Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

My pre-war collecting is focused on Washington (The District of Columbia) baseball. To amuse myself, I thought I would initiate a thread that showcases items involving the teams and players that have represented Washington. I realize that, with very few exceptions such as Walter Johnson, Washington items are under-represented in most collections, unless needed to complete a set. So, in many cases, I'll be posting items most collectors are used to ignoring. I will include readily available biographical information that I deem interesting. I apologize in advance for the poor quality of some scans. I will start with the 1887-1889 Nationals.

(Feel free to contribute any images or thoughts that my postings may provoke, but please refrain from quarrelling over religious subjects involving TPGs, AHs, or PWCC. Especially PWCC.)

The 1887 Washington Nationals finished with a 46–76 record in the National League, finishing in seventh place.

The 1888 Washington Nationals finished with a 48–86 record in the National League, finishing in last place.

The 1889 Washington Nationals finished with a 41–83 record in the National League, finishing in last place. The team folded at the conclusion of the season.

Player #1: James B. "Jim" Donnelly. Third baseman for the Washington Nationals in 1887-1889. 549 hits and 173 stolen bases in 11 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Indianapolis Hoosiers in 1884. His most productive season came in 1896 for the NL-pennant-winning Baltimore Orioles as he posted a .387 OBP with 70 runs and 71 RBIs in 454 plate appearances. His final season came in 1898 with the St. Louis Browns.

James B. Donnelly used to be conflated with a fellow New Englander named James H. Donnelly. Both Donnelly's made their MLB debut in 1884.

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[BobbyStrawberry]

Here are two 1887 Nationals cards from my collection:

[JackR]

The Big Train…

Not really a “card,” but a pretty cool shot of Washington’s best ever…

[brianp-beme]

19th century cards have never been a focus, but one of the three Old Judge cards I have happens to be of Washington outfielder/infielder George Shoch, who had an 11 year career in baseball, including the 4 year stint with the Nationals at the beginning of his career in 1886 to 1889. As a bonus, this card also features John Gaffney, who was the manager of the Nationals for part of 1886 and in 1887. Before and after this managerial stint, he was a noted umpire, perhaps influencing the photo selection seen on this card.

Brian

[Jay Wolt]

Here's 4 more Buchner's

https://www.qualitycards.com/pictures/buchner12.jpg

[GeoPoto]

Player #2: James E. "Grasshopper" Whitney. Pitcher with the Washington Nationals in 1887-1888. 191 wins and a career ERA of 2.97 in 10 MLB seasons. He was the 1881 NL wins leader and the 1883 NL strikeout leader. He debuted with the Boston Red Caps in 1881. In 1881, Whitney's 31-33 record led the league in both wins and losses; 31 wins still stands as the MLB record for wins with a losing record. His best season was 1883 with the Boston Beaneaters as he posted a 37-21 record and a 2.24 ERA in 514 innings pitched. He finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1890. He died in 1891 of tuberculosis at the age of 33.

"There were no restrictions placed on (pitchers) as to delivery, and they could double up like a jack-knife and deliver the ball. That was the way Jim Whitney used to do, and he would let the ball go at terrific speed. It was a wonder that anyone was able to hit him at all. He was the swiftest pitcher I ever saw." - Hall of Famer Jim O'Rourke, quoted in Sporting Life of December 4, 1915

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[GeoPoto]

Player #3: James M. "Jim" Banning. Catcher with the Washington Nationals in 1888-1889. He appeared in one game in 1888 and two games in 1889. He had no hits in 1 plate appearance over 2 MLB seasons.

During 1888 and 1889, Washington's regular catcher was Connie Mack.

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[RUKen]

I do not own the image posted below, but I hope it is deemed appropriate for this thread. It is a photograph that had been published in The Washington Sunday Star on October 5th, 1924--a rarely seen image of the 1892 Washington Nationals. Most professional teams of that era had the name of their city on their uniform, or the initial of the city name, or no lettering at all, but this team had NATIONAL across the chest. The players are identified in the caption, which helps to confirm that this is, in fact, the National League team of 1892. I found the image on one of the online newspaper archives a while back, and am pretty certain that the original photograph is no longer in existence.

[GeoPoto]

That's a great picture. Thanks for posting it.

Wikipedia reports that "The 1891 Washington Statesmen baseball team finished the season with a 44–91 record in the American Association in their first season. After the season, the AA disbanded and the Washington club, renamed the "Senators," joined the National League.

So, despite the "National" on their uniforms, the team was apparently officially named the Senators. Perhaps the first official use (in MLB) of the team-name Senators -- I believe the American League team that began in 1901 (now the Minnesota Twins) was not officially designated as Senators until after Clark Griffith died in 1955.

[RUKen]

That's a great picture. Thanks for posting it.

Wikipedia reports that "The 1891 Washington Statesmen baseball team finished the season with a 44–91 record in the American Association in their first season. After the season, the AA disbanded and the Washington club, renamed the "Senators," joined the National League.

So, despite the "National" on their uniforms, the team was apparently officially named the Senators. Perhaps the first official use (in MLB) of the team-name Senators -- I believe the American League team that began in 1901 (now the Minnesota Twins) was not officially designated as Senators until after Clark Griffith died in 1955.

The official name of most 19th Century (and early 20th Century) professional baseball teams consisted of the city name and "Base Ball Club", or something similar. There were a few exceptions in the major leagues, such as the Eclipse club that was eventually renamed the Louisville club, and the Metropolitan club (of New York), which disbanded after the 1887 season. The nicknames given to teams, such as the Giants, Browns, Statesmen, and Senators, were just that--informal names used by the fans and the press, but not really official names, and different newspapers in the same city might favor different names.

Anyway, whoever made the Wikipedia entry had probably never seen the image of the 1892 team or done much research in the newspaper archives. By the end of the decade, the team was usually called the Senators in the press, but it's hard to imagine that this was the most commonly used nickname for the 1892 team, considering what was printed on their uniform shirts.

[Carter08]

Might be far afield from what the OP is thinking but I’m a huge fan of the 5th all star game ever played, which was in Washington in 1937. FDR threw out the first pitch, Gehrig homered, Dizzy’s career got derailed by a liner from Earl Averill. Awesome game.

[GeoPoto]

I’m a huge fan of the 5th all star game ever played, which was in Washington in 1937. FDR threw out the first pitch, Gehrig homered, Dizzy’s career got derailed by a liner from Earl Averill. Awesome game.

The American League took the game, 8-3, Lefty Gomez besting Dizzy Dean, Lou Gehrig blasting a home run for the AL. And, as you say, Dean's broken toe was the beginning of the end of his Hall-of-Fame career.

The images of Griffith Stadium are from 1924 and FDR's first pitch is from the 1940 season.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #4: J. Albert "Al" Myers. "Cod". Second baseman with the Washington Nationals in 1887-1889. 788 hits and 111 stolen bases in 8 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1884. His best season was 1890 with the Philadelphia Quakers as he posted a .365 OBP with 95 runs scored, 81 RBIs, and 44 stolen bases in 554 plate appearances. He ended his career in 1891 still with Philadelphia.

The book Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball says that Mack and his new wife Margaret, in the off-season after the 1888 season, along with Myers and Jim Whitney, traveled toward California, playing on a pay-per-game basis for various barnstorming teams. The players made enough money for their expenses as well as some left over.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #5: Samuel N. "Sam" Crane. Second baseman with the Washington Nationals in 1887. 276 hits and 3 home runs in 7 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Buffalo Bisons in 1880. His final season was 1890 with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys. He managed the Buffalo Bisons in 1880 and the Cincinnati Outlaw Reds in 1884.

After his playing days, Sam had a long and distinguished career as a sportswriter. It was his connection to baseball as a player, manager, and sportswriter that lent credibility to his assertion that Cooperstown, New York be the location for a "memorial" to the great players from the past. Cooperstown was, at the time, the place that many people believed was where Abner Doubleday had invented the game of baseball. It was this idea of a memorial that eventually led to the creation of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1939.

Crane's playing career ended when he was arrested after having an affair with the wife of a fruit dealer and stealing $1,500 from the husband.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #6: Owen F. "Spider" Clark. Utility player with the Washington Nationals in 1889. 106 hits and 5 home runs in 2 MLB seasons. He also played in 1890 for the Buffalo Bisons of the Players' League. While he was primarily a right fielder, he played all over the diamond on defense, playing every position at least once, including one game as a pitcher for the Bisons.

