The 1915 Philadelphia Athletics 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 was purchased from the Athletics by the Chicago White Sox.Eddie Collins page at Baseball Reference January 1915, Nap Lajoie was purchased by the Athletics from the Cleveland Indians.Nap Lajoie page at Baseball Reference

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 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 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 1915 Philadelphia Athletics Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders Manager

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 Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C 112 312 85 .272 2 31 1B 119 456 143 .314 0 49 2B 129 490 137 .280 1 61 SS Larry Kopf 118 386 87 .225 1 33 3B Wally Schang 116 359 89 .248 1 44 OF 107 408 101 .248 6 42 OF Amos Strunk 132 485 144 .297 1 45 OF Jimmy Walsh 117 417 86 .206 1 20

Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI 68 260 60 .231 0 17 Lew Malone 76 201 41 .204 1 17 Jack Barry 54 194 43 .222 0 15 Wickey McAvoy 68 184 35 .190 0 6 Chick Davies 57 135 24 .178 0 11 Thomas Healy 23 77 17 .221 0 5 Harry Damrau 16 56 11 .196 0 3 Bill Bankston 11 36 5 .139 1 2 17 33 11 .333 0 2 10 26 3 .115 0 2 8 23 2 .087 0 1 Cy Perkins 7 20 4 .200 0 0 12 18 1 .056 0 0 Owen Conway 4 15 1 .067 0 0 Buck Danner 3 12 3 .250 0 0 6 11 2 .182 0 0 Henry Bostick 2 7 0 .000 0 2 Edwards 2 5 0 .000 0 0 Bill Haeffner 3 4 1 .250 0 0 Art Corcoran 1 4 0 .000 0 0 5 3 1 .333 0 4 2 2 0 .000 0 0 Ira Thomas 1 0 0 ---- 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO 43 276.0 10 22 3.52 157 25 145.2 5 15 4.14 89 Tom Sheehan 15 102.0 4 9 4.15 22 Bob Shawkey 17 100.0 6 6 4.05 56 10 54.1 2 6 5.47 15 Jack Nabors 10 54.0 0 5 5.50 18 Jack Richardson 3 24.0 0 1 2.63 11 Harry Weaver 2 18.0 0 2 3.00 1 Elmer Myers 1 9.0 0 0 0.00 12 Bill Meehan 1 4.0 0 1 22.50 0 1 2.0 0 1 22.50 0 1 0.2 0 0 40.50 0

Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO 32 178.1 4 17 5.20 69 18 100.2 4 6 3.49 24 Herb Pennock 11 44.0 3 6 5.32 24 8 39.1 0 5 3.43 17 Chick Davies 5 23.1 1 3 8.87 8 5 21.0 0 1 4.71 13 4 20.0 2 0 1.35 11 4 17.2 0 0 3.57 4 Joe Sherman 2 15.0 1 0 2.40 5 6 14.1 0 1 11.93 7 2 7.1 0 1 4.91 6

Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO 17 0 1 0 3.38 12 3 0 0 0 3.12 3 2 0 0 0 6.75 0 Bob Pepper 1 0 0 0 1.80 0

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 #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 Reference 1915 Philadelphia Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com