1915 Philadelphia Phillies season

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.

1915 Philadelphia Phillies
National League Champions
LeagueNational League
BallparkBaker Bowl
CityPhiladelphia
OwnersWilliam F. Baker
ManagersPat Moran
← 1914 Seasons 1916 →

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 edit

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

Regular season edit

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 edit

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 edit


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
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 edit

1915 Philadelphia Phillies
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Player stats edit

Batting edit

Starters by position edit

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 edit

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 edit

Starting pitchers edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

League top five finishers edit

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 edit

1915 World Series edit

Game 1 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

  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 edit

External links edit