Philadelphia Athletics - The First World War Era (1910-1919)

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102

1910

101

Decade

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104

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1916

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Titles:

Top Athletics Players of the World War I Era

1910 World Champs (Beat Cubs)

1911 World Champs (Beat Giants)

Pitchers:

1913 World Champs (Beat Giants)

Eddie Plank (18.61) - 57

1914 AL Champs (Lost to Braves)

Chief Bender (20.53) - 54

Jack Coombs (12.74) - 51

Ballpark:

Bullet Joe Bush (8.13) - 32

Shibe Park

Cy Morgan (5.51) - 19

Scott Perry (10.68) - 18

Team Name: Athletics

Boardwalk Brown (0.33) - 14

Athletics

Bob Shawkey (3.24) - 11

Herb Pennock (0.54) - 3

Owner:

Rube Bressler (0.17) - 3

Ben Shibe (50%)

Connie Mack (25% 1910-11, 50% 1912-1919)

Catchers:

Wally Schang (15) - 37

General Manager:

Jack Lapp (12.03) - 28

Manager:

First Basemen:

Connie Mack

Stuffy McInnis (25.92) - 53

George Burns (7.99) - 21

No Hitters:

Chief Bender (1910)

Second Basemen:

Bullet Joe Bush (1916)

Eddie Collins (43.87) - 83

Hall of Famers:

ShortStop:

Home Run Baker

Jack Barry (20.41) - 41

Chief Bender

Whitey Witt (3.43) - 16

Eddie Collins

Herb Pennock

Third Base:

Eddie Plank

Home Run Baker (36.2) - 66

Connie Mack

Herb Pennock

Outfield:

Stan Coveleski

Amos Strunk (23.36) - 57

Rube Oldring (12.2) - 42

MVP:

Tilly Walker (5.3) - 22

Eddie Collins (1914)

Danny Murphy (9.94) - 22

Jimmy Walsh (4.93) - 17

Notable Events:

Eddie Murphy (5.06) - 16

Bris Lord (6.56) - 12

1910 - Connie Mack has built an incredibly talented young roster moving into

the decade. This was done over the last half of the Oughts and he continued

Notable Events:

signing top young pitching talent thru the first half of the Teens.

1915 - Ace pitchers Chief Bender and Eddie Plank jump to the Federal

1910 - Mack's infield was sensational, young and talented:

League. Unclear if Mack's pique at the World Series loss had an effect

1B - Stuffy McInnis, 19; 2B - Eddie Collins, 23 SS - Jack Barry, 24 and

on their leaving.

3B - Home Run Baker - 24. Note that thirty six year old first baseman

Harry Davis was still going strong and blocking McInnis in 1910.

1915 - Connie Mack loses two stars to the Federal League and then

impetuously sells off all of the rest of his stars. The A's go from

1910 - The pitching staff was no less outstanding than the infield:

99-53 in 1914 to 43-109 in 1915 and then proceed to average a 53-96 mark

Jack Coombs, 27, 31 wins; Chief Bender, 26, 23 wins;

for the next ten years. The official version of why Mack dismantled his club

Eddie Plank, 34, 18 wins and Cy Morgan, 31, 18 wins

was that there was a financial recession at the time and Mack was strapped

for cash. That was probably some of it. But Mack's subsequent erratic

1910 - The White Elephants win 102 games and beat the Cubs in the World Series

behavior with the club over the next forty years pretty much confirms that

a lot more was going on, especially in his mind. Let's face it, he completely

1911 - Frank Baker wins the home run title with nine and earns

gave up in 1915.

himself the nickname "Home Run". It is the first of his run of four

straight home run titles. He hit thirty nine, all told, in this stretch.

1915 - Shortstop Jack Barry is sold to the Red Sox

1911 - The A's bring up a couple of talented young pitchers, Dave Danforth

1915 - Second Baseman Eddie Collins is sold to the White Sox

and Boardwalk Brown. No room on the staff for Danforth who ends up having

a solid big league career with the White Sox and Browns. Meanwhile, Brown

1915 - Third Baseman Home Run Baker holds out the entire season.

sticks around and has a couple of good years with the A's before hurting his arm.

