1911 Philadelphia Phillies

1911 Philadelphia Phillies / Franchise: Philadelphia Phillies / BR Team Page

Record: 79-73, Finished 4th in National League (1911 NL)

Managed by Red Dooin

Coach: Kid Gleason

Ballpark: National League Park (Philadelphia)

History, Comments, Contributions

The 1911 Philadelphia Phillies were the beneficiaries of one of the greatest rookie seasons of all time, by one Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander, who went 28-13 with a 2.57 ERA in 367 innings. Alexander led the National League in wins, complete games, shutouts and innings pitched and turned what had been a mediocre team into a pennant contender. As of July 18th, they were in first place, 1 1/2 games ahead of the powerful New York Giants. Another big contributor was 1B Fred Luderus, who was among the league leaders in all sorts of batting categories in his first season as a regular after being obtained in an off-season trade with the Chicago Cubs. However, on July 10th, one of their key players, OF Sherry Magee, had been suspended for the remainder of the year for attacking umpire Bill Finneran, and they had a tenty-game road trip coming up starting on July 24th.

Much like Hannibal and his elephants, the road turned the Phils into bums, as they lost C Red Dooin, their player-manager on July 26th when Rebel Oakes of the St. Louis Cardinals slid into him, breaking his leg and ending his season. They managed to get Magee's suspension lifted by mid-August and got back another outfielder, John Titus, who had been out since May with a broken ankle, but they completed the trip with a record of 6-13 and had fallen into 4th place, where they ended the season.

Further Reading

• Eric Marshall White: "A Baseball with a Story: Fireworks in Philadelphia, July 4, 1911", in The Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 40, Number 1 (Spring 2011), pp. 113-117.