Offseason
- February 14, 1915: Sherry Magee was traded by the Phillies to the Boston Braves for Oscar Dugey, Possum Whitted, and cash. [1]
| 1915 Philadelphia Phillies | ||
|---|---|---|
| National League Champions | ||
| League | National League | |
| Ballpark | Baker Bowl | |
| City | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| Owners | William F. Baker | |
| Managers | Pat Moran | |
| ||
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.
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.
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Phillies | 90 | 62 | .592 | — | 49–27 | 41–35 |
| Boston Braves | 83 | 69 | .546 | 7 | 49–27 | 34–42 |
| Brooklyn Robins | 80 | 72 | .526 | 10 | 51–26 | 29–46 |
| Chicago Cubs | 73 | 80 | .477 | 17½ | 42–34 | 31–46 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 73 | 81 | .474 | 18 | 40–37 | 33–44 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 72 | 81 | .471 | 18½ | 42–36 | 30–45 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 71 | 83 | .461 | 20 | 39–37 | 32–46 |
| New York Giants | 69 | 83 | .454 | 21 | 37–38 | 32–45 |
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 | — | |||||
| 1915 Philadelphia Phillies | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders | Outfielders | Manager | ||||||
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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) | ||||||||||||
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) | ||||||||||||
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) | ||||||||||||
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) | ||||||||||||
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) | ||||||||||||
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]
Clifford Carlton "Gavvy" Cravath, also nicknamed "Cactus", was an American right fielder and right-handed batter in Major League Baseball who played primarily for the Philadelphia Phillies. One of the sport's most prolific power hitters of the dead-ball era, in the eight years from 1913 to 1920 he led the National League in home runs six times, in runs batted in, total bases and slugging percentage twice each, and in hits, runs and walks once each. He led the NL in several offensive categories in 1915 as the Phillies won the first pennant in the team's 33-year history, and he held the team's career home run record from 1917 to 1924. He is one of eight players to lead the majors in home runs for a season six times in a career. However, he played his home games at Baker Bowl, a park that was notoriously favorable to batting statistics. Cravath hit 92 career homers at Baker Bowl while he had 25 homers in all his games away from home. Moreover, he was an exceptionally slow base runner; so much so, in fact, that it was actually Cravath about whom sportswriter Bugs Baer famously wrote, "His head was sure full of larceny, but his feet were honest," a distinction which, along with Cravath's extreme lack of foot speed, has long been mistakenly ascribed to Ping Bodie.
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Delmer Ennis was an American professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1946 to 1959 for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, and Chicago White Sox. From 1949 to 1957, he accumulated more runs batted in (RBI) than anyone besides Stan Musial and was eighth in the National League (NL) in home runs. In 1950, Ennis led the NL with 126 RBI as the Phillies won their first pennant in 35 years. He held the Phillies career record of 259 home runs from 1956 to 1980, and ranked 10th in National League history with 1,824 games in the outfield, when his career ended.
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