1915 Philadelphia Athletics season

1915 Philadelphia Athletics
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Shibe Park (since 1909)
Philadelphia (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Connie Mack, Benjamin Shibe, Tom Shibe and John Shibe
Manager(s)	Connie Mack
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The 1915 Philadelphia Athletics season was a season in American baseball. After the team won the American League pennant in 1914, the team dropped all the way to last place with a record of 43 wins and 109 losses.

Offseason

• December 8, 1914: Eddie Collins was purchased from the Athletics by the Chicago White Sox.^[1]
• January 1915, Nap Lajoie was purchased by the Athletics from the Cleveland Indians.^[2]

Regular season

The Federal League had been formed to begin play in 1914. As the A.L. had done 13 years before, the new league raided existing A.L. and N.L. teams for players. Athletics owner Connie Mack refused to match the offers of the F.L. teams, preferring to let the "prima donnas" go and rebuild with younger (and less expensive) players. The result was a swift and near-total collapse, a "first-to-worst" situation. The Athletics went from a 99–53 (.651) record and a pennant in 1914 to a record of 43–109 (.283) and 8th (last) place in 1915. At the time, it was the third-worst winning percentage in American League history. The infield of Whitey Witt, Charlie Pick and Nap Lajoie was derisively known as the "$10 Infield".^[3]

Season highlights

• June 23, 1915: Athletics pitcher Bruno Haas set an American League record by walking 16 Yankees in one game.^[4]

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Red Sox	101	50	0.669	—	55–20	46–30
Detroit Tigers	100	54	0.649	2½	51–26	49–28
Chicago White Sox	93	61	0.604	9½	54–24	39–37
Washington Senators	85	68	0.556	17	50–29	35–39
New York Yankees	69	83	0.454	32½	37–43	32–40
St. Louis Browns	63	91	0.409	39½	35–38	28–53
Cleveland Indians	57	95	0.375	44½	27–50	30–45
Philadelphia Athletics	43	109	0.283	58½	19–53	24–56

Record vs. opponents

1915 American League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHI	STL	WSH
Boston	—	12–10	16–4	14–8	10–12	17–5–1	17–5–2	15–6–1
Chicago	10–12	—	16–6	7–15	15–7	19–3	18–4	8–14–1
Cleveland	4–16	6–16	—	5–17	9–13–1	15–7–1	12–10	6–16
Detroit	8–14	15–7	17–5	—	17–5	17–5	13–9–2	13–9
New York	12–10	7–15	13–9–1	5–17	—	11–9	12–10–1	9–13
Philadelphia	5–17–1	3–19	7–15–1	5–17	9–11	—	6–16	8–14
St. Louis	5–17–2	4–18	10–12	9–13–2	10–12–1	16–6	—	9–13
Washington	6–15–1	14–8–1	16–6	9–13	13–9	14–8	13–9	—

Roster

1915 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Walter Ancker Rube Bressler Joe Bush Bob Cone Cap Crowell Bud Davis Harry Eccles Dana Fillingim Bruno Haas Jack Harper Tom Knowlson Bill Meehan Bill Morrisette Elmer Myers Jack Nabors Herb Pennock Bob Pepper Squiz Pillion Carl Ray Jack Richardson Bob Shawkey Tom Sheehan Joe Sherman Tink Turner Harry Weaver Weldon Wyckoff		Catchers Bill Haeffner Jack Lapp Wickey McAvoy Cy Perkins Ira Thomas Infielders Jack Barry Henry Bostick Owen Conway Art Corcoran Sam Crane Harry Damrau Buck Danner Harry Davis Ralph Edwards Thomas Healy Larry Kopf Nap Lajoie Fred Lear Lew Malone Sam McConnell Stuffy McInnis Wally Schang Socks Seibold		Outfielders Everett Bankston Chick Davies Eddie Murphy Rube Oldring Amos Strunk Shag Thompson Jimmy Walsh		Manager Connie Mack

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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	Lapp, JackJack Lapp	112	312	85	.272	2	31
1B	McInnis, StuffyStuffy McInnis	119	456	143	.314	0	49
2B	Lajoie, NapNap Lajoie	129	490	137	.280	1	61
OF	Oldring, RubeRube Oldring	107	408	101	.248	6	42

Other batters

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
Murphy, EddieEddie Murphy	68	260	60	.231	0	17
Thompson, ShagShag Thompson	17	33	11	.333	0	2
Seibold, SocksSocks Seibold	10	26	3	.115	0	2
Crane, SamSam Crane	8	23	2	.087	0	1
Haas, BrunoBruno Haas	12	18	1	.056	0	0
McConnell, SamSam McConnell	6	11	2	.182	0	0
Davis, HarryHarry Davis	5	3	1	.333	0	4
Lear, FredFred Lear	2	2	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Wyckoff, WeldonWeldon Wyckoff	43	276	10	22	3.52	157
Bush, JoeJoe Bush	25	145.2	5	15	4.14	89
Crowell, CapCap Crowell	10	54.1	2	6	5.47	15
Turner, TinkTink Turner	1	2	0	1	22.50	0
Cone, BobBob Cone	1	0.2	0	0	40.50	0

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Bressler, RubeRube Bressler	32	178.1	4	17	5.20	69
Knowlson, TomTom Knowlson	18	100.2	4	6	3.49	24
Fillingim, DanaDana Fillingim	8	39.1	0	5	3.43	17
Eccles, HarryHarry Eccles	5	21	0	1	4.71	13
Morrisette, BillBill Morrisette	4	20	2	0	1.35	11
Ancker, WalterWalter Ancker	4	17.2	0	0	3.57	4
Haas, BrunoBruno Haas	6	14.1	0	1	11.93	7
Ray, CarlCarl Ray	2	7.1	0	1	4.91	6

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Davis, BudBud Davis	18	0	2	0	4.05	18
Harper, JackJack Harper	3	0	0	0	3.12	3
Pillion, SquizSquiz Pillion	2	0	0	0	6.75	0

Awards and honors

League top five finishers

Rube Bressler

• #2 in AL in earned runs allowed (103)

Bullet Joe Bush

• #3 in AL in wild pitches (10)

Rube Oldring

• #2 in AL in home runs (6)

Weldon Wyckoff

• AL leader in losses (22)
• AL leader in earned runs allowed (108)
• AL leader in walks allowed (165)
• AL leader in wild pitches (14)
• #3 in AL in strikeouts (157)

References

1. Eddie Collins page at Baseball Reference
2. Nap Lajoie page at Baseball Reference
3. Hollingsworth, Harry (1994). The Best & Worst Baseball Teams of All Time: From the '16 A's to the '27 Yanks to the Present!. United States: SPI Books. p. 187. ISBN 1561713082.
4. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 25, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0

External links

• 1915 Philadelphia Athletics team page at Baseball Reference
• 1915 Philadelphia Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com