Game Five 1915 World Series

Since the Tampa Bay Rays are making their first trip to the World Series, Rattler Radio is looking back at the first time the Philadelphia Phillies made the Fall Classic.

The 1915 World Series returned to the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia on October 13 with the Phillies trailing the Boston Red Sox 3-1. They would be facing Rube Foster while sending Erskine Mayer to the mound.

The Phils jumped on Foster early, but it could have been more. They loaded the bases with no outs. But, Gavvy Cravath grounded into a 1-2-3 double play. Fred Luderus picked up his teammate with a double that drove in a pair of runs for the lead.

But, Mayer allowed the Sox to tie the game with single runs in the second and third. The tying run in the third inning was a bounce home run by Harry Hooper. One out later, Tris Speaker singles and that was the end of the line for Mayer. Eppa Rixey relieved and got out of the inning.

Philadelphia got the lead back in the bottom of the fourth. Luderus smacked a solo homer for a 3-2 advantage. An error by Hooper on a single allowed another run to score and the Phillies were up by a pair of runs.

Rixey held onto the lead until the eighth. Pinch-hitter Del Gainer singled to start the inning. Then, Duffy Lewis homered. Game tied.

Philadelphia got a pair of runners on against Foster with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. But, could not score.

Foster struck out to start the top of the ninth. Then, Hooper hit his second bounce home run of the game and the Red Sox were up 5-4.

Foster worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth and the Red Sox captured their third World Series title.

Box score and play-by-play

The Phillies would not go back to the World Series until 1950. The Red Sox would beat the Dodgers in 1916 to win back-to-back titles.

Game Four 1915 World Series

Since the Tampa Bay Rays are in their first World Series, Rattler Radio is taking a look back at the first time the Philadelphia Phillies made it to the Fall Classic.

The Boston Red Sox were heading into Game Four of the 1915 Word Series leading leading the Phillies 2-1 in games. Boston won Game Three 2-1 with a run in the bottom of the ninth.

Game Four's pitching matchup at Braves Field in Boston was George Chalmers for the Phillies against Ernie Shore for the Red Sox on October 12.

The Red Sox scored first with a run in the bottom of the third. A walk to Jack Barry was followed by a bunt single from Hick Cady to put runners on first and second with no outs. Shore's sacrifice bunt moved the runners into scoring position. Harry Hooper drove in Barry with an infield single.

Boston added to their lead in the sixth. Dick Hoblitzell singled with one out. Duffy Lewis followed with double to left and the Sox were up 2-0.

Shore was working on a five hit shutout through the first 7-2/3 innings. But, the Phillies put him in trouble in the eighth. Gavvy Cravath tripled with two outs. Fred Luderus singled to drive in Cravath and make the score 2-1. Oscar Dugey pinch ran for Luderus and stole second to get the tying run to second base. But, Shore got out of the frame by getting Possum Whitted to ground out.

Shore worked a perfect ninth inning and earned the win to put the Red Sox up 3 games to 1 in the 1915 World Series.

Box score & Play-by-play

There was no travel day Game Five of the 1915 World Series despite the fact that the game was back at the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.

Game Five Pitching Matchup:
BOS: Rube Foster (19-8, 2.11)
PHI: Erskine Mayer (21-15, 2.36)

Game Three 1915 World Series

Since the Tampa Bay Rays are in their first World Series, Rattler Radio is taking a look back at the first time the Philadelphia Phillies made the Fall Classic.

After splitting the first two games of the 1915 World Series at the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, the Phillies and the Boston Red Sox traveled to Boston. But, none of the games would be played at Fenway Park. The Red Sox had worked out a deal to play their World Series home games at Braves Field, the home of the National League's Boston Braves. Why? Take it away Wikipedia:

Fenway Park had been open for four seasons and was fully functional in 1915, but the Red Sox "home" games were played at the brand-new Braves Field, to take advantage of its larger seating capacity.

It seems only fair. In 1914, the Braves had used Fenway Park during their run to a championship. Back to the Wiki:

They had abandoned their 43-year-old home field South End Grounds, in late summer, choosing to rent from the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park while awaiting construction of Braves Field. Thus their home games in this Series were also at Fenway.

To Game Three of the 1915 Series!

This game was played on October 11, 1915 and the Phillies came back with their starting pitcher from Game One, Grover Alexander. The future Hall of Famer won 31 games in the regular season and had won Game One in Philadelphia on October 8. The Red Sox did not respond with their Game One starting pitcher. They stayed on rotation and went to Dutch Leonard. The decision worked early for the Phils.

Leonard surrendered a run in the top of the third inning. Dave Bancroft -- who died in Superior, Wisconsin in 1972 and is buried at Greenwood Cemetery there -- drove in the run for the Phillies with a two-out single. Then, a play happened in Braves Field that may not have happened at Fenway Park.

In the third inning of Game 3 at Boston, with two out, one run in, and two runners in scoring position, Gavvy Cravath drove a pitch deep to left field, which was caught for a harmless inning-ending out in the spacious Braves Field outfield. If the game had occurred in Fenway, or in Philadelphia's Baker Bowl, it might have been a home run or an extra-base hit, and might have turned the Series around.

