The 1909 Detroit Tigers stayed among the contenders by taking three of four games from the 1915 Philadelphia Phillies. Detroit (12-8) won each of the series’ first three games by two runs. Philadelphia (8-16) avoided the sweep by taking the finale. Detroit’s Ty Cobb hit .412 (7-for-17) but saw his season batting average drop to .450. Davy Jones hit .400 by going 6-for-15 for the Tigers. Fred Luderus hit .357 (5-for-14) with five RBI to lead the Phils.
Game #1: Detroit 5, Philadelphia 3
The Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Boss Schmidt drove in a run with a single in the second inning, Donie Bush and Davy Jones had back-to-back RBI singles in the third, and Tom Jones had a run-scoring hit in the fifth. All of Philadelphia’s runs came on one swing by Fred Luderus in the sixth inning, as his three-run homer cut the deficit to one. Schmidt added an insurance run for Detroit with his second RBI single in the eighth.
1909 DETROIT TIGERS (5) AT 1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (3)
1909 DETROIT TIGERS AB R H BI 1915 PHILADELPHIA PH AB R H BI
Ty Cobb 5 0 1 0 Dave Bancroft 4 1 1 0
George Moriarty 5 2 2 0 Gavvy Cravath 3 0 0 0
Sam Crawford 5 0 1 0 Fred Luderus 4 1 2 3
Tom Jones 4 1 2 1 George Whitted 4 0 1 0
Donie Bush 4 2 2 1 Beals Becker 4 0 0 0
Davy Jones 3 0 2 1 Bert Niehoff 4 0 0 0
Jim Delahanty 4 0 0 0 Bill Killefer 4 0 1 0
Boss Schmidt 3 0 2 2 Bobby Byrne 2 0 0 0
Ed Killian A 4 0 1 0 Al Demaree C 1 0 0 0
George Paskert 1 1 1 0
Milt Stock 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 37 5 13 5 TOTALS 32 3 6 3
1909 DETROIT TIGERS 012 010 010 -- 5
1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 000 003 000 -- 3
LOB--1909 DETROIT TIGERS 7, 1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 4.
ERR--George Whitted. 2B--George Whitted. HR--Fred Luderus.
SACB--Davy Jones, Bobby Byrne. SB--Fred Luderus.
1909 DETROIT TIGERS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Ed Killian A [W] 9.00 6 3 3 1 2 1
1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Al Demaree C [L] 6.00 12 4 4 1 2 0
George Chalmers BY 1.00 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ben Tincup B 2.00 1 1 0 0 0 0
Game #2: Detroit 3, Philadelphia 1
The Phillies scored first on Bert Niehoff’s two-out RBI double in the fourth inning. That was all they would get off of George Mullin, however. Detroit went ahead in the sixth when Jim Delahanty drove in two runs with a double. They picked up another run in the eighth on Donie Bush’s RBI single.
1909 DETROIT TIGERS (3) AT 1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (1)
1909 DETROIT TIGERS AB R H BI 1915 PHILADELPHIA PH AB R H BI
Ty Cobb 5 0 2 0 Dave Bancroft 4 0 2 0
George Moriarty 5 0 0 0 Gavvy Cravath 4 0 1 0
Sam Crawford 2 2 1 0 Fred Luderus 3 1 0 0
Tom Jones 2 0 0 0 George Whitted 4 0 0 0
Donie Bush 3 0 1 1 Beals Becker 4 0 0 0
Davy Jones 4 1 0 0 Bert Niehoff 4 0 2 1
Jim Delahanty 4 0 2 2 Bill Killefer 3 0 0 0
Boss Schmidt 4 0 1 0 Bobby Byrne 3 0 0 0
George Mullin AY 3 0 1 0 Erskine Mayer BYZ 2 0 1 0
George Paskert 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 32 3 8 3 TOTALS 32 1 6 1
1909 DETROIT TIGERS 000 002 010 -- 3
1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 000 100 000 -- 1
LOB--1909 DETROIT TIGERS 8, 1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 5.
ERR--Bobby Byrne. 2B--Jim Delahanty, Dave Bancroft, Gavvy
Cravath, Bert Niehoff. SACB--Tom Jones (2).