With the Nationals in 1889, Clark also became the first major league player with the nickname of "Spider," a moniker he received because of his thin build and his excellent range as a fielder. Clark died of tuberculosis in 1892 at 24 years old.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #7: Patrick E. "Pat" Dealy played all or part of five seasons in the majors between 1884 and 1890. 113 hits and 2 home runs in 5 MLB seasons. He debuted with the St. Paul Saints of the Union Association in 1884 as their backup catcher, which was his primary position throughout his career (he also played substantial numbers of games at shortstop, third base, and the outfield). He then played three seasons in the National League, with the Boston Beaneaters in 1885 and 1886 and Washington Nationals in 1887. His final season came with the Syracuse Stars of the American Association. Dealey also umpired two NL games in 1886. In 1887, he was Connie Mack's back-up.

Dealy is said to have allowed 10 passed balls in a game on May 3, 1886, which is odd given that he appeared in 14 games at catcher that season and allowed a total of 20 passed balls, which means that he had a total of 10 in the other 13 games. It was apparently typical to allow one passed ball per game - Dealy allowed 24 during 28 games at catcher in 1887 while Connie Mack allowed 76 passed balls during 76 games at catcher in 1887.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #8: John A. "Jack" Farrell. "Moose". Second baseman with the Washington Nationals in 1886-1887. 877 hits and 23 home runs in 11 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Syracuse Stars in 1879. His best season was 1883 with the Providence Grays as he posted a .329 OBP with 92 runs scored in 435 plate appearances. He last played for the Baltimore Orioles in 1888-1889. In 1881, he managed the Providence Grays.

Farrell was the second baseman for the Providence Gray's in 1879-1885, a consistently good team that won the pennant in 1879 and 1884.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #9: Andrew B. "Barney" Gilligan. Catcher with the Washington Nationals in 1886-1887. 386 hits and 3 home runs in 10 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Cleveland Blues in 1879-1880. His best season was 1884 with the Providence Grays as he posted a .325 OBP with 47 runs scored in 329 plate appearances. He was Hoss Radbourn's catcher as Radbourn won 54 games and the Grays won the 1884 pennant. He finished his MLB career with the Detroit Wolverines in 1888.

In the 1880's catching was brutal, dangerous work using the primitive equipment of the day. It was also customary for "batteries" to stay together. Most teams had two pitcher/catcher duos and rarely mixed them up barring injury. So, when Hoss Radbourn took over starting every Providence Grays game in the second half of the 1884 pennant-winning season, it meant Gilligan caught every game as well. It is well understood that Radbourn's was a feat of fantastic endurance; less appreciated, is Gilligan's ability to catch Radbourn game after game. Despite the physical demands of all the catching, 1884 was also Gilligan's finest offensive season.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #10: John J. "Egyptian" Healy. "Long John". Healy was born in Cairo, IL, hence the nickname, "Egyptian". Pitcher with the Washington Nationals in 1889. 78 wins and a 3.84 ERA in 8 MLB seasons. He debuted with the St. Louis Maroons in 1885-1886. His best season was 1890 with the Toledo Maumees as he went 22-21 record with a 2.89 ERA in 389 innings pitched. His final season was 1892 with the Louisville Colonels. Healy's career W-L record was 78-136; during the 1880s, his .310 winning percentage (44-98) was the lowest of any Major League pitcher in the decade.

During the 1888-89 off-season he was part of the world tour which Al Spalding organized. Among other places, they went to Egypt. Healy died of consumption in 1899 at age 32.

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[GeoPoto]

The Washington Nationals played their first and only season of professional baseball in 1872 as a member of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. They finished eleventh in the league with a record of 0-11.

The Washington Blue Legs played their first and only season in 1873 as a member of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. They finished seventh in the league with a record of 8-31.

The 1891 Washington Statesmen baseball team finished the season with a 44–91 record in the American Association in their first season. After the season, the AA disbanded and the Washington club, renamed the "Senators," joined the National League.

Player #11: Paul A. Hines. Outfielder with the Washington Nationals in 1886-1887. 2,133 hits and 57 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1884 World Series champion with the Providence Grays. 1878 Triple Crown winner. 2-time (1878 and 1879) batting champion. 1878 NL home run leader and NL RBI leader. Hines debuted with Washington in the National Association in 1972 and played for eight other MLB teams, including the Washington Blue Legs (1873), Washington Nationals (NL) (1886-1887), and, in his final season, the Washington Statesmen (1891). During the first five NL seasons, from 1876 through 1880, Hines had more base hits than any other player, and he retired third to Cap Anson and Jim O'Rourke with 1,884 career hits in the majors.

Hines' total of sixteen seasons as a major league team's primary center fielder was not surpassed until Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb in 1925.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #12: William F. "Bill" Krieg. Catcher/1B/Outfielder with the Washington Nationals in 1886-1887. 127 hits and 4 home runs in 4 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies in 1884.

Krieg started 1887 with Washington. On opening day, he hit a home run, and in the stands, "hats, umbrellas and canes were thrown into the air and the multitude shouted forth their joy in hilarious manner." However, Krieg batted just .253 in 25 games and was released in midseason.

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[Jobu]

Here's a photo of a black team, the 1921 Washington Athletics. I previously posted a thread looking for information and didn't get too far, so if you know about this team I'd love to hear it.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=301569

[GeoPoto]

I like the picture, thanks for posting. Who they are? is a pitch I can't hit.

[GeoPoto]

Player #13: Jeremiah J. "Miah" Murray. Catcher with the Washington Nationals in 1888 and the Washington Statesmen in 1891. 17 hits in 125 plate appearances spread across 4 MLB seasons. Murray debuted with the Providence Grays in 1884.

Murray worked as a full-time National League umpire for the 1895 season.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #14: William S. "Billy" O'Brien. Third baseman with the Washington Nationals in 1987-1989. 364 hits and 32 home runs in 5 MLB seasons. Debuted with the St. Paul Saints in 1884. His best season was 1887 with Washington as he posted a .317 OBP with 19 home runs and 73 RBIs in 479 plate appearances. He finished up with the Brooklyn Gladiators in 1890.

In March 1887, O'Brien was acquired by the NL's Washington Nationals. That season, he played 113 games, batting .278 with 73 runs batted in (RBI) and a 126 OPS+. He led the league in home runs, with 19.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #15: George Q. Shoch. Utility player with the Washington Nationals in 1886-1889. 671 hits and 138 stolen bases in 11 MLB seasons. He had a career OBP of .354. He finished his career with the Brooklyn Grooms/Bridegrooms in 1893-1897.

Although rarely in the everyday lineup for an extended period, Shoch was a useful member of several late-19th-century major-league teams. In an era of small rosters, Shoch’s versatility – he could play second, shortstop, third, and the outfield competently – was coveted by his managers.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #16: Walter R. "Walt" Wilmot. Switch-hitting outfielder with the Washington Nationals in 1888-1889. 1,100 hits, 58 home runs, and 383 stolen bases in 10 MLB seasons. 1890 NL home run leader. In 1891 he was first MLB player to be walked 6 times in one game. His most productive season was 1894 with the Chicago Colts as he posted a .368 OBP with 136 runs, 76 stolen bases, and 130 RBIs in 655 plate appearances. He last played for the New York Giants in 1897-1898.

Wilmot set three rather obscure records that have never been broken. On September 20, 1890, he was hit twice in the same game by batted balls while running the bases. The next year, on August 22, 1891, he drew six walks in a nine-inning game; only one other player, Jimmie Foxx in 1938, has equaled that feat. Finally, in August 1894, Wilmot stole eight bases in two consecutive games. Rickey Henderson stole seven bases in two games, but no one has ever tied or broken Wilmot’s mark.

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[GeoPoto]

I recently picked up the photograph on the left below, which the seller was unable to tie to a specific player. But it appears to be related to the Jack Farrell Old Judge pose on the right. The card is not mine -- I have five of Farrell's Old Judge Washington poses, but not the one related to the photograph. Anybody (if anybody is paying attention) have any thoughts regarding how unusual the photograph is?

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[Hankphenom]

I recently picked up the photograph on the left below, which the seller was unable to tie to a specific player. But it appears to be related to the Jack Farrell Old Judge pose on the right. The card is not mine -- I have five of Farrell's Old Judge Washington poses, but not the one related to the photograph. Anybody (if anybody is paying attention) have any thoughts regarding how unusual the photograph is?
Your photo appears to be an amazing artifact.

[Leon]

Nice photo. I am probably mistaking but it sort of looks like one of those later Old Judge images. Those surface abrasions are similar to other ones I have seen. If I recall they were made in the early 1900s....but maybe I am thinking of tintypes or something...?

Actually, I think I used to own that LOL...


