Phillies To Honor Team That Won Franchise's First Pennant...100 Years Ago
By Paul Kurtz
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - It's no coincidence the Phillies are opening their season with the Boston Red Sox. One hundred years ago, the Phillies won their first-ever National League pennant and went on to play the Red Sox in the World Series. That squad will be honored at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday.
The 1915 Phillies were a star-studded group, featuring sluggers such as Gavvy Cravath and Fred Luderis, reliable hitters and fielders like Dode Paskert and Dave "Beauty" Bancroft, and a pitching staff anchored by the immortal Grover Cleveland Alexander.
Author and baseball historian Bill Kashatus says Alex was a 31 game winner that year.
"He was the key to that season," he says. "He pitched three one-hitters in one month. Then he pitched a fourth one-hitter, so he could have easily had four no-hitters."
The Phillies set a team record by winning their first four games and zoomed into first place.
"They held first place from the very beginning of the season until the end of May when they were briefly displaced by the Cubs," explains Kashatus "They took over for first place for good on July the 13th."
Author and Phillies historian Rich Westcott says the 1915 team also led the league in nicknames.
"There was 'Reindeer Bill,' 'Beauty,' 'Possum,' 'Dode,' 'Handle Hit,' 'Cactus,' 'Bareback' and the Manager -- Pat Moran's nickname was 'Whiskey Face,'" Westcott says.
"Whiskey Face" led the Phillies to a first place finish when they clinched their first pennant on September 29th. But that's where the celebration ended. After winning Game One of the World Series, the Phils were swept by a Boston Red Sox team that featured a 19-year-old rookie named Babe Ruth.
Kashatus says the Phillies ended up crying in their beer.
"They had a couple of kegs," he says. "Some of the players got so inebriated, including Bill Killefer. He couldn't even stand up. His teammates had to carry him to the Broad Street train station and put on a train for Michigan, his office season home."
The Phillies and their fans had to wait another 35 years for their second pennant.
