Tommy Jackson was relieved of his duties just after the 1924 season concluded, ending a 3-year run of .400 baseball (er, .408 baseball – 187 wins, 271 losses). The Keystones moved on to welcomed in
John Murray, despite a lack of a winning reputation, or any kind of resume. But, Murray was not a welcoming kind of fellow.
Known as a temperamental type, he would kick over a bucket of balls at the slightest provocation. One time, during the 1925 season, after a called third strike to Hal Eason, Murray stormed out of the dugout to confront the home plate umpire and let him have it. However, Murray, no small man at 210 pounds, caught a spike in the uneven batter box and fell down in a heap. Both teams, as well as the homestanding fans, and of course, the home plate umpire, found the humor in the situation. Murray, on the other hand, did not.
However, Murray was entrusted to handle the fragile youth of the organization, especially first baseman
Rankin Kellogg, who was turning heads not only in Philadelphia, but everywhere around the league. Kellogg spent two years honing his hitting craft in Allentown (Class A) and after a .227 season that produced 85 strikeouts in 128 games in 1923, he completely transformed his game in 1924. Kellogg hit .302, still struck out 91 times, but more than doubled his power output, from 15 home runs to 39 round-trippers.
That was enough to convince the braintrust to ship out three first basemen and hand the job over to Kellogg for the foreseeable future while boosting the on-field product in other areas. In late March, Sal Ingalls, underused in his two years in Philadelphia was the first to go, dealt to Montreal for leftfielder
Dwight Becker, who went on to hit .317 with 111 runs scored and 39 stolen bases in 1925.
Two weeks later, on the eve of the season, starting first baseman Dan Brady was shipped to Chicago and big, strong Doc Woods was sent to Baltimore for sorely-needed pitching.
Red Adwell joined the Keystones from Chicago and
Rube Frazier was brought in from Baltimore. Adwell and Frazier occupied the middle rotation spots for the entire season, combining for 59 starts, but the results were less than stellar, as they went 12-13 and 10-18, respectively. But, the pressure was taken off the ace of the rotation,
Ed Cheetham (21-13, 4.17) and
Ben Lloyd (22-11, 4.18) enjoyed their best seasons to date.
The best decision the Keystones made in 1925 was to promote Kellogg. Kellogg was the Federal Association Rookie of the Month in May (.351-9-26), June (.284-5-26), and July (.421-7-28), before taking home Player of the Month honors in the FA in September (.310-8-22). Overall, Kellogg hit .328, got on base at a .443 clip, and slugged .619 for an OPS of 1.062. His power output ranked second to Max Morris of St. Louis in home runs (35), runs batted in (133), WAR (7.5), and a host of other categories.
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G GS PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB SO AVG OBP SLG ISO OPS OPS+ BABIP WAR SB CS TB RC RC/27 wOBA WPA
Max Morris (STL) 146 145 674 569 238 30 11 57 166 149 95 74 .418 .496 .810 .392 1.306 228 .406 11.0 1 0 461 232.2 17.7 .545 8.62
Rankin Kellogg (PHI) 154 154 687 548 180 32 11 35 133 124 118 58 .328 .443 .619 .290 1.062 166 .312 7.2 5 2 339 157.1 10.5 .450 8.07
In the hitting department, Kellogg had company.
Hal Eason, Kellogg’s fellow slugger in the middle of the order, smacked 23 home runs and drove in 92 runs. Second baseman
Eddie Hogan paced the team in batting average (.355), scored 98 runs, and drove in 87 more.
Lee Smith stood firmly in Kellogg’s shadow, but had a solid rookie campaign, hitting .313 with an .819 OPS and joining Kellogg, Eason, and Hogan in the 80-80 club with more than 80 runs scored (89) and 80 RBI (80).
By all measures, 1925 was the start of something big. In 1924, the Keystones placed sixth in runs scored per game and seventh in runs allowed per game. Just a year later, the offense rose to third and the pitching inched up to sixth. As a result, Philadelphia improved 21 games in the standings, from a last-place 60-92 finish in 1924 to an 81-73 campaign in 1925, 12 games behind Washington. Philadelphia did allow 860 runs and scored 836, so they were a bit lucky to finish above the break-even mark, but this team may not be far away to contend in the near future.
Believe it or not, at first glance, one would think the managerial change had something to do with the sudden success and the young talent that blossomed in Philadelphia over the past season. In truth, it was the players themselves and a belief they were embarking on something special. They succeeded in spite of their manager, John Murray.