I recently picked up the photograph on the left below, which the seller was unable to tie to a specific player. But it appears to be related to the Jack Farrell Old Judge pose on the right. The card is not mine -- I have five of Farrell's Old Judge Washington poses, but not the one related to the photograph. Anybody (if anybody is paying attention) have any thoughts regarding how unusual the photograph is?

https://www.net54baseball.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=520790&stc=1&d=1655116163
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[GeoPoto]

Your photo appears to be an amazing artifact.

Is that good or bad?

[Hankphenom]

Is that good or bad?
Hahaha! Maybe I should have said fascinating rather than amazing. Given the resolution of the photo, I think it's more likely that cards were made from the photo than the other way around, or at the least that they were both made from the original negative. How many of those can there be for 19th century cards? Anything on the back?

[GeoPoto]

The "photo" is "stuck" to a piece of black "construction paper". Any writing or marking on the back of the "photo" will not be easy to access.

[GeoPoto]

Player #17: Edward C. "Jumbo" Cartwright. First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1894-1897. 562 hits and 144 stolen bases in 5 MLB seasons. He debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1890. His best season was 1895 with Washington as he posted a .400 OBP with 95 runs scored, 90 RBIs, and 50 stolen bases in 531 plate appearances.

Cartwright is most famous for having seven RBI in one inning, accomplished with the Browns in 1890; his record would stand for 109 years until it was broken by Fernando ("Bodacious") Tatís of the Cardinals in 1999.

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[ValKehl]

Hi George,
I am very much enjoying all of your posting in this thread, both the great cards and the interesting biographic info re the players.

But, I'm curious about one aspect of the bios. Why is it that with all of the statistics you mention, you never or virtually never mention a player's batting average?
Best,
Val

[GeoPoto]

Hi Val! Thank you for the kind words. I am trying to provide a brief career overview, in a standard format, without losing (or abusing) the attention of readers (most of whom are, I assume) not intensely interested in the players or their history. If your question is Why not BA AND OBP? my answer is that it might begin to clutter the writing with "too many" (similar) numbers. If your question is Why OBP in lieu of BA? my answer is that I subscribe to the modern view that OBP is a richer statistic that conveys more meaningful information regarding the "value" of the player's offensive production.

I realize the players in question and the fans of their time were largely oblivious to OBP but keenly aware of batting average as a basis for evaluating and comparing offensive performance across teams, players, and seasons. That was then; this is now.

[GeoPoto]

Player18: William M. "Bill" Joyce. Third baseman with the Washington Senators in 1894-1896. 971 hits, 70 home runs, and 266 stolen bases in 8 MLB seasons. He was the 1896 NL home run leader. He debuted with the Brooklyn Ward's Wonders in 1890. He had a career OBP of .435. His best season was 1896 as he posted a .470 OBP with 121 runs scored, 94 RBIs, and 45 stolen bases in 600 plate appearances. His 1896 season was split between Washington and the New York Giants. He finished his career as the player-manager of the Giants in 1896-1898. He holds (a tie for) the record with 4 triples in one game. In 1891, he reached base in 64 consecutive games, a record that stood until Ted Williams broke it in 1941.

The Brooklyn Grooms traded Joyce to the Washington Senators in the 1892-93 offseason, but he refused to play for the Senators at the salary offered and held out for the entire 1893 season. Joyce finally signed with the Senators in the spring of 1894 and was named the team captain. Praised as “an intelligent, energetic and aggressive captain,” Joyce had one obvious fault: He was “a kicker from Kickersville,” who obsessively and persistently protested umpires’ calls. On May 1, 1894, his incessant kicking resulted in the forfeiture of a game to the Brooklyn Grooms. Worse, after the game he and several teammates followed the umpire into the dressing room spouting “obscene and blackguard language.” It was an “act of hoodlums,” wrote Henry Chadwick, the 69-year-old “Father of Baseball.”

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[brianp-beme]

I have three N300 cards with a total size of approximately 2.375 normal examples. My full one happens to be formally attired Otis Stocksdale, pitcher for Washington. I will let George post his great writeup on him when he shows his example.

Brian

[GeoPoto]

Great Stocksdale, Brian! Is that the right rear pocket fold over variation? Or the left?

[GeoPoto]

The 1895 Washington Senators baseball team finished the season with a 43–85 record, tenth place in the National League.

Player #19: Otis H. Stocksdale. "Old Gray Fox". Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1893-1895. 15 wins and 1 save in 4 MLB seasons. 1896 NL pennant winner. His final season was with the Baltimore Orioles in 1896.

Stocksdale never had a winning record as a pitcher but hit over .300. He was born in Maryland and attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore; he is the player with the highest major league batting average to come out of Johns Hopkins.

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[GeoPoto]

The 1903 Washington Senators won 43 games, lost 94, and finished in eighth place in the American League. They were managed by Tom Loftus and played home games at the American League Park I.

Washington had finished in sixth place in each of the previous two seasons (the first two seasons of the American League's existence). However, they fell to eighth and last in 1903. Their only star player, Big Ed Delahanty, got drunk and fell off a bridge into Niagara Falls midway through the season.

The Senators' pitching had always been bad, and indeed, they would allow the most runs in the AL, but without Delahanty the offense sputtered to a halt. Their collective batting average was .231, bad even for the dead-ball era, and no one drove in more than 49 runs.

Player #20: George C. "Scoops" Carey. First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1902-1903. 313 hits and one home run in 4 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Baltimore Orioles in 1895. His best season was 1902 with Washington as he posted a .350 OBP with 60 RBIs in 482 plate appearances.

Carey is quoted in his SABR biography regarding one aspect of playing for the Orioles in 1895: There was also a mission of considerable importance for the Orioles — make life “miserable” for umpires: “They were after the umps all the time and whenever a close decision went against them, there was sure to be trouble. It got them something, too. All the umpires were afraid of the bunch. I remember in one of the games that we played against Cleveland, Bob Emslie called a strike on me that was clearly wide. I started to make a kick. If you say another word I’ll fine you and put you out of the game. There are enough crabs on this team without you youngsters.”

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[ValKehl]

The 1903 Washington Senators won 43 games, lost 94, and finished in eighth place in the American League. They were managed by Tom Loftus and played home games at the American League Park I.

Washington had finished in sixth place in each of the previous two seasons (the first two seasons of the American League's existence). However, they fell to eighth and last in 1903. Their only star player, Big Ed Delahanty, got drunk and fell off a bridge into Niagara Falls midway through the season.

The Senators' pitching had always been bad, and indeed, they would allow the most runs in the AL, but without Delahanty the offense sputtered to a halt. Their collective batting average was .231, bad even for the dead-ball era, and no one drove in more than 49 runs.

George, your description of the 1903 Senators reminded me of the Senators teams I grew up with and rooted for in the 1950's and 1960's. Ugh!

And, having just watched them lose their 6th game in a row to fall to a record of 23 wins - 44 losses when I read your post, it also reminded me of my current Washington Nationals, who have hit rock bottom since winning the W. S. in 2019. The pitching is absolutely pathetic, and the star player, Juan Soto, is mired in a season-long slump, currently batting in the .220's with a measly 28 RBIs. Sigh!

[GeoPoto]

Sigh back at you.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[GeoPoto]

Player #21: William M. "Bill" Carrick. "Doughnut Bill". Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1901-1902. 63 wins and a 4.14 ERA in 5 MLB seasons. He led the NL in complete games in 1899 and in games pitched in 1900 and in games started both years. He debuted with the New York Giants in 1898-1900. In 1900 he had his best year posting a record of 19-22 with a 3.53 ERA in 341.2 innings pitched.

Doughnut Bill Carrick pitched five years in the majors. He was a workhorse, twice leading the league in starts. At one point during the 1901 season, Carrick lost seventeen consecutive decisions.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #22: William P. "Bill" Coughlin. "Scranton Bill". "Rowdy Bill". Third baseman with the Washington Nationals in 1899 (NL) and Senators in 1901-1904 (AL). 972 hits and 159 stolen bases in 9 MLB seasons. He was known as a master of the hidden-ball trick. He was a key figure on the Detroit Tiger team that won AL pennants in 1907 and 1908. But his most productive season was 1902 with Washington as he posted an OBP of .348 with 84 runs scored and 71 RBIs in 506 plate appearances. His final seasons were with Detroit in 1904-1908.

In 1919, Coughlin was involved in the occupation of Germany after World War I. Coughlin conceived and operated a school for umpires run by the Knights of Columbus in occupied Coblenz, Germany. Coughlin taught the umpire candidates to officiate baseball games for the occupying servicemen. Coughlin taught his umpires to play "The Star-Spangled Banner" if fights erupted among the players, causing "rocks held ready to avenge an unpopular decision" to fall from "reverent hands."

