Near Riot in Philadelphia

Former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan said “[Philadelphia is] the only place where you pull up on the bus and you’ve got the grandfather, the grandmother, the kids and the grandkids – everybody flicking you off.” Amongst the accomplishments of Philadelphia sports fans include throwing batteries at J.D. Drew, booing children who couldn’t find eggs during an Easter hunt and chucking snowballs at Santa Claus. But this kind of behaviour just isn’t from the modern days; it was still around in 1913 when Phillies fans almost caused a riot.

It was late into the month of August in 1913 and the National League-leading New York Giants were in Philadelphia for a three-game series with the Phillies. Philadelphia was in second place but the club was trailing the Giants by 11 games heading into the weekend series. However, Philadelphia won the first two games of the series to close the lead to nine with a month of play remaining. The Giants sent out their ace, Christy Mathewson, in hopes of avoiding a sweep.

The Giants tallied a quick four-run lead in the top of the first and Phillies starter Pete Alexander lasted only three innings; departing the game with the Giants up 6-0. Mathewson, who had been perfect through five innings, gave up runs in the sixth (5), seventh (2), and eighth (1), as Philadelphia clawed back and took an 8-6 lead into the top of the ninth. That’s when the trouble started.

Philly pitcher George Chalmers, who had not yielded a hit to the Giants since entering the game in the fourth, quickly retired pinch-hitter Moose McCormack to start the ninth inning. After the out was recorded, Giants manager John McGraw leaped out of the dugout and began a conversation with home plate umpire William Brennan. Philadelphia shortstop Mickey Doolan soon joined the conversation as well as the home team manager, Red Dooin.

After a long conversation at home plate, Brennan walked to center field and back, then motioned towards the Giants’ dugout. A frenzy soon occurred as the umpires and players from both sides hurried off the field. As the crowd at the Baker Bowl figured out what was happening, they began to hurl debris at the opposing players and the umpires. A seat cushion thrown from the crowd struck Brennan and almost knocked him over. Police officers at the stadium escorted the Giant players and umpires into the visiting clubhouse quickly while they called for back-up to help control the escalating crowd at the ballpark.

What Happened at Home Plate?

McGraw came out of the dugout and asked Brennan for a forfeit. The fans in the center field bleachers at the Baker Bowl were waving their straw hats in the sun, directing the sun rays into the eyes of his hitters, making it difficult for them to see the ball. Brennan agreed and waved over Doolan, the captain of the Phillies, and asked if he could move the section of fans away from the center field bleachers. Doolan said he did not know and sent someone to the clubhouse to get Manager Dooin, who had been ejected from the game already.

Dooin came out and did not see a problem, as none of the fans were on the playing field. Brennan did not see it that way and asked him to move all of the fans in the hitters’ eye to another section. Since the Baker Bowl was sold out, it would be impossible to reposition the fans, who had been sitting in their current location since the first pitch. Dooin told McGraw that if he wanted, he could play the rest of the game under protest and allow NL officials to decide what the final result would be. That solution was not good enough for McGraw, who wanted a forfeit for his club.

Brennan waltzed out to center field and asked the police officers in charge of the area to control the crowd. Not seeming to get the answer he liked, Brennan strolled back into the infield and onto the pitcher’s mound, where he signaled a forfeit in favor of the visitors.

Trouble Outside of the Baker Bowl

As extra Philadelphia policemen arrived, the plan was to escort both umpires Brennan and Mal Eason plus the Giants to the North Philadelphia Railroad Station, four blocks from the Baker Bowl; for everyone involved it was four blocks of hell. Everyone saw how serious the situation was; a block from the stadium, a group of fans approached McGraw and began threatening him. A police officer had to draw his weapon and one of the individuals was arrested.

Other than McGraw, the people with the biggest targets on their backs were the umps, especially Brennan. It took a dozen of Philadelphia’s finest to escort them to the railroad and, at times, that didn`t even seem like enough. During the walk, the umps were showered with rocks and other debris. A half-block from the entrance of the station, a large group of people attempted to attack the policemen and the umpires. The group of officers escorting the Giants saw their fellow badge-wearers in trouble and left the Giants to go help them out.

That left the Giants unguarded as they made a mad dash for the train station, dodging brooms and bricks tossed in their direction. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt before the Giants made refuge inside the train station. The only one with a noticeable injury was Charley Herzog, who sported a bad scratch on the side of his head. Veteran reserve player Larry McLean’s straw hat was damaged in the melee and he demanded a new one from a Philadelphia fan.

Despite all of the security around the umpires, Brennan was struck at least once and was almost knocked down. After the serious struggle, the escorted persons got inside the train station and at six o’clock local time, they departed for New York City.

The Aftermath

The topic in Philadelphia eateries the very next day was the ballgame and what happened after. Philadelphia appealed the forfeit and Dooin didn’t mince his words when he was asked about his teams’ pending appeal. He said plain and simple that NL president Thomas Lynch should reverse Brennan’s decision and award Philadelphia the victory. Dooin said the team was prepared to take this all the way to the courts.

Many baseball men felt that Lynch would not reverse the on-field decision so it didn’t look like he was throwing his umpires under the bus. However, two days after the appeal by Philadelphia, Lynch changed Brennan’s ruling and awarded the Phillies an 8-6 victory. In his official statement he released to the media, Lynch said that “the umpire plainly went beyond his authority in declaring a forfeiture.” Lynch would go on to say that neither team involved was at fault and put the blame squarely on Brennan’s shoulders for the game not being finished.

Not surprisingly, the Giants appealed the president’s decision to the National League Board of Directors; four days after Lynch overturned the original call. With the protested game now counting as a win for the Phillies, the Giants lead had shrunk to 7 ½ games with 29 games remaining on the schedule, not to mention six games in three days between the two teams in New York to finish the season.

On September 16 ^th , the Board of Directors met in Cincinnati and among other things, they decided to make both teams replay the remainder of the game before the teams met for a doubleheader on the final day of the regular season. When the big series in October rolled around, both teams remained 1-2 in the National League standings, but the Giants had a healthy 9 ½ game lead over Philadelphia. New York would go on to win four of the six games, with one of the contests resulting in a tie. As for the match in question, the Phillies held on to win 8-6.