Whale of an EndingBy David Marasco Wrigley Field is one of the oldest stadiums in baseball, dating back to the early teens. The Chicago Cubs own the longest drought in baseball, last winning the World Series in 1908. The Cubs have not ended any season as Champions since moving to Wrigley Field over 80 years ago. But one team did call the Friendly Confines home and did take a major league title without post-season defeat. They were the 1915 Chicago Whales and this is the story of how they clinched the pennant. Wrigley Field is one of the few reminders we have of the old Federal League, which challenged the National and American Leagues in 1914 and 1915. At the time the Cubs played on Chicago's West Side, and the South Side had been staked out by the White Sox. This left the North Side for Chicago's Federal League entry. There they built a home at Clark and Addison. The 1915 Federal League season came down to the last weekend. When the sun rose on Saturday October 2, the top of the Federal League standings looked like this:
The difference in games played was due to rainouts which would not be made up. On the slate for the day was a Pittsburgh-Chicago double header and a St. Louis-Kansas City match. While the Terriers dropped a 4-1 game to Kansas City, a far more interesting scenario played itself out in the Steel City. Only 6,000 fans showed up at the ballpark. Rain threatened all day and the first game was started a half-hour early to counter that fact. The Whales sent Chicago's great Three-Finger Brown to the mound to face Elmer Knetzer. Mordecai Brown had been a workhorse for the Cubs in the first decade of the century, but at this point he was winding down his career. In his prime he could mow down a lineup, but in this game he gave up 16 hits. Fortunately for the Whales it did not matter. After surrendering a run to the Rebels in the first they pushed across a pair in the second, two more in the third, and then four in the fourth for an 8-1 lead. Brown wouldn't be at his top, but he didn't need to be. The Whales cruised to an 8-5 victory. The following game was more interesting. Going into the bottom of the ninth it looked like a done deal. The Whales had a 3-0 bulge and their starter, Mike Pendergast, was working on a one-hitter. Marty Berghammer raised the Rebel's hopes with a leadoff walk, but the next two batters were retired. Pittsburgh was down to its last out. Rebels first baseman Ed Konetchy hit a ball to third that should have spelled doom, but Charley Pechous couldn't get the handle on it. Kelly then strode to the plate and sent a triple to right-center, scoring a pair. Kelly was injured sliding into third and was replaced by Cy Rheam. Rheam tied the contest on a single by Mike Mowrey. Pendergast took care of the next batter to end the inning, but his shutout was long gone. The two teams would go to extra innings. Following a quiet tenth Mann got the eleventh started with a double. He scored on a Doolan single, and after a single and a double Doolan scored himself. The Whales headed to the bottom of the eleventh with a 5-3 lead. Pendergast retired the side for the victory. The sweep had shaken up the Federal League standings. On the morning of October 3 they read:
Kansas City would again play at St. Louis and there would be a Pittsburgh-Chicago double header in Chicago. When a title is on the line the City of Broad Shoulders turns out. The official attendance was 34,212. Every seat had been sold well before the game. People were ten deep behind a rope that stretched across the outfield. The pressbox was stormed by a force of three hundred. An estimated five thousand stood outside of the stadium, following the game on the scoreboard. Going into the ninth inning of the first game it looked as if the Whales had it in the bag. They were up 4-1. Their starter George McConnell was tiring, but seemed to have enough steam to win the game and put a lock on the pennant. He walked Mowrey to open the frame, but quickly got a foul out and a strike out to bring the Rebels down to their last out. But like the day before, Pittsburgh provided some late-inning fireworks. The Rebels batted Jack Lewis for their starting pitcher and he came through with a single that sent Mowrey to third. Berghammer followed with a flyball lofted to left-center. The game should have ended when the ball settled into the glove of the center fielder, but a bone-rattling collision with the left fielder knocked it loose for a run-scoring double. Al Wickland worked his way to a full count and then cleared the bases with a single. What a few minutes earlier had been a sure thing was now gravely in doubt. The game was tied at four. A walk stirred concern in the crowd, but the Whales survived without any more scoring in the inning. The tide had turned. Neither team scored in the tenth, but in the eleventh the Rebels got a one-out walk that moved to second on the next out. The runner came in to score when Wickland banged a ball off the shins of Chicago's shortstop. The Rebels held fast in the bottom of the eleventh for a 5-4 victory. Meanwhile trouble had been brewing in St. Louis. Kansas City had scored a pair in the second, but the Terriers responded with four in the home-half of the inning. St. Louis rolled to a 6-4 win. Prior to the outcome of the second game in Chicago the Federal League stood as follows:
A win for Pittsburgh would mean the Federal League title for the Rebels. A Whales victory would give Chicago the flag over St. Louis by the barest of margins. If the game could not be completed due to darkness or weather the Rebels would be the champs. Pittsburgh sent Knetser to the mound. He had pitched the last three innings of the first game for the victory, and had also started the day before. The Whales answered with Bill Bailey, a late season pickup from Baltimore. Chicago put their fate into his hands and he delivered. He decimated the Rebels inning after inning. Meanwhile Knetzer was holding his own. When he gave up a leadoff single to Doolan in the sixth there wasn't much concern on the part of the Rebels, he hadn't allowed a man past second all game. The runner was sacrificed to second and then advanced to third on an infield out. Max Flank took a 2-2 offering and sent it screaming into right center field. A fielder was able to get some leather on it, but the ball hopped out of his glove into the crowd assembled behind the outfield rope. Doolan trotted home on the ground rule double. This opened the floodgates for the Whales. Dutch Zwilling followed with another run-scoring ground rule double to the crowd in right, and he came in on a Wilson Texas leaguer for the third run. A Pechous single was the end for Knetzer, Frank Allen came in and retired the Whales on a pop-up. After the Rebels posted a scoreless seventh inning Umpires Brennan and Johnstone ended the game due to darkness. The last inning in Federal League history had been played. The Whales had won 3-0 and taken the pennant. The crowd behind the outfield ropes rushed the diamond in order to celebrate with the players. The fans in the grandstand expressed their joy by tossing their seat cushions onto the playing field. The on-field fans took to throwing the cushions back and the scene soon degenerated into the one of the largest pillow fights in Chicago history. The final Federal League standings:
Their two rainouts had enabled the Whales to win the pennant by
.000854 percentage points, one of the closest finishes in baseball
history. They would be the last Federal League Champions, as the
circuit collapsed during the following off season. Owner Charles
Weegham dared the American and National League winners to a series to
determine the best baseball team in the world. His offer was
declined. Weegham's challenge telegram in part read "I believe that
we must all admit that to make baseball truly the American pastime it
must be conducted on a truly American principle of absolute fairness
to all, and that the champion team of the country must be the team
that defeated the champions of our league." These words ring hollow,
the Whales turned down a similar offer from Rube Foster's American
Giants, Chicago's Negro League baseball team.
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