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[ValKehl]

Prior to the game on Saturday vs. the Phillies, the Wash. Nationals held an on-field ceremony to honor Ryan Zimmerman and retire his jersey number. A good player but not a HOF candidate, Zimmerman has been the face of the Nats franchise from almost when the team moved to DC from Montreal. I think this read, which appears in today's Wash. Post, will interest all Washington fans, and hopefully others as well. I have copied and pasted this piece becaise I believe the Post has a paywall.


A century before Zimmerman, Walter Johnson transformed D.C. baseball

By Frederic J. Frommer
Updated June 18, 2022 at 8:00 p.m. EDT|Published June 17, 2022 at 10:01 a.m. EDT

When the Nationals celebrate Ryan Zimmerman and his career at Nationals Park on Saturday, they paid tribute to a player who has been the face of Washington baseball in a way no one has in a century, since Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson.

Like Johnson, Zimmerman, who announced his retirement in February, played his entire career here, slogged through many years of bad baseball, and helped lead his team to a World Series title in the twilight of his career.

Zimmerman made his debut at the age of 20, 98 years after Johnson’s first game with the Washington Senators at the age of 19. Johnson finally got a chance to play in the World Series when he was 36 and the entire nation rallied around the underdog Senators, who beat the New York Giants in seven games.

Zimmerman was 35 when the Nats upset the Houston Astros in the 2019 World Series, also in seven games. Those remain the only World Series titles for Washington, 95 years apart. Zimmerman is also retiring 95 years after Johnson did in 1927.

The Senators and the Nats were nearly equally bad when Johnson and Zimmerman started their careers. In his first five seasons in the big leagues, Johnson pitched for a team that finished in last or second-to-last place in the American League every season. In the first five seasons Zimmerman played for the Nats, the team finished in the bottom two in the National League East Division.

Twice in those periods, their teams had the worst record in baseball. The Nats got to restock off those fallow years by drafting Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper with back-to-back No. 1 draft picks, but there was no draft back when Johnson played, making a rebuild much more challenging.

Both players dated back to the beginning of the Washington teams. The Nats made Zimmerman their first draft selection after moving here from Montreal in June 2005, and he made his debut three months later. The Senators scouted Johnson playing semipro baseball in Idaho and signed him in June 1907 during their seventh season.

“Secures A Phenom,” a Washington Post headline declared on June 30, 1907. “Johnson Is His Name and He Hails from the Wooly West.” He debuted for the Senators that August. They both put up spectacular numbers in their first abbreviated first seasons. Zimmerman hit .397 in 20 games, while Johnson posted a 1.88 earned run average in 14 games.

Zimmerman played his entire career with one team, a feat almost unheard of in this era of free agency, but it was more common when Johnson played. Zimmerman helped bridge generations of Washington baseball fans, many of whom lived 33 years without a local team. As he told me after the Nats won the 2019 World Series for my book on Washington baseball history, “You Gotta Have Heart”:

The team has been here long enough where I’ll have 20-year-old or 25-year-old guys or girls come up to me and be like, “Hey thanks, you know you’ve been my favorite since I was a little kid,” which makes me feel really old, but also it is really cool because you have that again now.

Being here for so long, I’ve talked to some people who said they used to go to Senators games with their parents. These people went to games with their dad or mom when they were four or five or six years old, but their kids are now grown, and they never had a baseball team to do that with their dad or mom. So you missed that whole generation.

One of the most important things this World Series did was restore baseball back to D.C. It’s almost like some closure to baseball coming back.

Both Zimmerman and Johnson knew when it was time to retire. Johnson, 39, went 5-6 with a 5.10 ERA in his final season, although he hit .348 and slugged .522 in 46 at-bats. Zimmerman, 37 when he retired, hit .243 last year, but he did have some pop left in his bat, homering 14 times and driving in 46 RBIs in just 255 at-bats.

ohnson had arguably the best career of any big league pitcher in history and holds the record for most shutouts, with 110. Zimmerman was not that kind of transformational player, but he retired as the all-time Nats leader in homers, hits, RBIs and games played. On Saturday, his No. 11 was retired, the first time a Nats player has received that honor.

Johnson remained a fixture in the region, as Zimmerman, known as “Mr. National,” plans to do. “Although my baseball career has come to an end, my family and I will continue to be heavily involved in the DMV community,” he said.

A few years after retiring, Johnson became manager of the Senators. In three of those four seasons, the Senators had a winning percentage of .597 or better but never made it back to the World Series. Later, he entered politics, winning a seat on the Montgomery County Commission and nearly pulling off an upset victory as a Republican candidate for Congress in 1940. There is also a high school named for him in Bethesda.

Both excelled in unassuming ways, without seeking the spotlight. When Johnson retired, he said he “simply does not want to be in the way next season.”

“Walter Johnson, more than any other ball player, probably more than any other athlete, professional or amateur, became the symbol of gentlemanly conduct in the battle heat,” wrote Washington Post sports columnist Shirley Povich in 1946, following the death of Johnson at the age of 59.

“The big fellow from Coffeyville, Kan.,” wrote New York Times sports columnist Arthur Daley, “was a gentleman of the highest type, a distinct credit to his sport.”

Although players today are not often described as “gentlemen,” the sentiments behind those comments describe Zimmerman. He told The Post that when people see him and thank him for being a role model, “I feel like I don’t know why you’re thanking me. All I did was play baseball. I got to play baseball for a job. That is the best way to put it. I shouldn’t be being thanked. I feel like I should be thanking them.”

Frederic J. Frommer, a writer and sports historian, is the author of several books, including “You Gotta Have Heart: Washington Baseball from Walter Johnson to the 2019 World Series Champion Nationals.”

[GeoPoto]

Thanks Val.

Player #23: Lewis L. "Lew" Drill. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1902-1904. 231 hits in 4 MLB seasons. His career OBP is .353. His last MLB seasons were 1904-1905 with the Detroit Tigers. He declined a contract offer for the 1906 season because he could make more money working as a lawyer.

Drill's SABR biography picks up his 1903 season: With (William "Boileryard") Clarke back in the fold, Drill had less opportunity to play in 1903. He batted .253 in 51 games and kept up his studies while playing ball, earning his law degree from Georgetown in June. After the season he and Bob Blewett, a classmate at Georgetown and a former pitcher with the New York Giants, opened a law office in Seattle; one report stated, “Both men are out of baseball for good.” Drill must have reconsidered: He was one of the first to report for Senator's spring training in 1904.

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[Hankphenom]

Prior to the game on Saturday vs. the Phillies, the Wash. Nationals held an on-field ceremony to honor Ryan Zimmerman and retire his jersey number. A good player but not a HOF candidate, Zimmerman has been the face of the Nats franchise from almost when the team moved to DC from Montreal. I think this read, which appears in today's Wash. Post, will interest all Washington fans, and hopefully others as well. I have copied and pasted this piece because I believe the Post has a paywall.
Thanks, Val, for posting this nicely done and apropos article by Fred Frommer, who has become the unofficial historian of the original Nats.

[GeoPoto]

Wyatt A. "Watty" Lee. Outfielder and Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1901-1903. 30 wins in 549.1 innings pitched over 4 MLB seasons.

In 1903 he had an 8-12 record with a 3.08 ERA in 166.2 innings pitched. He finished up with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1904.

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[ValKehl]

George, I'm greatly enjoying seeing the pics of your vintage Washington cards and reading your informative write ups. Here's another "Watty" Lee card to augment your last post.

[ValKehl]

Delete - wrong forum!

[GeoPoto]

Val, that's a very nice Lee! Thank you for posting it. I don't have Lee, but I do have:

Player #25: Albert L. "Al" Orth. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1902-1904. 204 wins and 6 saves in 15 MLB seasons. He was the MLB wins leader in 1906. He was known as "The Curveless Wonder" relying on control and differing speed. His best season may have been 1901 with Philadelphia as he posted a 20-12 record with a 2.27 ERA in 281.2 innings pitched. He umpired, when necessary, as a player and in one game umpired and pinch-hit in the same game. He debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1895-1901. He finished his career with the New York Highlanders in 1904-1909. He debuted as an umpire in the NL in 1912 and in 1917 was the umpire when Toney and Vaughn each pitched 9 innings of no-hit baseball, the only time it has happened.

