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Some Quick Thought On Philadelphia Fans

Full disclosure: I didn’t see the mayhem that occurred last night at the Flyers game when fans began throwing the gift bracelets onto the ice.  I didn’t see it because I was frustrated at the team’s play after the Capitals fourth goal and turned on the Phillies to calm down.  Surely the only time this season anyone has turned on the Phillies to avoid frustration.  But I didn’t have to watch this particular instance to know exactly what happened.  I’ve seen this display before.  Hell, I’ve probably even participated in a similar exposition at one time or another.

Up All Night to Watch the Pen Blow the Lead

April 6, 2016
Phillies @ Cincinnati Reds

Well so far in this 2016 season the Phillies are nothing if not consistent.  In both games against the Reds the Phillies got seven men on base in about thirty-three plate appearances and scored two runs.  They got outstanding efforts by their starting pitching only to see it washed away by abysmal relief pitching.  It’s almost like the majority of this team doesn’t have major league talent.  Who would have guessed?!

Phillies 100 Years Ago: The Phillies Lose The 1915 World Series To Red Sox

October 11, 1915

World Series Game Three

Phillies @ Boston Red Sox

The scene of the grandest contest in professional baseball shifted north to Boston for Game Three, but in an ironic twist the Phillies were the club most familiar with the ballpark.  Due to the demand for World Series tickets, the Boston Braves graciously loaned Braves Field to their American League neighbors.  Fenway Park had a seating capacity of about 27,000 for the 1915, while the newly completely Braves Field was the first baseball stadium to hold more than 40,000 people.  In a second ironic twist, the previous World Series that saw the Braves take on the Philadelphia Athletics was played in Fenway Park while Braves Field was being built.  How about that?!  Well, it was a good thing the Red Sox procured Braves Field because 42,000 fans attended Game Three, the largest crowd ever to watch a baseball game.

Phillies 100 Year Ago: Phillies Make Simple Mistakes In Pitcher's Duel; Boston Evens Series 1-1

October 9, 1915

World Series Game Two

Phillies vs. Boston Red Sox

The National League fans in Philadelphia have always felt that their club was cursed.  From a pre-World Series article in the Evening Ledger: “The Phillies have always been hounded by various species of the genus ‘jinx.’”  There was the case of Charlie Ferguson, the absolute phenom pitcher that was to lead the lowly Phillies to their first pennant in 1888.  Ferguson’s had 24.0 pitching rWAR from 1885 to 1887, including a 10.7 during the 1886 season.  And that was just for pitching.  He also managed 6.1 rWAR at the plate during that stretch.  But, less than two weeks into the 1888 season, Ferguson died from typhoid fever at the age of twenty-five.  Since his death the jinxed Phillies developed a reputation as a club that shoots off to an early season lead only to lose steam towards the finish line before finally blowing the pennant escalating levels of futility. 

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Game One of the 1915 World Series

October 8, 1915

World Series Game 1

Phillies vs. Boston Red Sox

Finally!  Here we are!  Game One of the 1915 World Series!  It was a tough road for the Phillies, but they waded through all of the slumps and sketchy pitching (by everyone except Grover Cleveland Alexander, of course) and stayed atop the league to snatch the first pennant in the club’s history.  The situation wasn’t so certain on September 7 when the Phillies lost three games in a row to the second place Dodgers.  With the league lead trimmed to just one game, the Phillies went on a monumental run to sure up the title.  Starting September 8, Philadelphia ripped off seven wins in a row, sweeping the Giants and taking three of four from Pittsburgh.  In the week following the disaster in Brooklyn, the Phillies extended their lead to five games.  But they didn’t stop there!  Philadelphia won fourteen of their final twenty games, laying down a pace that the other contenders were unable to keep.  On September 28 the rival Dodgers hosted the Phils at Ebbets Field and were defeated, officially eliminating them from the National League race.  The very next day the pseudo-Miracle Braves played host to the NL leaders, needing to sweep the Phillies just to keep their heads above water.  But Alexander was on the mound that day and he would not be beat.  After a quick hour and thirty-five minutes game, Alexander blanked the Braves and the Phillies were National League Champions.