He is sold to the Yankees in 1916

1911 - Philly wins 101 games and beats the Giants in the World Series

1915 - Outfielder Eddie Murphy is sold to the White Sox

1912 -Connie Mack buys out the 25% interest in the club that he had originally

1915 - Mack will not lift a finger to be competitive for the next seven

given to Sportswriters Hough and Jones when the club was formed (wasn't

years until co-owner Ben Shibe dies. My take on it is that Mack

worth a whole lot back then). He borrowed $113,000 from Ben Shibe to make

had some sort of patriarchal types of issues with his team. When they

the purchase. Both are now 50% owners in the club. This manuever appears

didn't achieve up to his expectations or didn't show him proper gratitude,

to have had a profound affect on the way Mack runs the ballclub. Initially,

he lashed out and got rid of them all in a fit of pique. On top of that,

in a positive way and, subsequently, in an extremely negative way.

feeling betrayed, he disengaged from setting up that type of situation

for himself again, for many years.

1912 - Mack keeps doing it. He brings up three tremendous pitching prospects

When co-owner Shibe died, it set off some sort of a catharsis and Mack

in future Hall of Famers Stan Coveleski, 22 and Herb Pennock, 18, plus

was back in the ballgame, so to speak.

Bullet Joe Bush, 19. Bush is the only one who ends up sticking around

It's hard to understand Mack's behaviour without thinking that

for any length of time. Coveleski is released to the minors and Pennock,

there were some heavy psychological issues going on with him.

after a couple of seasons in Philly, is waived to the Red Sox.

I don't blame historians for not going there, tho'

Letting these three go were big mistakes, which, due to the overall talent

level of the club, it didn't hurt much at the time, but was devastating in the

1915 - Another theory might be that Shibe refused to spend to keep

long run when all of the rest of the talent was allowed to leave.

the talent that Mack assembled and that Mack destroyed the club in a

fit of pique over that. That would make sense because Mack

1913 - Twenty Three year old righthander Bob Shawkey is brought up. He

re-awakened his competitive fire after Shibe's death. I don't fully

will end up having a tremendous career, winning 195 games lifetime.

suscribe to this theory because Mack repeated the same internal

Shawkey had been acquired from minor league Baltimore. Mack is pretty much

passion play again in the Thirties when Shibe wasn't around. He also

stocking the American League of many of it's future star pitchers all by himself.

repeated similar behavior again with his own sons at the end of his life

Shawkey, Bush, Coveleski and Pennock, if they had been kept, would have

when the family was trying to figure out what to do with the team after

kept the A's in contention thru the end of the decade and beyond.

he was gone. Anyway, at the end of the day, it doesn't much matter what

Bush and Pennock will be stars first with Boston and then the Yankees.

the causes for Mack's behavior were, the end result was a pattern of

Shawkey will be a star with the Yankees, bypassing Boston.

several years of tremendous success followed by many years of abject

failure. The fact that he repeated this pattern in the teens, thirties

1913 - The A's win the pennant and beat the Giants in the World Series

and again in the fifties seems to speak of some sort of inner demons.

It all culminated with the club having to move out of Philadelphia.

1914 - Philadelphia brings up nineteen year old Rube Bressler, purchased from

Harrisburg. He goes 10-4 with a 1.77 ERA. The A's release him to the Reds

1915 - 1919 - The A's average an absurd forty four wins over the last

in 1917 and he goes on to have a very productive career as an outfielder.

five years of the decade. On balance, it turns out to be a pretty

average decade.

1914 - marks the last year of a five year run where the A's won four pennants

and three World Series titles. After the 1914 World Series loss, Mack grouses

1918 - Mack empties out whatever talent he has left in two deals with

that the team quit on him. It's an indication that despite all of the recent

the Red Sox.Boston gets RHP Bullet Joe Bush, 25, C Wally Schang, 28,

success, not all is well between Mack and his players in Philly.

OF Amos Strunk, 28, and 1B Stuffy McInnis, 26.