Orth's SABR biography relates how his time in Washington ended as his discovery of a new pitch came too late: Like many of his Philadelphia teammates, following the 1901 season Orth jumped to the American League, signing with the Washington Senators. Orth again posted the lowest walk rate in his league in 1902, with just 40 base-on-balls allowed in 324 innings. Unfortunately, Orth only struck out 76 batters that year, finishing with a 19-18 record and subpar 3.97 ERA. He was even worse in 1903, winning 10 games against 22 losses while posting a horrendous 4.34 ERA. After starting the 1904 campaign 3-4 with a 4.76 ERA, Orth was traded to the New York Highlanders.

Shortly after his arrival with the Highlanders, Orth turned his season around, helping to keep New York in the pennant race until the last day of the season with an 11-6 record and league-average 2.68 ERA. Orth’s turnaround was probably due in part to teammate Jack Chesbro, who rode the spitball to a 41-win season that year. Orth himself said he first used the spitball at the end of the 1904 season and considered the pitch “more effective than a curve” with a “quicker break.” Orth threw it “regularly” in the 1905 season, as he posted an 18-16 record with a 2.86 ERA for the sixth place Highlanders.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #26: Albert K. "Kip" Selbach. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1894-1898 (NL) and 1903-1904 (AL). 1,807 hits and 334 stolen bases in 13 MLB seasons. He had a career OBP of .377. He led the NL in triples in 1895. Among his many good seasons was 1900 with the New York Giants as he posted a .425 OBP with 98 runs scored and 36 stolen bases in 611 plate appearances. His final seasons were with the Boston Americans in 1904-1906.

From Selbach's SABR biography: During 1902 it became known that the American League would not have a team in Baltimore in 1903. On August 26 Clark Griffith – acting as an agent for the league – signed Selbach, Billy Gilbert, and Jimmy Williams; all expected to play for the new team that was thought to be placed in New York. “Selbach and Williams said they are under guaranteed two-years’ contract to the Baltimore Club, which they would insist upon being fulfilled to the letter. Selbach says he called upon Johnson and Griffith merely to see if the American League would voluntarily increase his salary as a reward for his loyalty.”

In early December Selbach himself said he had not signed with Griffith. There were rumors that there wouldn’t even be a team in Washington and that the AL would place a team in Pittsburgh instead. Concerns among Washington area fans were assuaged on December 28, when Selbach signed a two-year contract – with the Washington Senators. Since he remained popular in the area (because of his previous stint with Washington's NL team), that seemed like a bonus.

Note that the back of the card was blank until its early owner took advantage of the spot to attach return instructions should it ever become lost.

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[GeoPoto]

The 1905 Washington Senators won 64 games, lost 87, and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Jake Stahl and played home games at National Park.

Prior to the start of the 1905 season, Washington's new ownership group attempted to put the club's recent history behind it by inviting baseball fans to submit their suggestions for a new name. "The Nationals" was selected as most acceptable but did not truly take. The name was ill-suited in the first place, as it suggested a National League team, and merely represented an oddly nostalgic longing for the bad ballclubs of the 1880s and 1890s. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

The 1906 Washington Senators won 55 games, lost 95, and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Jake Stahl and played home games at National Park.

The highlight of Washington's 1906 season came in late August when the Senators brought an end to the 19-game winning streak of the "hitless wonders", the Chicago White Sox. This White Sox squad eventually won the pennant despite maintaining a .230 team batting average, the worst in the league by far. The White Sox took the 1906 World Series in six games from their crosstown rivals the Cubs, despite hitting just .198 in the fall classic. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #27: Lafayette N. "Lave" Cross. Born Vratislav Kriz. Third baseman/catcher with the Washington Senators in 1906-1907. 2,651 hits, 47 home runs, and 303 stolen bases in 21 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Louisville Colonels in 1887-1888. In 1894 with the Philadelphia Phillies, he had one of his most productive seasons as he posted a .424 OBP with 128 runs scored and 132 RBIs in 593 plate appearances. At retirement in 1907, he ranked fifth in MLB history in hits and runs batted in. He captained the Philadelphia Athletics teams which captured two of the first five AL pennants.

Cross' SABR biography summarizes his brief, career-ending time in Washington: Cross was 39 years old. The strains of captainship, upon his own game and in relations with teammates and ownership, wore upon him. Yet, even as he sought a younger third baseman, Mack was grateful for Cross’s contributions. Consequently, he allowed Cross to come to an agreement with Washington, then released him to the Senators with no compensation in return that December.

Although Washington had finished in seventh place in 1905, and their promising young shortstop Joe Cassidy died before the 1906 campaign launched, the Senators played .500 ball through the first month. Cross started well, hitting .333 and scoring 16 runs through Washington’s first 21 games. But the team soon sank out of contention and finished seventh again. Cross contributed a .263 average (an OPS+ of 100) and led AL third basemen in fielding percentage, although his range metrics were below average.

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[RUKen]

Prior to the start of the 1905 season, Washington's new ownership group attempted to put the club's recent history behind it by inviting baseball fans to submit their suggestions for a new name. "The Nationals" was selected as most acceptable but did not truly take.

I am doubtful that the name "did not truly take", as the team wore "NATIONALS" on their home uniforms that year. The newspapers adopted the name, which was often shortened to "Nats", a nickname that persisted for decades even after everyone stopped calling them the Nationals.

[GeoPoto]

Thanks for the comment. I'm not sure what Deveaux is basing his use of "truly" on, but he continues "Fans and reporters alike, in Washington and elsewhere, continued to call the team the Senators and to nickname the team the Nats. It would be 50 years, however, before 'Senators' would become the official team name".

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[brianp-beme]

Thanks for the comment. I'm not sure what Deveaux is basing his use of "truly" on, but he continues "Fans and reporters alike, in Washington and elsewhere, continued to call the team the Senators and to nickname the team the Nats. It would be 50 years, however, before 'Senators' would become the official team name".

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

Just to point out, Nats is part of SeNATors too, so it might be considered a duo use nickname.

Brian

[GeoPoto]

Player #28A: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

Griff's SABR biography picks up his career with the New York Highlanders: In 1903, Griffith was named manager of the NY AL team that replaced Baltimore. 1906 found him still managing the Highlanders. We pick up his SABR biography: In 1904, mainly through the machinations of Ban Johnson, New York was fortified by the additions of Jack Powell and John Anderson, and the pick-up of Smiling Al Orth in July helped to solidify the team in its run for the pennant. On the season’s final day, however, a wild pitch by Jack Chesbro denied the Highlanders a championship. It was the closest Griff would come to a flag in New York.

The club was up and down in the standings over the next several seasons, sagging to sixth place in 1905, finishing second in 1906 and falling back again to fifth in 1907. In June 1908, as the team was beset with injuries and spiraling downward, losing 12 of 13 games, Clark announced his resignation. He blamed bad luck which followed the club, intimating that perhaps it was he, himself, who was the hoodoo. A disheartened Griffith stated, “It [is] simply useless for me to continue…I have tried everything, but it [is] fighting against fate.”

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[GeoPoto]

Player #29: Charles T. "Charlie" Hickman. Utility player with the Washington Senators in 1905-1907. 1,176 hits and 59 home runs in 12 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Boston Beaneaters in 1897-1899. His 1902 season was split between the Boston Americans and the Cleveland Bronchos but was his most productive as he posted a .387 OBP with 110 RBIs in 564 plate appearances. His final season was 1908 with the Cleveland Naps.

Hickman's SABR biography summarizes his time in Washington: After struggling at the plate and in the field for Detroit in 1905, and again tangling with Armour (now managing the Tigers), he was sold to Washington, where he remained for one complete season and parts of two others. He was the team’s leading hitter, but his defensive woes continued. On September 29, 1905, Hickman entered the record books again when he had a five-error game at second base. Though still an effective hitter who batted .284 with nine home runs for the Senators in 1906, Hickman’s inability to play defense limited his value. During spring training in 1907, Hickman suffered a knee injury that would hamper him through the rest of the season (and signal the end of his career).

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[GeoPoto]

Player #30: Case L. "Casey" Patten. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1901-1908. 101 wins and 4 saves in 8 MLB seasons. He had a career OBP of 3.36. His best season was 1906 with Washington as he posted a 19-16 record with a 2.17 ERA in 282.2 innings pitched. He finished his career in 1908 with the Boston Red Sox.

Patten's SABR biography lays out his time in Washington: Patten debuted with Manning’s Senators on May 4, 1901, pitching in relief of Win Mercer, who was up against Cy Young and some hot Boston batters. (James H. Manning owned the Kansas City Blues and went on to become one of the incorporators of the Washington Senators. A good part of the Washington team, including Patten, was built from Manning's Kansas City club.) Mercer let in seven runs in the first four innings, and Patten got the call. He struck out two and walked three and let in three more runs. It was a lopsided 10-2 win for Jimmy Collins and the Bostons.