American League Wild Card Game: Astros Show They Are Ready For The Big Time

Now that the 1915 Phillies season is wrapping up, I'm going to start doing a few different things with the blog.  I want to do some shorter projects about sports and history, but I also want to write about current sporting events.  Today is a recapped of the playoff baseball game from last night.  Enjoy!

Last night’s American League Wild Card game was a contrast of styles.  You could say the Houston Astros represent the new way of team building while the New York Yankees are a team of a bygone era, but to say the new school is better than the old school is a simplification.  In a one game playoff, or a One And Done, as the ESPN hype team repeatedly billed it, there is so much variance that proclaiming one style to be better than the other is ignorant.  Still, the way each team was constructed played a significant role in the outcome of the game. 

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Mayer Makes Mincemeat Of Cincinnati And The NL Race Rounds Into Shape

August 26, 1915

Phillies vs. Cincinnati Reds

Athletics @ St. Louis Browns

Welcome back!  Today, 100 years ago, Mother Teresa turned five years old.  Also, on this date five years from now, women will be granted the right to vote everywhere in the United States.

When we last left the National League pennant race on August 14^th, the first-place Phillies were holding the Dodgers back by the skin of their teeth, the Boston Braves were surging, as they are apt to do at this point in the season, and the rest of the league was were struggling to stay relevant.  Since then each team played about eleven games.  Amazingly, two of the best teams over that stretch sat in the basement for most of the season.  The Cardinals and Reds, both of who were significantly behind the pack just two weeks ago, pulled themselves out of the realm of insignificance.  St. Louis managed eight wins, including a sweep of the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, and jumped over both Pittsburgh and New York to occupy fifth place.  While Cincinnati didn’t get to claim a new position in the standings, they did cut the lead of the seventh-place Giants to just a half-game. 

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Demaree and Luderus Hand A Beating to the Braves

August 14, 1915

Phillies vs. Boston Braves

Athletics @ New York Yankees

Riding high from their big victory yesterday over the surging Boston Braves, the Phillies showed up to the ballpark today full of confidence and determination.  With the team seemingly righting their path, and it being a beautiful summer Saturday, those that ran the Phillies expected today to be the biggest crowd of the season.  This seemed to be a common refrain: a large crowd was predicted only to have half the number show up.  Well today followed that pattern.  A crowd of 20,000+ was expected, but that did not occur.  Having said that, the crowd that did attend today’s game was nothing to spit at.  About 11,000 fans came to watch Al Demaree continue his hot twirling against the champion Braves, making it the 15^th biggest crowd of the year.  If doubleheaders and games in which Grover Cleveland Alexander started are removed, both well-known for abnormally high draws, today was the fourth largest crowd the Baker Bowl held this season.

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Phillies, Alex Start Home Stand Off Right

August 13, 2015

Phillies vs. Boston Braves

Athletics @ New York Yankees

Hello, there!  It’s been awhile without any 1915 Phillies info.  I was barely home for the past few weeks, running all around the Mid-Atlantic and, due to my mistake with timing posts, I was not able to keep up with the daily goings on of the blog.  Today happens to coincide with the Phillies returning home from a long western road trip, so I think it’s the perfect place to jump back into the swing of things.  This post will catch us up on what was happening to the Phillies and baseball as a whole.  As a side note, I’m preparing an update on the Federal League.  The FL season isn’t super relevant to the Phillies per se, but the league was important in the history of baseball and I want to make sure it gets some time later on in the season.