1909 DETROIT TIGERS IP H R ER BB SO HR
George Mullin AY [W] 9.00 6 1 1 1 6 0
1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Erskine Mayer BYZ [L] 8.00 7 3 3 4 3 0
Stan Baumgartner BXW 1.00 1 0 0 0 1 0
Game #3: Detroit 4, Philadelphia 2
Detroit pushed across three runs in the fourth inning. Sam Crawford had an RBI double and Davy Jones and Jim Delahanty drove in runs with singles. Jones made it 4-0 with another RBI single in the eighth inning. Ed Willett’s shutout bid came to an end in the ninth. The Phillies cut the deficit in half on Bobby Byrne’s sacrifice fly and Dave Bancroft’s RBI single, but the tying run ended up being stranded on first base. Willett improved to 4-0 in five starts.
1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (2) AT 1909 DETROIT TIGERS (4)
1915 PHILADELPHIA PH AB R H BI 1909 DETROIT TIGERS AB R H BI
Dave Bancroft 5 0 1 1 Ty Cobb 3 1 2 0
Gavvy Cravath 4 0 1 0 George Moriarty 4 0 0 0
Fred Luderus 3 0 0 0 Sam Crawford 4 1 1 1
George Whitted 3 0 1 0 Tom Jones 3 1 2 0
Beals Becker 4 0 0 0 Donie Bush 4 1 1 0
Bert Niehoff 4 1 1 0 Davy Jones 4 0 3 2
Bill Killefer 3 1 1 0 Jim Delahanty 4 0 1 1
Bobby Byrne 3 0 1 1 Boss Schmidt 4 0 0 0
Eppa Rixey BY 3 0 0 0 Ed Willett B 3 0 0 0
George Paskert 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 32 2 6 2 TOTALS 33 4 10 4
1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 000 000 002 -- 2
1909 DETROIT TIGERS 000 300 01x -- 4
LOB--1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 9, 1909 DETROIT TIGERS 7.
ERR--Bert Niehoff, Donie Bush. 2B--George Whitted, Bill
Killefer, Sam Crawford. SACF--Bobby Byrne. SB--Donie Bush.
1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES IP H R ER BB SO HR
Eppa Rixey BY [L] 8.00 10 4 4 2 1 0
1909 DETROIT TIGERS
Ed Willett B [W] 9.00 6 2 2 5 4 0
Game #4: Philadelphia 5, Detroit 1
Grover Cleveland Alexander turned the tide for the Phillies, giving up just one run and five hits while striking out nine. Beals Becker and Fred Luderus had two-run doubles in the first and fifth innings, respectively, to make it 4-0 in Philadelphia’s favor. Detroit’s only run came in the sixth when Ty Cobb led off with a triple and scored on George Moriarty’s sacrifice fly. The Phillies scored another run in the ninth when Bill Killefer doubled and Bobby Byrne tripled.
1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (5) AT 1909 DETROIT TIGERS (1)
1915 PHILADELPHIA PH AB R H BI 1909 DETROIT TIGERS AB R H BI
Dave Bancroft 4 1 0 0 Ty Cobb 4 1 2 0
Gavvy Cravath 4 2 2 0 George Moriarty 3 0 0 1
Fred Luderus 4 1 3 2 Sam Crawford 4 0 1 0
George Whitted 4 0 0 0 Tom Jones 4 0 0 0
Beals Becker 4 0 2 2 Donie Bush 3 0 0 0
Bert Niehoff 4 0 1 0 Davy Jones 4 0 1 0
Bill Killefer 4 1 1 0 Jim Delahanty 3 0 0 0
Bobby Byrne 4 0 1 1 Boss Schmidt 3 0 1 0
Grover C Alexander A 4 0 0 0 Ed Summers BZ 2 0 0 0
Matty McIntyre 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 36 5 10 5 TOTALS 31 1 5 1
1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 200 020 001 -- 5
1909 DETROIT TIGERS 000 001 000 -- 1
LOB--1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 5, 1909 DETROIT TIGERS 5.
2B--Fred Luderus, Beals Becker, Bert Niehoff, Bill Killefer,
Sam Crawford, Ty Cobb. 3B--Fred Luderus, Bobby Byrne, Ty
Cobb. SACF--George Moriarty. SB--Boss Schmidt.
1915 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES IP H R ER BB SO HR
Grover C Alexander A [W] 9.00 5 1 1 1 9 0
1909 DETROIT TIGERS
Ed Summers BZ [L] 7.00 7 4 4 1 1 0
Ralph Works BY 2.00 3 1 1 0 0 0
ROGER SPORTS & GAMES 