(Despite that introduction,) Patten (had) a pretty good year on the mound. Though he was pitching for a sixth-place team which wound up with a 61-72 record, Patten was 18-10 with a 3.93 earned run average, the best pitcher on the staff. If not his best year, it was one of his two best. “I never saw a pitcher with a better curve,” said Kid Gleason at year’s end. (Washington Post, September 27, 1901.) Patten was often superb with the spitball. Over seven seasons with Washington, Patten averaged over 14 wins a year (though, it must be said, more than 17 losses). He played with Washington throughout his entire major-league career save for one game that he pitched for the Boston Red Sox in 1908.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #31: Garland "Jake" Stahl. First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1904-1906 and manager 1905-1906. 894 hits and 31 home runs in 9 MLB seasons. 1912 World Series champion. 1910 AL HR leader. He debuted with the Boston Americans in 1903. His most productive season may have been 1910 with the Boston Red Sox as he posted a .334 OBP with 77 RBIs in 598 plate appearances. His last days as a player were with Boston in 1908-1910 and 1912-1913. He also managed Boston in 1912-1913.

Stahl's SABR biography covers his rise and fall as Washington's manager: During the winter of 1903-04, Boston shipped Jake to the floundering Washington franchise. Johnson (Ban Johnson was grateful for Stahl’s role in Boston’s successful 1903 season -- Boston’s World Series victory ensured the long-term viability of his new American League) was in charge of the team until suitable owners could be found and (he) converted Jake into a first baseman. He appeared in 142 games and finished the year with a .262 batting average, three home runs, and 50 RBIs. Even by Deadfall Era standards, these numbers were not exceptional, yet Stahl led the woeful (38-113) Nationals in all three categories.

In 1905, Johnson promoted Jake to manager. Having just turned 26 years old the day before the season began, he became the youngest player-manager in American League history. Employing the inclusive management style he used in college, Jake quickly won the support of the team’s veteran players. Coupled with a focused disciplinary approach emphasizing direct out-of-public-view communication with offenders, punctuated by demonstrations of potential physical force, Jake led the 1905 squad to 64-87 record.

For a short time early in the season, Jake even had the team in first place. When the team returned from a successful road trip, Washington gave the team a rousing parade and celebratory dinner. More importantly, Johnson found new owners for the shaky Washington franchise. Stahl had become, in the words of one observer, “popular with the players, and so well liked by the club owners that it has been officially announced that he can retain his present berth until he voluntarily resigns.”

In the offseason, Jake married his college sweetheart, the daughter of highly successful businessman Henry Weston Mahan. In 1906, however, things fell apart for Jake and the Nationals. Popular shortstop Joe Cassidy unexpectedly died of typhus at the beginning of the season and the team fell into a tailspin, finishing 55-95. The frustrated Washington owners replaced Jake as their manager during the 1906-1907 offseason.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #32: J. William "Wee Willie" Sudhoff. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1906. 102 wins and 3 saves in 10 MLB seasons. He debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1897-1898. His best season was 1903 with the St. Louis Browns as he posted a 21-15 record with a 2.27 ERA in 293.2 innings pitched.

Sudhoff's SABR biography covers his time in Washington: Blond-headed Wee Willie Sudhoff, although short in stature, was a solid, if mostly unspectacular, pitcher who spent all or parts of 10 seasons in the major leagues. He was the first Missouri-born player to appear for both the National League’s St. Louis Cardinals and the American League’s St. Louis Browns. The bulk of his career was spent on those two teams, but he also played for the woeful 1899 Cleveland Spiders and the 1906 Washington Senators. The diminutive right-hander relied primarily on curves and change of speed as he didn’t have particularly great pace on his fastball.

During the (1905-06) American League winter meetings, he was traded to the Washington Senators for left-handed starter Beany Jacobson. Sudhoff felt he still had something left. In an interview with the Post-Dispatch he confidently stated, “Why should I get out of the game so long as the public and the managers will stand for me? I’m still a young fellow.” The Washington Post was not as optimistic: “The Washington baseball club has traded Pitcher Jacobson for Pitcher Sudhoff, of the St. Louis Browns. Jacobson was a failure last season. Sudhoff was a great pitcher in his day but is believed to be going back.”

The Washington paper proved to be correct. While Jacobson was average in a tail-end role (he pitched 155 innings, fifth of the six pitchers on the team), Sudhoff had nothing left. The sore-armed twirler started five games and relieved in four others but managed a total of just 19⅔ innings with a bloated 9.15 ERA. That was a far cry from the pitcher who completed 199 of his 239 major-league starts.

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[GeoPoto]

The 1907 Washington Senators won 49 games, lost 102, and finished in eighth place in the American League. They were managed by Joe Cantillon and played home games at National Park. The 1907 season was noteworthy for the debut of a future hall-of-famer.

By the time Cantillon finally entered Walter Johnson in a game, on August 2, 1907, the city of Washington was rabid with baseball fever brought on by all the talk in the papers of this young man's fastball. More than 10,000 fans packed American League Park for the first game of a doubleheader against the Tigers, the best-hitting team in the league and the eventual pennant winners. These were the Tigers of Ty Cobb, then just 20 years old, the most ferocious of players who will likely forever remain baseball's all-time batting champion.

By all accounts, many fans were surprised by Johnson's sidearm delivery and sweeping underhand motion. He sure didn't move like a fastballer, and yet there was no doubt in the minds of the witnesses that day that his pitches were really moving. The record shows he gave up just six hits, three of which were bunts; two of these were by Cobb, who felt that bunting was the only counter to the incredible speed of Johnson's hard one. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

The 1908 Washington Senators won 67 games, lost 85, and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Joe Cantillon and played home games at National Park.

How Walter Johnson became a National Hero Part 1: The Senators were reasonably competitive in 1908; but for Walter Johnson, though, this was the season during which he became a national hero. First, however, he had to contend with an operation in late February for the removal of an abscess located behind his right ear. The operation was a serious one and his family had feared for his life. Johnson survived but was in considerable pain for several weeks afterward. He missed all of spring training as a result, and didn't join the club until June 6, nearly two months into the season. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.) We will return to this account of How Walter Johnson became a national hero in a subsequent episode. In the meantime,

Player #33A: Charles E. "Gabby" Street. "The Old Sarge". Catcher for the Washington Senators in 1908-1911. 312 hits and 2 home runs in 8 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Cincinnati Reds in 1904. Caught ball dropped from top of Washington Monument. Holds MLB record for longest gap between MLB games at 19 years -- 1912-1931. Managed the St. Louis Cardinals in 1929 and 1930-1933, including the 1931 World Series championship. Managed the St. Louis Browns in 1938.

(In 1908) The man who would become known as "Walter Johnson's catcher," Charles "Gabby" Street, also joined the Senators, his contract having been purchased from San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League. Street, who would manage the St. Louis Cardinals to a World Championship in 1931 (the same year he sent himself up to bat as he approached his 49th birthday), was just 25 when he joined Washington after having appeared in only 45 National League games. Nineteen hundred and eight and 1909 would be his two busiest seasons in the majors, but he would bat just .206 and .211, assuring himself of a more regular place "riding the pine" for another two seasons in Washington. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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The 1909 Washington Senators won 42 games, lost 110, and finished in eighth (last) place in the American League. They were managed by Joe Cantillon and played home games at National Park. The 1909 Senators still hold the Major League record for the most games lost in one month of a season, with 29 losses (and only 5 wins) in July.

(Both Germany Schaefer and Nick Altrock joined Washington in 1909. Though their comedic antics would not begin in earnest until 1912,) Comedy was indeed what the Washington ballclub was best at in 1909; it slipped to only 42 wins in 152 games. The highlight of the season was a scoreless, 18-inning tie with the Detroit Tigers on July 16. Ed Summers pitched the whole way for the Tigers, and he permitted just seven hits and one walk until, mercifully, the game was called because of darkness. The 1909 Nationals still hold records for fewest runs scored in a season (380) and the most times shutout in a season (29). They finished an unbelievable 56 games behind the first-place Tigers and 20 games out of seventh place. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

Clown Prince of Baseball: 1912 photograph of ballplayer turned comedy act, Nick Altrock, as he dances on the sidelines of a game in full uniform.

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How Walter Johnson became a National Hero (Part 2): We return to Deveaux's account of Walter Johnson's rise to national recognition: Johnson's record was 1-6 largely because of a lack of offensive support, when, on July 28, he struck out 15 Browns in St. Louis to earn a 2-1 win in 16 innings. With that game, in which Walter recorded his highest strikeout total to date, he undertook a string of 11 wins in 13 decisions. Then, over four glorious days in early September, the 21-year-old accomplished a feat not seen before or since.

