| 1915 Philadelphia Phillies | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National League champions | ||||
| League | National League | |||
| Ballpark | Baker Bowl | |||
| City | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |||
| Owners | William F. Baker | |||
| Managers | Pat Moran | |||
| ||||
The1915Philadelphia Phillies season was a season in Americanbaseball. It involved the Phillies winning theNational League, then going on to lose theWorld Series to theBoston Red Sox.
This was the team's firstpennant since joining the league in 1883. It would have to waitanother thirty-five years for its second — and another sixty-five years for itsfirst World Championship.
The pitching staff allowed the fewest runs in the NL. It was led byHall of FamerGrover Cleveland Alexander, who had one of the greatest seasons in history and won thepitching triple crown.
OutfielderGavvy Cravath, aided by the smallBaker Bowl park, led the majors inhome runs,runs batted in, andslugging 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:[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BSN | BRO | CHI | 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, althoughThe New York Times reporterHugh 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'sTimes Square to watch a real-time mechanical recreation of the game on a giant scoreboard sponsored by the newspaper.[2]
October 8, 1915, atNational League Park inPhiladelphia
| 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, atNational League Park inPhiladelphia
| 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, atBraves Field inBoston, 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, atBraves Field inBoston, 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, atNational League Park inPhiladelphia
| 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 atThe Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. Speakers included Philadelphia mayorRudolph Blankenburg, Phillies ownerWilliam Baker,National League presidentJohn Tener, and Phillies managerPat 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]
