to hit a towering foul ball between home and first base. The catch was easy enough to make, except
Schmidt and Gowdy called each other off simultaneously and, each hearing the
other, they both backed away to let the ball drop between them. Poor Schmidt must have felt snake-bitten at
this point, destined to be the goat.
Guess what? He was right to feel
that way! On the next pitch Cravath
smashed “one of the longest hits seen in this city since Walter Johnson made
his famous wallop at Shibe Park.” The
ball travelled 10 rows up in the bleachers at the deepest part of centerfield,
usually a place where the ground rule double-type of home runs ever
occurred. Gavvy’s wallop won the game in
dramatic fashion, the first walk-off home run of the year for the Phillies![4]
Philadelphia had a genuine winning-streak on their hands as
today’s win made it three in a row for the Phils. This feat had not been accomplished since
June 9 and was only the fourth time the club strung together three straight W’s
since their opening week winning streak ended.
Cravath was the obvious hero of the game, but Mayer and the defense
deserve a lot of credit for stifling any threat the Braves posed. It was rough day for Boston, what with losing
their ace pitcher and the game that his replacement pitched tremendously. Mental mistakes killed them today and the
Phillies benefitted. A quick glance at the other scores around the National
League showed that Al Mamaux and the Pirates shut the Cubs out in Chicago,
meaning the Phillies were now only 1.5 games behind the leaders. Tomorrow’s game will be rained out, so the
Phils will have to wait until July 3 to take the next step toward reclaiming
their perch on the National League, and since it will be a doubleheader,
they’ll have the opportunity to do twice the damage.
[1]
“22 American Citizens Drowned as U-38 Sinks British Freighter; Report Hints
Attempt to Escape,” New York Tribune,
July 1, 1915, accessed July 1, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1Huxz43.
[2]
“Export Trade Of U.S. Breaks All Records,” Corpus
Christi Caller and Daily Herald, July 1, 1915, accessed July 1, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1NwSraT.
[4]
“James, World’s Series Hero, Is Now In A Crippled Condition,” Evening Ledger, July 2, 1915, accessed
July 1, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1LDiEpY.
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