The 1915
Philadelphia Athletics
The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...
season was a season in American baseball. After the team won the
American League pennant in 1914, the team dropped all the way to last place with a record of 43 wins and 109 losses.
Offseason
* December 8, 1914:
Eddie Collins
Edward Trowbridge Collins Sr. (May 2, 1887 – March 25, 1951), nicknamed "Cocky", was an American professional baseball player, manager and executive. He played as a second baseman in Major League Baseball from to for the Philadelphia Athlet ...
was purchased from the Athletics by the
Chicago White Sox.
* January 1915,
Nap Lajoie was purchased by the Athletics from the
Cleveland Indians.
Regular season
The
Federal League had been formed to begin play in 1914. As the
A.L. had done
13 years before, the new league raided existing A.L. and
N.L. teams for players. Athletics owner
Connie Mack refused to match the offers of the F.L. teams, preferring to let the "prima donnas" go and rebuild with younger (and less expensive) players. The result was a swift and near-total collapse, a "first-to-worst" situation. The Athletics went from a 99–53 (.651) record and a pennant in
1914
This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...
to a record of 43–109 (.283) and 8th (last) place in 1915. At the time, it was the third-worst winning percentage in American League history. The infield of
Whitey Witt,
Charlie Pick
Charles Thomas Pick (April 10, 1888 – June 26, 1954), was a professional baseball player who played second base in the Major Leagues from 1914 to 1920 for the Chicago Cubs, Washington Senators, Philadelphia Athletics, and Boston Braves. He ...
and
Nap Lajoie was derisively known as the "$10 Infield".
Season highlights
* June 23, 1915: Athletics pitcher
Bruno Haas set an American League record by walking 16
Yankees in one game.
[''Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures'', 2008 Edition, p. 25, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ]
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Roster
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position
''Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''
Other batters
''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''
Pitching
Starting pitchers
''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''
Other pitchers
''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''
Relief pitchers
''Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''
Awards and honors
League top five finishers
Rube Bressler
* #2 in AL in earned runs allowed (103)
Bullet Joe Bush
* #3 in AL in wild pitches (10)
Rube Oldring
Reuben Henry "Rube" Oldring (May 30, 1884 – September 9, 1961) was a professional baseball player who played outfield in the major leagues from 1905 to 1918. He played for the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Yankees.
Early life
Oldring wa ...
* #2 in AL in home runs (6)
Weldon Wyckoff
* AL leader in losses (22)
* AL leader in earned runs allowed (108)
* AL leader in walks allowed (165)
* AL leader in wild pitches (14)
* #3 in AL in strikeouts (157)
References
External links
1915 Philadelphia Athletics team page at Baseball Reference1915 Philadelphia Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
{{Oakland Athletics
Oakland Athletics seasons
Philadelphia Athletics season
1915 in sports in Pennsylvania