Still, Alexander pitched a scoreless bottom of the third. But, he couldn't keep the Red Sox from tying things up in the fourth.

Tris Speaker tripled with one out. Dick Hoblitzell followed with a sacrifice fly and Speaker scored. The score remained tied until the ninth inning.

Leonard shutdown the Phillies after the single by Bancroft. Not only was it was the third and final hit for Philadelphia in the game, Bancroft was the last baserunner for the Phillies in the game. Leonard retired the final 19 Phillies he faced.

Speaker got on with a lead-off single in the bottom of the seventh, but he was erased on a double play. That was the one of two hits that Alexander gave up between the Speaker triple in the fourth and the bottom of the ninth.

In the bottom of the ninth, Harry Hooper singled to start the frame. A sacrifice bunt moved Hooper to second and brought Speaker to the plate again. Alexander elected to walk Speaker intentionally. Hoblitzell grounded out to second and both runners moved up a base.

Alexander needed one more out to get out of the inning and send the game to extra innings. In his way was Duffy Lewis. Lewis had success against Alexander early in the game. He had singled in the second and again in the seventh -- after the double play.

Duffy singled in the ninth to drive in Hooper with the winning run to give the Red Sox a 2-1 victory in Game Three and a 2-1 lead in the 1915 World Series.

Box score and play-by-play

Game Four Pitching matchup:
PHI: George Chalmers (8-9, 2.48)
BOS: Ernie Shore (19-8, 1.64)

Game Two 1915 World Series

Since the Rays are in their first World Series, Rattler Radio is taking a look back at the first time the Phillies made it to the Fall Classic.

Philadelphia had a 1-0 lead in the series after beating the Boston Red Sox in Game One of the 1915 World Series.

Game Two at the Baker Bowl featured Rube Foster for the Red Sox against Erskine Mayer for the Phils on Saturday, October 9.

Boston jumped to an early lead with a run in the first inning thanks to an error on an attempted double steal.

Harry Hooper started the game by drawing a walk, went to second on a bunt and took third on a single by Tris Speaker. Phillie catcher Ed Burns threw Speaker out at second, but Burns dropped the return throw to the plate and Hooper was safe.

Foster retired the first 12 batters he faced. Then, Gravvy Cravath doubled to start the fifth inning. Fred Luderus followed with a double and the game was tied 1-1. Foster would allow just one more hit the rest of the game.

Mayer was not as efficient -- he allowed 10 hits in the game, but he kept the score tied until the top of the ninth. Larry Gardner singled to start the inning and was standing on second with two outs and Foster coming to the plate.

Foster hit .277 with a homer and nine RBI in 83 at bats during the regular season. Against Mayer, Foster sacked a single to center and Gardner scored the go-ahead run for a 2-1 Red Sox lead.

After driving in the run, Foster went to the mound and retired the Phillies in order to even the 1915 World Series at a win a piece.

Complete box score and play-by-play

Game Three is scheduled for Monday, October 11. But, it would not be played at Fenway Park. The Red Sox had worked out a deal to play their home games during this World Series at Braves Field, the larger home of the National League team in Boston.

Game Three Pitching matchup:
PHI: Pete Alexander (31-10, 1.22)
BOS: Dutch Leonard (15-7, 2.36)

Phils First World Series

The Rays are playing their first World Series game tonight against the Phillies. During the Detroit-St. Louis World series of 2006, this blog took a look back at the previous meetings (1934 & 1968) between the Tigers and Cardinals.

That isn't an option this year.

So, here is a look at the first time the Phillies made it to the World Series. Dial up the Wayback Machine to 1915 and a Philadelphia Boston Fall Classic.
Game One was at the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia on October 8. Philadelphia went 90-62 and won the NL by seven games over the Boston Braves. The Red Sox went 101-50 and won the AL by 2.5 games over Detroit.

The Game One pitching matchup:
BOS: Ernie Shore (19-8, 1.64)
PHI: Grover Alexander (31-10, 1.22)

The Phillies scored first with a run in the bottom of the fourth. George "Possum" Whitted drove in Gavvy Cravath with an infield single.

Boston tied the game with a run in the top of the eighth inning. Tris Speaker walked with one out, moved to second on a groundout, and scored on a two-out single by Duffy Lewis.

The Phils answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth. They loaded the bases with one out against Shore. Cravath drove in the go-ahead run with a groundout. Fred Luderus singled in the second run for a 3-1 lead.

Side note on Luderus. He is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin native and is buried in Pinelawn Memorial Park in Milwaukee.

Back to the game: In the top of the ninth, Alexander -- who had scattered eight hits over the first eight innings -- struck out the first batter. Then, an error brought the tying run to the plate. But, Shore was due up.

So, that tying run was a 20-year-old pinch hitter. This youngster was a pitcher during the year and went 18-8 in 28 starts, but he hit four homers during the year. He would go on to hit about 710 more homers in his career.

Alexander got Babe Ruth to ground out to first base in Ruth's first World Series at bat. Alexander got the final out on a popup and the Phillies had a 1-0 lead in the series.

Game Two's scheduled pitching matchup:
BOS: Rube Foster (19-8, 2.11)
PHI: Erskine Mayer (21-15, 2.36)