The chain of events began innocently enough when on Friday, September 4, 1908, Johnson pitched a six-hit 3-0 shutout against Jack Chesbro and the New York Highlanders. On the following day, the New Yorkers' chagrin, not to mention surprise, can only be imagined when they saw Johnson warming up on the sidelines. It should be pointed out that in 1908, Big Ed Walsh of the White Sox led the league in games started with 49, the rough equivalent of a start every third game. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

We will pick this account up again soon, but in the meantime, the photograph by Thompson shows Walter Johnson swinging the bat c.1912-15. Walter was a good hitter for a pitcher at a time when pitchers were expected to be able to hit well enough to play the field and pinch hit to compensate for small rosters and frequent player injuries.

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Player #34: Clifford D. "Cliff" Blankenship. Catcher/first baseman for the Washington Senators in 1907 and 1909. 49 hits in 231 career plate appearances. He debuted with the Cincinnati Reds in 1905. He played a key role in Washington's signing of Walter Johnson.

Blankenship is remembered as a scout of sorts -- while injured with the Senators, he was sent to check out Walter Johnson in Idaho. Per the legend, he was told to bring his bat and, because he wasn't much of a hitter in the majors, to sign Johnson only if it was not possible to even hit a foul ball off him. Blankenship wired back: "You can't hit what you can't see." The Senators signed Johnson and the rest is history.

Here Deveaux picks up the story of Johnson's discovery: The baseball gods were indeed smiling down upon the Washington Senators on the day in 1907 when catcher Cliff Blankenship broke his finger. Joe Cantillon wanted to get some use out of the disabled Blankenship and decided to dispatch him on a scouting assignment. . . . Initially, Johnson wasn't even the main focus of Blankenship's scouting mission. The Senators already had their eye on Clyde Milan, a 20-year-old outfielder with Wichita, of the Western Association. An esteemed judge of talent, Joe Cantillon had spotted Milan when the Senators had played Wichita during a spring exhibition game on their way home from training camp in Galveston, Texas. There is little doubt that Blankenship's scouting trip was the most successful in all of history. Milan was signed for $1,250 and would become the team's best outfielder for the next 14 years. During all of that time, his roommate would be Walter Johnson. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #35A: William E. "Wid" Conroy. Utility player for the Washington Senators in 1909-1911. 1,257 hits, 22 home runs, and 262 stolen bases in 11 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. He had at least 384 plate appearances in each of his 11 MLB seasons. He was the first-string SS on the NL champion Pittsburgh Pirates in 1902. He moved to 3B in 1903 with the New York Highlanders, twice leading AL third basemen in total chances per game. He was an opening day starter for the Highlanders for the first five years of the team's existence. In 1907 he swiped 41 bases second only to Ty Cobb. He finished his career with Washington and in one of his last games set an AL record with 13 total chances at 3B.

Conroy's SABR biography covers his heyday in New York and his demise in Washington: Wid spent the next six seasons (1903-8) with New York, never batting higher than .273, but finishing among the league’s top ten in home runs twice, triples four times, slugging percentage once, and stolen bases four times. In 1907, Conroy’s 41 steals tied for second, behind only Ty Cobb‘s league-leading 49. Consistently praised for his deft handling of the bat (like many players of the era, Conroy choked up on the bat several inches and found his base hits by punching the ball to all fields), Conroy was also known as a smart, speedy base runner, routinely taking “the biggest leads off base of any player in the big show.”

Following the 1908 season, in which he batted just .237 with a .296 slugging percentage, Conroy was sold to the Washington Senators for $5,000. Reflecting his solid standing within the game, Conroy’s acquisition was greeted with delight by Washington fans, who took it as a sign that “the local owners are sincere in their efforts to build up a winner.” Now 32 years old, Conroy failed to live up to the high hopes that had been set for him and finished the year with a .244 batting average and career-low .293 slugging percentage. He spent the following offseason “boiling out” in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and his offensive production improved slightly in 1910, but the following year he finished with a .232 batting average, the lowest of his career, while stealing just 12 bases.

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Player #36: Frank E. "Jerry" Freeman. "Buck". First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1908-1909. 142 hits in 2 MLB seasons.

Jerry Freeman was nicknamed "Buck", presumably after the major league star Buck Freeman, whose eleven-year major league career ended with 4 games in 1907. Buck then played most of the 1907 season with the Minneapolis Millers, hitting .335, while Jerry Freeman played for the same team and hit .362 (in his fourth season with Minneapolis). The next year Jerry was a regular in the majors. Buck stayed with Minneapolis in 1908 but hit over 100 points lower.

Jerry played almost all of the 1908 Washington Senators games at first base, making 41 errors, a total which led the league by a comfortable margin. His hitting was above average - his .253 batting average was second highest among the regulars, and his 15 doubles were also second highest. In addition, his 45 RBI led the team. The next year, however, he started slowly with the bat and the glove, and was gone after 19 games.

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How Walter Johnson became a National Hero (Part 3): Only three pitchers had made the road trip for the Senators, as the mound corps was beset by injuries, and Joe Cantillon had asked Walter prior to the first game of the four-game set in New York whether he could start three times in a row. The big Train would later confide that Cantillon had been able to placate him time and again in the same way -- Walter would ask the manager for an extra seating pass to a game for a friend, and Pongo Joe would surprise him with a half a dozen. When the manager unexpectedly asked him to pitch, Walter couldn't turn him down because, he explained, his friends were always after passes.

Going the route for a second straight day, Johnson gave up just four hits and shut out the Highlanders again, 6-0. Now there was talk that Walter might not only start three games in a row, but get a shutout in all of them. The Washington Post reported that manager Cantillon had joked that maybe Johnson would pitch again Monday. The city was mad about Walter and the sports pages were jammed with stories about him. There was no chance that he would get three shutouts on consecutive days, however, since the third day was the Sabbath day. It would be another ten years before baseball could be played in New York on Sundays. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

We will get back to this account again soon, but in the meantime, here's a pin featuring Walter from the 1924 season.

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Player #37: Robert S. "Bob" Ganley. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1909. 540 hits and 112 stolen bases in 5 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1905. His best season was 1907 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .337 OBP with 40 stolen bases and 73 runs scored.

Ganley played a lot of all three outfield positions during his five years in the majors, appearing with three teams. He went from playing for excellent Pittsburgh Pirates teams in 1905-06 to poor Washington Senators teams in 1907-08 and part of 1909 to an excellent Philadelphia Athletics team for most of 1909. Ganley was in the top ten in the league in stolen bases twice while with the Senators, and was fourth in the league in hits in 1907. Bob came to the majors at age 30, after a long career in the minors. After his major league days, he again played in the minors. He moved around so much that he was called "the globetrotter of organized baseball". He played for New Haven, Albany, Brockton, Columbus, Toledo, Marion, Schenectady, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Oakland, Johnstown, Des Moines and Newark, and that was just in the minors. He managed the Fredericton Pets in 1913 and the Perth Amboy Pacers in 1914.

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Player #28B: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

Griffith's SABR biography takes us through the developments that followed his resignation (during the 1908 season) as manager of the New York Highlanders: Over the next few months Griff was deluged by offers to manage other clubs. He made no secret of his desire to assume an ownership role, even in the minor leagues, and for several months he carefully considered all of his options. Finally, in December, in something of a surprise move, he signed a contract to manage the Cincinnati Reds and was back in the National League.

Under Griffith, Cincinnati finished fourth in 1909, just nosing into the first division, distantly behind perennial leaders Pittsburgh, Chicago and New York. After three straight losing seasons, the campaign had to be considered a success, but it would mark the high point of Clark’s brief stay in the Queen City, as the Reds dropped a notch in the standings each of the next two years. Although managerial success eluded him, Clark managed the NL’s first Cuban ball players, Armando Marsáns and Rafael Almeida. He still longed to be an owner, however, and when the opportunity arose in 1911, he was ready to do whatever was necessary to avail himself of it.

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Player #38: Michael J. "Mike" Kahoe. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1907-1909. 278 hits and 4 home runs in 11 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Cincinnati Reds in 1895 and 1899-1901. He may have been one of the first catchers to wear shin guards.

Kahoe's SABR biography touches on some of his career highlights: Mike Kahoe appeared on major league rosters mostly as a catcher for eleven seasons. In that time he played in an unremarkable 410 games and batted a mere .212. Yet his career is forever joined with some of baseball history’s most celebrated individuals, unique events, and folklore. Kahoe’s acquisition by the Chicago Nationals in 1901 allowed that team to move Frank Chance from catcher to the outfield and eventually to first base where he was immortalized in “Tinker to Evers to Chance.” In 1907 Washington was hit with the injury bug at catcher and in August acquired the veteran Kahoe from Chicago. Mike was immediately put to work as the personal catcher of a rookie from Idaho, Walter Johnson. Later Kahoe would scout and sign dozens of players for the Senators and Braves.

