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.