As the 82nd loss inevitably approaches, growing mention will be made of the team the Pirates will supplant in the record book: the 1933-48 Phillies.
What might not be so widely reported is that the Phillies of that era preceded their losing-season streak with a single year in which the team registered a 78-76 record. Prior to that had been 14 consecutive under-.500 seasons.
That makes 30 out of 31 losing seasons. Can even the Pirates ever approach that sustained level of futility?
Perhaps this will make the remaining Pirates fans feel a bit better: Let's take a look at the Great Drought that afflicted National League baseball in Philadelphia for three decades.
It begins
Grover Cleveland Alexander already was a star pitcher when he went on a three-year period of absolute domination. From 1915-17, the man known as "Pete" won 94 games for the Phillies. In 1915, he pitched 16 complete-game shutouts to spearhead the team to its first NL pennant. He also earned the only World Series victory for the team until 1980.
After the 1917 season, Phillies owner William Baker took a look at Pete's salary and, using the specter of World War I as an excuse, traded Alexander to the Cubs, getting a couple of marginal players and $55,000 cold cash in return. Alexander went into the service in 1918 after pitching just three games, so it would appear that Baker got the better end of the deal ... except that Philadelphia tumbled from second place all the way to sixth.
Manager Pat Moran jumped ship to Cincinnati for 1919, leading the Reds to the pennant, while his former team plunged into the basement for the first time in 15 years. It was going to be a long stay.
The '20s
The Phils began the new decade with no less than three players who now have plaques in Cooperstown: Dave Bancroft, Eppa Rixey and Casey Stengel. But in 1920, Bancroft was traded to the Giants after driving in just five runs in 42 games; Rixey went an abysmal 11-22 on the mound; and Stengel wouldn't earn his Hall of Fame credentials for another 35 years. And the Phillies finished last again.
The team also began the decade by going through a dizzying array of managers: Gavvy Cravath, Bill Donovan, Kaiser Wilhelm, Art Fletcher and Stuffy McGinnis all manned the helm between 1920-27. Only Fletcher managed to bring the Phillies home as high as sixth place.
McGinnis, a former mainstay at first base for the crosstown Athletics, compiled a 51-103 record in 1927, his only season. His replacement was former St. Louis (Browns and Cardinals) outfielder Burt Shotton, who did even worse: The '28 Phils bottomed out at 43-109. One bright spot was the debut of a 23-year-old Indianapolis native named Chuck Klein, who hit .360 with 11 home runs in 64 games.
In 1929, Klein was joined in the outfield by a failed pitcher, Francis "Lefty" O'Doul, who not only hit .398 but set an NL record with 254 hits. Klein didn't do badly, himself, leading the league with 43 home runs, edging out Mel Ott of the New York Giants. To ensure Klein's title, Philadelphia pitchers walked Ott intentionally each time he came to the plate in the season finale.
Best of all for long-suffering Phillies fans, the team won 71 games and managed to creep into fifth place. With Klein, O'Doul and fellow offensive threats Don Hurst and Pinky Whitney in the lineup, there seemed to be reason for optimism as a new decade dawned.
The '30s
In 1930, Phillies' batters set an NL record by belting out 1,783 hits, as the team hit a collective .315 and scored 944 runs.
And the team finished last.
Writer Jack Orr summed it up when he titled his 1953 article for Sport magazine "The Pitchless Wonders." For example:
"The Phils played in the old Baker Bowl, with its famous [just 280 feet from home plate] right-field fence. Often, the story went, young infielders would pick up grounders and throw to Klein in right instead of Hurst at first. And though the Philly thunderers were rocking the opposition pitching at the remarkable clip of 6.8 runs and 11.4 hits a game, Philly pitchers set a record which probably will never be broken: they gave up 1,199 runs, a breathtaking 7.7 a game. ... Opposing hitters smaked the right-field wall as if it were a gong and Klein, who had his work cut out for him, set a record that still stands, 44 assists by an outfielder."
More about the Phillies of that era was written by former pitcher Kirby Higbe in "The High Hard One":
"The man who owned the ball club, a Mr. Baker, had died [in 1930] and left the club to his secretary, but he didn't leave any money to run it with. So Gerry Nugent, the husband of the secretary, sold promising players every year to stay in business. ... When a good player went to the Phillies, he would hustle and bear down in the hope he would be sold to a good ball club."
Somewhere in there, the team managed that 1932 season above .500, riding the success of Hurst, who drove in a league-leading 143 runs, and Klein, who was voted the league's Most Valuable Player after topping the loop in hits, runs scored, home runs and, believe it or not, stolen bases. The pitching staff wasn't particularly stellar, but it did feature six double-digit winners.
Klein hit his pinnacle the following year, winning the next-to-last NL Triple Crown. But with the Phillies sliding back into seventh place, he finished second to Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell in the MVP voting. Then he was gone to Chicago, with the Nugents getting $65,000 and three warm bodies in return.
Other stars emerged in Klein's place. Dolph Camilli hit 80 homers in a three-year span before he fetched $45,000 from Brooklyn, where he won an MVP award. Bucky Walters successfully converted from the infield to pitcher's mound, then brought $50,000 from Cincinnati ... where he won an MVP award. Higbe eventually went to the Dodgers for a cool hundred grand.
On a logistical note, the Phillies finally abandoned the half-century-old Baker Bowl in 1938 to become tenants at the A's Shibe Park, later Connie Mack Stadium. Everyone hoped the change of scenery might help.
The '40s
The Phillies entered another new decade hoping to avoid a third straight cellar finish, with Klein back in the fold. Unfortunately, he hit only .218 in 1940, and pitcher Hugh Mulcahy lived up to his nickname, "Losing Pitcher," by racking up 22 defeats. He subsequently become the first major-leaguer to be drafted for service in World War II, which he just might have counted as a blessing.
The team's story was the same in 1941, and even worse in '42. That year, Philadelphia went 42-109 and finished last in the league in, among others: runs, hits, home runs, stolen bases, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, total bases, earned-run average, complete games, shutouts, saves, runs against and fielding percentage. Klein, relegated to a pinch-hitting role, had exactly one hit in 14 at-bats.
After creeping into seventh the following year, the Phillies finished wartime baseball with two more cellar dwellings. With the exception of Vince DiMaggio, the least-remembered of the three famed baseball brothers, the team boasted little in the way of talent. About the most interesting occurrence was the acquisition of legendary slugger Jimmie Foxx in 1945; to draw some kind of fan interest, Foxx toed the rubber in nine games, winning his only decision while posting a 1.59 ERA.
There were a few signs of better days to come, though, including the first full season for catcher Andy Seminick and the debut of 18-year-old shortstop Wesley Garvin "Granny" Hamner. Joining the team the following season was outfielder Del Ennis. Pitcher Curt Simmons debuted in '47. And pitcher Jim Konstanty, third baseman Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones and two future Hall of Famers, Robin Roberts and Richie Ashburn, came aboard in '48.
Those men formed the nucleus of the so-called Whiz Kids, the collection of talent that finally led the Phillies out of the wilderness and to the National League pennant in 1950, just a year after the team ended its record (for now) streak of consecutive sub-.500 seasons.
Aftermath
The Whiz Kids proved to be a one-hit wonder, and with the exception of the near-pennant of 1964, the Phillies never were really competitive until the likes of "Lefty" Steve Carlton and Michael Jack Schmidt took control in the '70s.
And the collective baseball world thought it never would see the likes of the 1918-48 Phillies.
Until now?
That was a great read. Thanks, Harry.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Brant! I'm afraid the Pirates are headed for a similar "drought," for completely different reasons.
ReplyDelete