1907 Philadelphia Athletics

1907 Philadelphia Athletics / Franchise: Oakland Athletics / BR Team Page

Record: 88-57, Finished 2nd in American League (1907 AL)

Managed by Connie Mack

Ballpark: Columbia Park

History, Comments, Contributions

The 1907 Philadelphia Athletics made a strong push to win the American League pennant. At the beginning of September, they were in second-place in a four-team race, and reached first place on September 4th, a position they would hold with a slim lead over the Detroit Tigers until September 20th. However, as in previous seasons, ace Rube Waddell proved to be ineffective down the stretch, losing his final two starts, setting up a three-game series with Detroit starting on September 27th. At that point, the A's had a higher winning percentage than the Tigers, by virtue of a 83-54 record, but were still half a game behind the Tigers, who were 86-56. The Tigers won the opener, then after rain wiped out the Saturday game, and due to laws against Sunday baseball in Pennsylvania, a double header was played on the Monday, September 30th. With 25,000 fans packing Columbia Park, the Athletics took an early 3-0 lead against Wild Bill Donovan in the opener, but the Tigers threatened to come back in the 2nd, Connie Mack replaced Jimmy Dygert with Waddell, and the A's built a 7-1 lead by the end of the 5th. However, Detroit scored 4 runs against Waddell in the 7th, then score 3 more over the next two innings while Philadelphia replied with one run, and the game was tied at 8-all after regulation innings. Both teams scored a run in the 11th, and the A's were denied a likely winning run in the 14th when Harry Davis was ruled out on fan interference by umpire Silk O'Loughlin, a call with which Philadelphia disagreed vehemently. The two teams played three more scoreless innings before the game was called on account of darkness and ruled a tie, with the second game being cancelled as well.

The Athletics never had a chance to replay those two games against Detroit. The Tigers swept a four-game series against the lowly Washington Senators while Philly only won two of three from the Indians, then split a doubleheader against the Senators, as rookie Walter Johnson pitched a 10-inning complete game to defeat them, 2-1, in the opener. They still had a chance to catch Detroit after they swept another twinbill with the Senators on October 5th, but it would have required the Tigers losing all three of their remaining games against the St. Louis Browns, and the Tigers managed to win one of the three. The Tigers therefore won the pennant in spite of losing one more game than the Athletics, finishing at 88-57 while the Tigers went 92-58.

Standings

American League	W	L	T	GB	Pct.
Detroit Tigers	92	58	3	--	.613
Philadelphia Athletics	88	57	5	1½	.607
Chicago White Sox	85	67	6	5½	.576
Cleveland Naps	85	67	6	8	.559
New York Highlanders	70	78	4	21	.473
St. Louis Browns	69	83	3	24	.454
Boston Americans	59	90	6	32½	.396
Washington Senators	49	102	3	43½	.325