Over 18,000 witness their Athletics get walloped by the Detroiters
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Harry Krause and Jimmy Dygert are lammed for 14 runs and 19 hits as Mackmen play worst game of the season
PHILADELPHIA, May 19, 1910 – A huge crowd turned out to witness the Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers renew their bitter rivalry this afternoon. What they witnessed was not much in the way of a baseball game. The Athletics resembled a ragtag bunch of bush leaguers as the Tigers thoroughly walloped the home nine by a 14-2 score.
The second largest gathering of the season arrived at the magnificent baseball plant to give the Tigers a proper greeting during their first trip into town this year. The jeering commenced when the Tigers took the field for their round of pregame practice. The large majority of the vitriol was hurled in the direction of the loyalists’ favorite villain – Ty Cobb. The young Georgian is still reviled after spiking Frank Baker at Bennett Park in the heat of last season’s pennant race and for his dramatic, ninth-inning home run at Columbia Park in 1907, which, for all intents and purposes, cost the Elephants the pennant.
Manager Connie Mack was not in attendance yesterday. Mr. Mack has come down with a bad cold and was confined to his house. He did, however, make out the lineup card and handed the reigns over to the capable hands of captain Harry Davis. Mack decided that left-hander Harry Krause should get the ball to lift the lid on the four-game series.
As the contest progressed, it was quite evident to all in attendance that the slender San Franciscan had accumulated quite a layer of rust on his pitching wing. Krause had not pitched in a game since his May 6 duel with the great Walter Johnson – thirteen days ago. For the first few innings, it seemed like a stroke of genius. That is, until the proverbial wheels fell off.
Krause started the top of the first inning in fine fashion. He struck out the pesky Davy Jones leading off the game and ended the 1-2-3 frame by fanning the incomparable Cobb. He followed that up by retiring the side in order the following inning. Meanwhile, the Mackmen scratched across a run in the bottom of the second inning off veteran Detroit starter George Mullin.
Wabash George as the hefty ball tosser is known, has given Mack’s boys fits ever since he first donned the Tigers uniform in 1902. With one down in the second, Davis singled to right. As Mullin delivered a pitch to Danny Murphy, Davis took off on a hit-and-run. Murphy lined the ball down the left field line where Jones neatly cut it off before it could roll all the way to the wall. While Murphy, inexplicably, stopped at first, Davis never broke stride. Amos Strunk was waving him home, challenging Jones’s arm. The throw home was late and Murphy took second. Mullin quickly retired Jack Barry and Ira Thomas to quell the uprising.
Krause could not hold the Tigers down in the third. Veteran first sacker Tom Jones sliced a single to right field to start the inning. Husky backstop Oscar Stanage followed by floating a Texas Leaguer out to the left pasture to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Mullin lined one to left for a safety and Jones raced home with the tying run.
Detroit skipper Hughie Jennings asked Davy Jones to sacrifice and he dropped a beauty of a bunt down the third base line. Third baseman Frank Baker had only one play – and, he had to hurry to even make that play. He fired to first, nabbing Jones by a whisker, moving Stanage and Mullin up a station. Diminutive shortstop Donie Bush brought Stanage home when he smacked a single to left, giving the Tiges a 2-1 lead – a lead they would never relinquish.
With Mullin taking third on Bush’s run-scoring single, Bush advanced to second on left fielder Topsy Hartsel’s foolish heave to the dish. The Detroiters were now set up to inflict major damage – two in scoring position, one down, with Cobb and Sam Crawford waiting in the wings. Davis ordered the infield to play in with Cobb at the dish – a frightening proposition for even the most fearless infielder. Cobb smashed a ground ball at Baker, who held Mullin at third and got his man at first. Wahoo Sam fanned and Krause, for the time being, avoided catastrophe.
Once Mullin retired the Mackmen with nothing across in the bottom of the third, the Tigers put the game on ice in the fourth – pummeling the Macks into submission. The inning commenced innocently enough; Jim Delahanty popped one a mile high behind the dish where Thomas hauled it in for the initial out. George Moriarty, Tom Jones, and Stanage unleashed a fusillade – all singling in succession. Moriarty scored on Stanage’s bingle with Jones heading to third.
