1915 World Series

In the 1915 World Series, the Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies four games to one.

In their only World Series before 1950, the Phillies won Game 1 before being swept the rest of the way. It was 65 years before the Phillies won their next Series game. The Red Sox pitching was so strong in the 1915 series that the young Babe Ruth was not used on the mound and only made a single pinch-hitting appearance.

Series Arrangements

Arrangements for the Series were made on October 2, 1915 in a meeting of the team owners, league presidents, and National Commission at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Red Sox owner Joseph Lannin lost the coin toss and Phillies owner William F. Baker chose to have the first two games of the Series in Philadelphia. The league presidents selected the umpires and it was announced that J. G. Taylor Spink would be one of the official scorers.

One controversy surrounded the allocation of tickets to the Red Sox' Royal Rooters fan club. Each visiting team was allocated 200 tickets; the Red Sox requested an additional 400 on behalf of their supporters. The Phillies' Baker Bowl sat only 20,000 and William Baker refused to allocate additional tickets for visiting fans. The matter was resolved when National Commission chairman Garry Herrmann chose to give the Red Sox tickets from the National Commission's Series allocation.^[1]

Series Summary

The Phillies won Game 1, 3–1, although 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]

In Game 2, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was in attendance, making it the first time that a President watched a World Series game live.

This was the second straight year that a Boston team beat a Philadelphia team in the World Series: the Braves had swept the Athletics the year before.

This was one instance where each home field was very much an advantage, at least in some circumstances. 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. Beyond the added revenue, the long ball was affected:

• In the top of the third inning of Game 3 at Boston, with two out, one run in, and two runners in scoring position, the Phillies' 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.
• The Phillies had packed some extra outfield seats into their already-small ballfield. The effect was most noticeable in the decisive Game 5, in which Boston's Harry Hooper twice homered over the close-in center field fence, and Duffy Lewis followed suit. In Braves Field, those would have been extra-base hits at best. Both of Hooper's hits, including the eventual game-winner in the top of the ninth, actually bounced over the fence, and were home runs under the rules of the day. They would be ground-rule doubles today.

Summary

AL Boston Red Sox (4) vs. NL Philadelphia Phillies (1)

Matchups

Game 1

Friday, October 8, 1915 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Game 2

Saturday, October 9, 1915 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Game 3

Monday, October 11, 1915 at Braves Field in Boston, Massachusetts

Game 4

Tuesday, October 12, 1915 at Braves Field in Boston, Massachusetts

Game 5

Wednesday, October 13, 1915 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Red Sox won on Harry Hooper's two home runs. Duffy Lewis hit one out too in the victory.

Composite box

1915 World Series (4–1): Boston Red Sox (A.L.) over Philadelphia Phillies (N.L.)

Notes

References

• Cohen, Richard M.; Neft, David S. (1990). The World Series: Complete Play-By-Play of Every Game, 1903–1989. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 57–60. ISBN 0-312-03960-3. 
• Forman, Sean L., ed. "1915 World Series". Baseball-Reference.com — Major League Baseball Statistics and History. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1915_WS.shtml. Retrieved 2007-12-07. 
• Reichler, Joseph (1982). The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.). MacMillian Publishing. p. 2123. ISBN 0-02-579010-2. 

External links

• 1915 World Series at WorldSeries.com (MLB.com)
• 1915 World Series at Baseball Almanac
• 1915 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com
• The 1915 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) at Retrosheet
• History of the World Series - 1915 at The SportingNews. Archived from the original on 2008.