1915 Philadelphia Phillies season

1915  Philadelphia Phillies
National League Champions
League	National League
Ballpark	Baker Bowl
City	Philadelphia
Owners	William F. Baker
Managers	Pat Moran
←  1914 Seasons 1916  →

The 1915 Philadelphia Phillies season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Phillies winning the National League, then going on to lose the World Series to the Boston Red Sox.

This was the team's first pennant since joining the league in 1883. It would have to wait another thirty-five years for its second — and another sixty-five years for its first World Championship.

Offseason

The 1915 Phillies, the first time that the franchise made the postseason

• February 14, 1915: Sherry Magee was traded by the Phillies to the Boston Braves for Oscar Dugey, Possum Whitted, and cash. ^[1]

Regular season

The pitching staff allowed the fewest runs in the NL. It was led by Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander, who had one of the greatest seasons in history and won the pitching triple crown.

Outfielder Gavvy Cravath, aided by the small Baker Bowl park, led the majors in home runs, runs batted in, and slugging percentage.

Season standings

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Philadelphia Phillies	90	62	0.592	—	49–27	41–35
Boston Braves	83	69	0.546	7	49–27	34–42
Brooklyn Robins	80	72	0.526	10	51–26	29–46
Chicago Cubs	73	80	0.477	17½	42–34	31–46
Pittsburgh Pirates	73	81	0.474	18	40–37	33–44
St. Louis Cardinals	72	81	0.471	18½	42–36	30–45
Cincinnati Reds	71	83	0.461	20	39–37	32–46
New York Giants	69	83	0.454	21	37–38	32–45

Record vs. opponents

1915 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	14–8–1	10–12–1	15–7	13–9–1	7–14	15–7	9–12–2
Brooklyn	8–14–1	—	14–8	11–11–1	12–8	13–9	11–11	11–11
Chicago	12–10–1	8–14	—	13–9–2	8–14	7–14	13–9	12–10
Cincinnati	7–15	11–11–1	9–13–2	—	9–13–1	9–13	12–10–1	14–8–1
New York	9–13–1	8–12	14–8	13–9–1	—	7–15–1	8–14	10–12
Philadelphia	14–7	9–13	14–7	13–9	15–7–1	—	10–12	15–7
Pittsburgh	7–15	11–11	9–13	10–12–1	14–8	12–10	—	10–12–1
St. Louis	12–9–2	11–11	10–12	8–14–1	12–10	7–15	12–10–1	—

Roster

1915 Philadelphia Phillies
Roster
Pitchers Pete Alexander Stan Baumgartner George Chalmers Al Demaree Erskine Mayer George McQuillan Joe Oeschger Eppa Rixey Ben Tincup		Catchers Bert Adams Ed Burns Bill Killefer Infielders Dave Bancroft Bobby Byrne Oscar Dugey Fred Luderus Bert Niehoff Milt Stock		Outfielders Beals Becker Gavvy Cravath Dode Paskert Bud Weiser Possum Whitted		Manager Pat Moran

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Bill Killefer	105	320	76	.238	0	24
1B	Fred Luderus	141	499	157	.315	7	62
2B	Bert Niehoff	148	529	126	.238	2	49
3B	Bobby Byrne	105	387	81	.209	0	21
SS	Dave Bancroft	153	563	143	.254	7	30
OF	Gavvy Cravath	150	522	149	.285	24	115
OF	Beals Becker	112	338	83	.246	11	35
OF	Possum Whitted	128	448	126	.281	1	43

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Dode Paskert	109	328	80	.244	3	39
Milt Stock	69	227	59	.260	1	15
Ed Burns	67	174	42	.241	0	16
Bud Weiser	37	64	9	.141	0	8
Oscar Dugey	42	39	6	.154	0	0
Bert Adams	24	27	3	.111	0	2