Phillies 100 Year Ago: Mistakes On Mistakes

July 23, 1915

Phillies vs. Cincinnati Reds

Athletics @ Cleveland Indians

The one-year anniversary of the climax of what would be known as the July Crisis occurred 100 years ago today.  After a little less than a month of investigation, diplomatic conversations, and other preparations, Austria-Hungary issued ten ultimatums to Serbia in response to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.  To sum up the demands, Serbia was told to eliminate all anti-Austro-Hungarian elements in the entire nation, bring to trial the architects of the assassination plot, and end military mobilization…all within 48 hours.  They were designed to be almost impossible to comply with, which would result in a declaration of war.  Faced with little support from the rest of Europe, Serbia accepted all of the demands except they refused to allow Austro-Hungarian police to operate in Serbia.  Well, I guess that means they didn’t accept the demands.  War was soon declared, but one has to wonder if Austria-Hungary regretted issuing the ultimatums now that they had seen the destruction their decision caused in the past year.

Phillies 100 Years Ago: A Double Chance To Do-In Cincinnati

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]

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Alexander Redeems His Loss As Phillies Keep On Rolling

July 21, 1915

Phillies vs. Chicago Cubs

Athletics @ Detroit Tigers

Remember the strike that happened yesterday Bayonne?  There was a clash between strikers and policemen that got very violent.  Well more details were made public today about just how deadly the riot was.  Reports stated that the strikers became enraged and tried to break down the fence that separated them from the Standard Oil plant’s main buildings.  Police filed in to stop the potential destruction of property, but soon rifle shots rang out from both sides.  For almost 10 minutes the two sides battled in front of the plant.  When it finally subsided there were two dead, three mortally wounded, and 10 other seriously injured, including a little girl and boy.  Sadly, the girl was standing two blocks away when she was struck in the shoulder by an errant bullet.  State police were called into the melee but were too late to stop five fires from being set to the plant.  Even though the fires were put out and the riot hushed, strikers insisted that they were not going to back down from their demand of a raise in salary due to the recent increase in production from aiding the Allies in the European War.  It appeared this fight was not quite over after the first day of destruction.[1]

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Phillies Proving Kings Of The Late Game Rally

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]

Phillies 100 Years Ago: A Doubleheader Shortened By Rain Leaves the Phillies In First Place

July 19, 1915

Phillies vs. Chicago Cubs

Athletics @ Detroit Tigers

“The revolution in child life in Pennsylvania which began with the passage of the child labor law had its first perceptible manifestation today at 12^th and Locust streets.”  Around this time in the history of our nation many of the rights we now enjoy as workers (and maybe take for granted) were fought for and won.  Minimum wages, safe working conditions, eight-hour workdays, weekends, and many others were hashed out about 100 years ago.  Some of the biggest improvements to workers’ lives were child labor laws, and it looks like Pennsylvania passed a big bill based on this post’s opening quote from the Evening Ledger.  It was, in fact, a momentous occasion even though the meat of the bill may sound a bit thin to a modern reader.  The bill passed in Pennsylvania made it so that all children between 14 and 16 had to have at least eight hours of schooling a week.  That’s it.  But think about what that meant.  It was the first time the city mandated that it was a child’s right to learn.  It also provided a way to reduce the amount of hours a child worked each week so they were not strapped to their job.  This bill also shows that progress is progressive; providing time for a child to learn at a school was a big deal in 1915 and a first step towards programs that ensured safety in otherwise potentially abusive jobs.  Today eight hours a week of schooling, tomorrow no children under ten allowed operating dangerous machinery.  There were 23,000 children affected by this bill in Philadelphia alone.[1] 

The Phillies and Cubs set out today to play two, but Mother Nature came in to ruin that chance.  The first game was completed with the pall of thunderclouds overhead.  Erskine Mayer was still looking to regain his early season form that slipped away over his previous three starts.  His opponent was Bert Humphries.  Over the course of May and June, Humphries pitched in a ten games and kept his ERA below 1.00.  It was an astonishing display of skill that, sadly for him, did not last.  His last four games resulted in a 3.38 ERA and 1.21 WHIP, which was much closer to his career average.  Both pitchers, their teammates, and the 18,000 people that filled the stadium on a Monday afternoon knew the importance of this game in the clash for first place.