Runners were now on the corners and the Athletics gift wrapped Detroit another run. With Mullin now at-bat, Stanage was taking a big lead at first. Krause noticed a chance at a pick off and getting out of the jam with minimum damage. As soon as Krause lifted his right leg, Stanage was off – hauling his ice wagon to second base. Krause threw to Davis at first who in turn fired a perfect strike to Barry covering second.
Barry peeked over to third to see if Tom Jones was heading home – he was not. Stanage slammed on his brakes and tried to get into a rundown. While Barry was chasing the big catcher back toward first, he had one eye on third base. Black Jack fired in Davis’s direction. Jasper, however, would have needed to be at least eight feet tall to haul in Barry’s wild heave. Tom Jones tallied and Stanage waltzed down to second.
Now faced with a 4-1 deficit, Krause struck out Mullin for the second out but ending up handing lead off man Davy Jones a free pass. The Athletics were not finished shooting themselves in the proverbial foot. They should have been in the dugout facing only a 3-1 deficit. Bush popped a high foul behind home plate just like Delahanty did to start the frame. Unlike his first chance, Thomas clanked this one. Instead of making the third out, Bush made the most of his reprieve. He promptly walloped a double to left field, scoring Stanage and ending the day for Krause.
Davis’s decision to lift Krause at this point was a curious one. Cobb was due up next and had not looked comfortable in his previous two at-bats against Hal. Sure, the Tigers hit him freely over 3 2/3 innings. But, many of the hits were not solid and his defense did not help him in crucial situations. Davis summoned spitballer Jimmy Dygert to take over. Cobb immediately ripped a single past a diving Davis, scoring Davy Jones and Bush.
The Georgia Peach wasted no time, stealing second base on the first pitch and coming around to score on Crawford’s single to right. Once again, the Mackmen handed the Tigers an extra base – Murphy made an uncalled for throw home. Cobb tallied easily with his blazing speed and Crawford took second on Danny’s throw. Now up for the second time in the inning, Delahanty ripped a single to left which plated Crawford for the visitors’ seventh run of the frame. Moriarty fouled out to Thomas – mercifully ending the inning for the home nine.
With the combination of their team being down 9-1 after three and a half innings and the late, four o’clock start time, many loyalists headed for the exits and home to a warm, early supper. They assumed this game was a lost cause. They were correct. The Tigers scored one in the fifth, two more in the sixth, one in the seventh, and one final run in the ninth. All of the damage coming off Jimmy Dygert who ended up taking one for the team – allowing eight runs on ten hits during his relief outing.
The Athletics tallied a lonely run in the bottom of the eighth for good measure. Facing relief man Frank Browning, Hartsel walked and raced across the pan on a long triple by Eddie Collins. By then, only a small handful of die hard rooters remained to witness the winning streak come to a halt. This one ended with a loud thud.
Only one word is necessary when describing the hostilities that transpired at the corner of Twenty-First and Lehigh this afternoon – ugly!
The box is as follows:
NOTES:
- Once the game was out of reach, Davis lifted himself at first base in favor of Ben Houser, and replaced Danny Murphy in right with Heinie Heitmuller.
- Detroit manager Hughie Jennings moved Sam Crawford from center to right field and Ty Cobb from right to center field. The move is widely believed to give Crawford’s sore legs less ground to cover.
- Tigers pitcher Wild Bill Donovan was ejected by home plate umpire Jack Sheridan for arguing balls and strikes from the bench during the second inning.
- 10 of 11 Tigers used by Jennings scored at least one run during the ambush. Reliever Frank Browning was the only one that didn’t score; he was asked to sacrifice during his only plate appearance.
- The two teams play the second game of the four-game series this afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 4 o’clock.
American League
Yesterday’s scores (May 19, 1910):
- Detroit 14, Philadelphia 2
- Boston 3, Chicago 0
- Washington 5, St. Louis 0
- New York 4, Cleveland 3 (10 innings)
National League
Yesterday’s scores (May 19, 1910):
- St. Louis 9, Philadelphia 1
- Chicago 4, Brooklyn 2
- Cincinnati 8, New York 7
- Boston 6, Pittsburgh 3
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