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Pete Alexander	49	376.1	31	10	1.22	241
Erskine Mayer	43	274.2	21	15	2.36	114
Al Demaree	32	209.2	14	11	3.05	69
Eppa Rixey	29	176.2	11	12	2.39	88
George Chalmers	26	170.1	8	9	2.48	82
George McQuillan	9	63.2	4	3	2.12	13

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Joe Oeschger	6	23.2	1	0	3.42	8

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Stan Baumgartner	16	0	2	0	2.42	27
Ben Tincup	10	0	0	0	2.03	10

Awards and honors

League top five finishers

Grover Cleveland Alexander

• MLB leader in wins (31)
• MLB leader in ERA (1.22)
• MLB leader in strikeouts (241)
• MLB leader in shutouts (12)

Dave Bancroft

• #3 in NL in runs scored (85)

Gavvy Cravath

• MLB leader in home runs (24)
• MLB leader in RBI (115)
• MLB leader in slugging percentage (.510)
• NL leader in runs scored (89)
• NL leader in on-base percentage (.393)

Fred Luderus

• #2 in NL in batting average (.315)
• #2 in NL in slugging percentage (.457)

Erskine Mayer

• #3 in NL in wins (21)

Postseason

1915 World Series

Main article: 1915 World Series

Game 1

The Phillies won 3 to 1, although The New York Times reporter Hugh Fullerton wrote, "Alexander pitched a bad game of ball. He had little or nothing." He titled his article, "Nothing but luck saved the Phillies." The Times also reported that 10,000 people gathered in New York City's Times Square to watch a real-time mechanical recreation of the game on a giant scoreboard sponsored by the newspaper. ^[2]

October 8, 1915, at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	8	1
Philadelphia	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	x	3	5	1
W: Grover Cleveland Alexander (1–0)  L: Ernie Shore (0–1)

Game 2

October 9, 1915, at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	10	0
Philadelphia	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	x	1	3	1
W: Rube Foster (1–0)  L: Erskine Mayer (0–1)

Game 3

October 11, 1915, at Braves Field in Boston, Massachusetts

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Philadelphia	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	0
Boston	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	6	1
W: Dutch Leonard (1–0)  L: Grover Cleveland Alexander (1–1)

Game 4

October 12, 1915, at Braves Field in Boston, Massachusetts

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Philadelphia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	7	0
Boston	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	x	2	8	1
W: Ernie Shore (1–1)  L: George Chalmers (0–1)

Game 5

October 13, 1915, at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	1	5	10	1
Philadelphia	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	4	9	1
W: Rube Foster (2–0)  L: Eppa Rixey (0–1)

Legacy

On October 16, 1915, a testimonial dinner was given to honor the 1915 Phillies for the franchise's first pennant. The dinner took place at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. Speakers included Philadelphia mayor Rudolph Blankenburg, Phillies owner William Baker, National League president John Tener, and Phillies manager Pat Moran. ^[3]

The team marked its 25th anniversary in 1940 when the pennant remained the club's lone to date. Gerry Nugent announced in April 1940 that the organization would welcome back the players from the 1915 team to celebrate the anniversary. Bill Killefer, Bert Neihoff, Milt Stock, and Ben Tincup all remained in organized baseball in 1940 as managers or coaches. ^[4]

Notes

1. Oscar Dugey page at Baseball Reference
2. Fullerton, Hugh S. (October 9, 1915). "Nothing but luck saved the Phillies" (PDF). The New York Times . Retrieved July 10, 2009.
3. "Title Unknown". Archived from the original on October 5, 2010. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
4. Baumgartner, Stan (April 14, 1940). "1915 Phillies to Return". The Philadelphia Inquirer . Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. p. 21.

References

• Baseball Reference: 1915 Philadelphia Phillies season

External links

• Goldman, Steven (October 24, 2008). "You Could Look It Up; 1915, the Year of Nothing". Baseball Prospectus . Retrieved July 10, 2009.
• Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society: 1915 Phillies