Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 162, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1915 — PHILLIES CALLED SENSATION OF 1915 [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PHILLIES CALLED SENSATION OF 1915

Manager Patrick Moran of the Philadelphia Nationals, regardless of the standing of his team at the finish of the present season, has achieved a reputation as a leader. With a seemingly mediocre organization that previous to the opening of the league season was destined by critics and expert writers to furnish a sorry exhibition for the National circuit fans, the team has proved the sensation of the new baseball year. Sensations of this sort in baseball are perhaps in a measure largely accountable for its gripping interest. Moran now parades a team accredited by critics as having the best pitcher in Grover Cleveland Alexander, in the National league, the best defensive infield that has represented the Phillies in years, one of the greatest first basemen in Luderus, and in Cactus Cravath the most dangerous hitter in

the pinch in the whole Tener circuit. The old axiom that “the race Is not always to the swift*’ still applies. Just a year ago the Pittsburgh Pirates were the sensation of the National league, having won fifteen of the first seventeen games played, the Boston Braves trailing far behind, with three victories in thirteen games. Six months later, however, the Braves had been returned not only the league pennant winners, but the world’s champions, and the erstwhile league-leading Pirates had finished one of their most disastrous seasons in seventh place, not far removed from Cincinnati, the cellar champions. Regardless of the standing of the Phillies next October, Manager Moran, in his first year in that role, has arrived and is deserving of the fulsome praise he is receiving for the rejuvenation.