The offenses of both clubs were ready to go as soon as the umpire yelled “Play Ball!”  Chicago took the lead in the second by plating two.  Mayer had to be totally frustrated with his inability to keep his opponents off the bases to start the game.  During the middle innings he was totally fine, but the early stages proved to fluster Mayer.  Luckily for him the Phillies brought their lumber to the bottom half of the inning and cut the lead to one.  Humphries appeared rattled on the mound as the Phillies knocked him around a bit over the subsequent innings, but to his credit he pitched well enough to escape the jams.  Despite many hits from both teams, the middle-third of the game was scoreless.    

Over the final third of the game Mayer and Humphries showed signs of tiring.   Luckily for Philadelphia, Humphries lost his way first.  Between the sixth and seventh innings the Phillies piled on three runs to take the lead.  In the eighth, Pete Standridge came on in relief but could not keep the Phillies off the board.  During the three-inning rally, both Dave Bancroft and Gavvy Cravath hit solo home runs.  Bancroft’s didn’t actually make it out of the park, per se; it went through an open door that led to the scoreboard supplies in deep center field.  Technically it was a home run because left the field on a bounce, and while no one argued the ruling at the moment, you can be sure Cubs manager Roger Bresnahan will have something to say about it later.  Anyway, just as it looked like the Phillies had a clear path to victory, Mayer began to tire.  In the eighth he let up a run that brought the score to 4-3.  He seemed okay to finish the game and got two outs in the ninth, but that third out was elusive and before he knew what to do to stop the bleeding, the Cubs again cut the lead to one and had a runner on third.  Phillies manager Pat Moran didn’t like the matchup of the exhausted Mayer against the breakout-slugger Cy Williams, so he did what any manager would do and went to his best pitcher to close out the game.  But isn’t the Phillies best pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander and didn’t he pitch two days ago?  Yes and yes.  Alexander was called in to close out the Cubs and did so using only four pitches, three of which were strikes.  Erskine Mayer was off the losing streak, Alexander picked up a save, and the Phillies owned sole possession of first place. 

After the game in which his club lost by one run, Bresnahan inquired about why, exactly, Bancroft’s home run was allowed to stand.  He apparently argued the rule for 10 to 15 minutes, knowing full well that rain was in the forecast and they had another game to play.  Whether he did it purposefully or not is unknown, but obviously his protest fell on deaf ears and the results stayed, but the argument lasted long enough to affect the second game.  The Cubs were up to bat in the fourth inning when the rain finally washed the game out.  At the time, the score was 3-1 in the Phillies favor.  Had they played one more inning it would have been an official game and the Phillies would have won.  Based on the previous game, an inning took about 12 minutes, or approximately the amount of time Bresnahan argued in vain.  Obviously there are too many “what-ifs” in this scenario, but it is an interesting tidbit none-the-less.[2] [3]

As I mentioned earlier, the Phillies took sole possession of first place with today’s win.  The loss was not the only bad news the Cubs got today; the Brooklyn Dodgers caught them in second place.  Brooklyn was the stuff the Cubs’ nightmares were made of.  Before playing the Giants and Phillies, the Cubs were swept by Brooklyn in four games.  Since the start of that series and the eastern road trip, the Cubs were 3-8 and in full collapse.  Now the air had to have been sucked out of the Cubs clubhouse with the news that they slipped again in the standings.  The Giants, also buoyed a bit by winning three recent games against the Cubs, were beating the Cardinals all over the Polo Grounds.  Three straight wins pulled New York from sixth place in the National League up to fourth, hopping over St. Louis and threatened to eclipse Chicago.  What a crazy amount of shuffling going on in the NL pennant race!  The Phillies played their third game against Chicago tomorrow afternoon and knew that another win would go a long way in keeping them out of the quagmire in the middle of the standings.  Newly minted star Eppa Rixey was the one tasked to lead the Phillies over the Cubs and Jimmy Lavender.  

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[1] “Child Labor Law Has Its First Actual Test,” Evening Ledger, July 19, 1915, accessed July 16, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1HAIhlX.

[2] “Strength Of Phillies On Road Basis For Strong Pennant Hopes,” Evening Ledger, July 20, 1915, accessed July 16, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1SpDid5.

