To honor that team we are going to dedicate this years Featured Teams series to the club. The first player that we are taking a look at is First Baseman Fred Luderus
Last week the Phillies announced the candidates for the teams 2015 Wall of Fame election. I knew most of the names but came across one I was not familiar with, Fred Luderus.
Fred Luderus was the captain of the 1915 Phillies squad. That season was arguably the best campaign of Luderus' career, he finished 2nd in the NL in batting average, Slugging, OPS, and oWAR. He took his fine season into the World Series where he batted .438 and hit the first Home Run in Phillies Postseason history.
As a left handed power hitter, Luderus had 84 career Home Runs. That number may seem modest today, but he placed himself in the leagues top 10 for the category eight times. He also found himself on leader boards for RBIs, Total Bases, and Games a number of times.
At one time Fred Luderus was the owner of the consecutive game streak record that would later be the property of Hall of Famers Lou Gehrig and Cal Ripken. Luderus played his 479th consecutive game on August 3rd, 1919 surpassing Eddie Collins record of 478. The streak extended for the remainder of the 1919 season ending at 533 games on September 28th. The record held until 1927 when it was broken by Glass Arm Eddie Brown.
Following his Baseball career Luderus returned to his native Wisconsin and worked at the Milwaukee Yacht Club. He eventually started his own toy business that sold yarn dolls and animals nationwide. Fred Luderus died of a heart attack in 1961 at age 75.
1964 Phillies @ 50
Just wanted to let you know that I still have at least a half dozen posts left in the 1964 Phils series. I hope to get to them, but I didn't want that to hold up the new 1915 series.
Sources n Links
1915 Phillies NL Champions
SABR bio by Joe Dittmar
Phillies
Baseball-ref
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