[3] “Alexander Saves The Day,” The Sun, July 20, 1915, accessed July 16, 2015, http://1.usa.gov/1e2TbIC.

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Cubs and Phillies Battle For First Place On Alexander Day

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. 

Phillies 100 Year Ago: Another Comeback Keeps the Phillies Hot

July 15, 1915

Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Athletics @ Chicago White Sox

It sure is hot in Philadelphia!  When the populous arose to start their normal Thursday routines they were met with temperatures already approaching 80 degrees with an oppressive humidity.  Due to there being little relief from the omnipresent heat, citizens went down in fainted heaps all day long.  The newspaper called these spells “prostrations,” and today the number of prostrations was “abnormally high.”  The high today was 87 degrees, which to us modern people sounds like a rather reasonable and expected temperature for the middle of July, but we are blessed to have air conditioning in almost every place we venture.  A heat wave for us is an inconvenience, a time where must be sure to drink water more frequently.  In 1915 a heat wave like this killed people regularly.  And if “Weatherman Bliss” is to be believed, Philadelphia was in for a day or more of the dangerous heat until a thunderstorm sweeps with its sweet sweet relief.[1]

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Phillies Comeback Against Cardinals As Cubs Collapse In NYC

July 14, 1915

Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Athletics @ Chicago White Sox

There were two famous birthdays celebrated today in 1915.  First, Woody Guthrie turned three years old today.  Eventually he would become one of the most famous and popular folk singers in American history, acutely writing about his experiences living on the plains during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, but today 100 years ago he was toddling around his parent’s farm in Oklahoma.  Another happy birthday goes out to Gerald Ford; the future president turned two today. But he was not Gerald Ford yet!  I didn’t know this, maybe because I was born a decade after he became president, but a quick scan of his Wikipedia page informs me that he was actually born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.  His mother received a divorce shortly after Ford’s birth because of his father’s domestic violence and continued threats to murder the entire family.  On February 1, 1916 she married Gerald Rudolff Ford, which is where young Leslie got his new name, though he was never legally adopted.  And just like that America was robbed of President Leslie King. 

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Alexander Day, Everybody!

July 13, 1915

Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Athletics @ Chicago White Sox

Did you ever have one of those days where you’re bored at work, just sitting at your desk thinking, “Man is it time to leave so I can get a drink yet?”  Well, if you happened to work at Carney’s Point du Pont powder mill in 1915, you wouldn’t even need to wait until work was over to imbibe!  Apparently many of the 12,000 employees at the plant near Pennsgrove, New Jersey had fallen into the routine of getting stone-cold drunk before taking their shifts at the plant that made black powder, nitrocellulose, and many other highly explosive materials.  There were five explosions in the past five days!  One man was killed and three seriously injured in the blasts.  Reports had it that on the last payday 52 employees were arrested at a near-by bar a few hours after their shift had ended.  That is a ton of people!  Concerned citizens surrounding the plant voiced their fear that the drunkards responsible for the explosives that could “demolish three cities” might not be the best people to man the plant.  After some careful consideration, du Pont announced that they would no longer allow anyone that smelled of alcohol to enter the premises.  Progress.[1] 

Phillies 100 Years Ago: Bucs Deliver Another Doubleheader Defeat To Phils

July 12, 1915

Phillies vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

Phillies vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

It was another doubleheader day for the Phillies, making this their third in a little more than a week.  Doubleheaders haven’t worked out in the Phillies favor this season; they are 3-7 after having split three and being swept in two; they have yet to take both games in a doubleheader.  Pittsburgh faired a little better, earning a 5-6 record and, conversely, have not yet been swept in both games.  Fred Clarke, manager of the Pirates, claimed that Philadelphia’s management was unfair to schedule this doubleheader for today since they knew Pittsburgh was going to be engaged in two more later this week. But Philadelphia had self-preservation to think of; what did they care if the Pirates had to overextend their pitching staff so long as Pat Moran could pitch his on a regular rotation?