His Sporting News obituary also called attention to his claim that he used shin guards (possibly in 1902 to protect an injury) before Roger Bresnahan ever did. An extensive search of newspapers did not turn up any mention of Kahoe’s use of protection until the 1908 season. In fact, in a Washington Post article from June 17, 1907, Mike was interviewed about Bresnahan’s use of shin guards. He discussed their use saying; “I believe there are more low fouls hit nowadays than there were two or three years ago and ones shins are likely to get it any minute. Also they are a good protection when a man is sliding into the plate…” There is no mention in the article that Mike had ever used shin protection.

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How Walter Johnson became a National Hero (Part 4): On the Monday, September 7, 1908, there was to be a doubleheader in New York. It must have occurred to Johnson that he might start, but if so, likely not in the first game. While warming up with Gabby Street, it became apparent there was no one else getting ready. Johnson reportedly looked at Joe Cantillon, received a nod from the manager, and when he got back to the dugout after just a few easy tosses, told Cantillon, "It's all right with me if it's all right with you."

Barney then went out and tossed a third shutout at the Highlanders in just four days. He showed no sign of tiring during the course of the game. In fact, he yielded just two hits, having improved each game as he'd gone along. (He had given up six hits on Friday and four on Saturday.) He walked no one and struck out five, beating Jack Chesbro again despite taking one of Chesbro's spitballs in the ribs in the third inning. Furthermore, from Monday to Monday, the Big Train had made four mound appearances, having pitched 4.2 innings against Boston on the previous Monday.

Following the third shutout in a row, W.W. Aulick wrote in the New York Times of September 8, 1908: "We are grievously disappointed in this man Johnson of Washington. He and his team had four games to play with the champion (sic) Yankees. Johnson pitched the first game and shut us out. Johnson pitched the second game and shut us out. Johnson pitched the third game and shut us out. Did Johnson pitch the fourth game and shut us out? He did not. Oh, you quitter!" (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

We will get back to this account soon, but in the meantime, another pin commemorating the 1924 American League Pennant eventually won by Walter and his Washington Senators on their way to a World Series victory.

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Player #39A: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography recalls his introduction to Washington: Milan and (Walter) Johnson had a lot in common: They were the same age, they both hailed from rural areas–Washington outfielder Bob Ganley started calling Milan “Zeb,” a common nickname for players from small towns–and they were both quiet, reserved, and humble. Naturally, they became hunting companions and inseparable friends, and eventually they became the two best players on the Senators team. “Take Milan and his roommate, Walter Johnson, away from Washington, and the town would about shut up shop, as far as base ball is concerned,” wrote a reporter in 1911.

But stardom was not immediate for Milan. After making his debut with the Senators on August 19, 1907, he played regularly in center field for the rest of the season and batted a respectable .279 in 48 games. In 1908, however, Milan batted just .239, and the following year he slumped to .200, with just 10 stolen bases in 130 games. Cantillon wanted to send him to the minors and purchase an outfielder who could hit, but the Senators were making so little money that they couldn’t afford a replacement. Fortunately for Washington, Jimmy McAleer took over as manager in 1910 and immediately recognized the young center fielder’s potential. Under McAleer’s tutelage, Milan bounced back to hit .279 with 44 steals, and in 1911 he became a full-fledged star by batting .315 with 58 steals.

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Player #40: William M. "Bill" Shipke. "Muskrat Bill". "Skipper Bill". Third baseman for the Washington Senators in 1907-1909. 110 hits in 4 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Cleveland Naps in 1906. His best season was 1908 for the Washington Senators as he scored 40 runs and stole 15 bases in 410 plate appearances.

Shipke was the starting third baseman for the 1908 Senators and fielded .932, average for the 1908 AL at the hot corner. He hit .208/.297/.276; as it was the heart of the Deadball Era, his OPS+ was a perfectly respectable 93. He stole 15 bases, hit 8 triples and laid down 26 sacrifice hits. An old Senators fan convinced Bill to paste a piece of paper with "magical properties" to his bat and Shipke had a great month after starting the experiment. After Bob Unglaub joined the Senators, Shipke wound up on the bench. Bill went 2 for 16 with the 1909 Senators to conclude his big-league career with a .199/.280/.261 batting line and an 81 OPS+. Al Pepper notes that "He left the majors with more nicknames than career home runs."

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Player #41: Charley Smith. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1906-1909. 66 wins and 3 saves in 10 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Cleveland Bronchos in 1902. He had a career ERA of 2.81. His best season was 1910 with Boston as he posted a 11-6 record with a 2.30 ERA in 156.1 innings.

Smith's SABR biography explains his time in Washington: In 1905, Smith was 13-8. He returned to the majors in 1906, working for the Washington Senators. Smith impressed in spring training and got off to a good enough start. Sporting Life commented, “He has a world of speed, excellent control, god (sic) curves and a profound indifference to the efforts of his opponents. He held the visitors to five hits, which were all made in two innings. Evidently, he will do, and is a valuable find.” Smith’s record was 9-16, but his 2.91 earned run average was better than the team ERA of 3.25 and he was brought back for 1907.

He won ten games in 1907, though he lost 20, despite an improved ERA of 2.61. Smith struck out a career-high 119, walking 75. And he had some tough luck, wrote the Washington Post: “On just one occasion this season has he had an easy game…in all his other games this season, he has had tight games to contend with, and has unquestionably lost more games by one run than any other pitcher in the league.” He had, the Post wrote a week later, “a chin that indicates determination.” He brought his ERA down again in 1908, to 2.41. His record was 9-13, though he missed several weeks during the season with a lame arm. The Senators placed seventh. The hard luck theme hadn’t gone away. The May 13, 1908 Post went into even more detail, this time adding, “If there is anything in physiognomy, his jaw would indicate that he has the nerve to face a lion.”

In 1909, Washington dropped back to last place again. Smith didn’t help the team that much; he had a recurrence of the arm problem from which he’d suffered in 1908; his record was 3-12 and he’d pitched to a 3.27 ERA. He escaped before the season was over, however, traded to the Boston Red Sox. Despite what looked like a sorry record, Washington manager Joe Cantillon said, “I am sorry to lose Charley Smith, for everybody knows I think he is one of the best pitchers in the American League. He has been with me three years and during that time he has always twirled great ball.” Smith was re-energized, perhaps: he started three games for Boston and won all three. The first was a 4-2 win against Washington on the 13th.

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How Walter Johnson became a National Hero (Part 5): After the third straight whitewash, Cantillon must have thought it was time to rest his 20-year-old prodigy. Johnson came out again on Thursday, three days later, and edged the A's and their ace Eddie Plank 2-1. He said after this particular game that he did not deserve the victory, an early sign of his humble disposition. Over the years, Walter would consistently credit his teammates for his own well-deserved successes.

On the day following the victory over Eddie Plank, young Johnson was asked to start again because sore-armed Charley Smith was unable to take the turn. Again, the Big Train went all the way, for his fifth victory in nine days. Throughout his lengthy career, Walter Johnson would display tremendous stamina. According to team trainer Mike Martin, the effortlessness with which he threw a ball, which Johnson himself felt was a result of his use of the sidearm delivery, could be compared to the energy a normal human expends in snapping his fingers.

Following a three-inning shutout performance in relief two days later that saved the last game of the Philadelphia series, Johnson finally lost on September 18. He gave up just three hits but lost a 1-0 decision to Big Ed Walsh (the league's top winner at 40-15 in '08) and the White Sox on a tenth-inning bunt. This setback ended a string of five wins for the rising star. In acquiring those five wins, Barney had allowed just five runs in 58 innings. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

We will finish this account soon, but today we end with Walter and his team of prized pointers and setters from October of 1927. More than just the pitcher from Washington, Johnson was an avid outdoorsman and could often be found in the wilderness of Virginia during the offseason hunting for quail and partridge.

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Player #33B: Charles E. "Gabby" Street. "The Old Sarge". Catcher for the Washington Senators in 1908-1911. 312 hits and 2 home runs in 8 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Cincinnati Reds in 1904. Caught ball dropped from top of Washington Monument. Holds MLB record for longest gap between MLB games at 19 years -- 1912-1931. Managed the St. Louis Cardinals in 1929 and 1930-1933, including the 1931 World Series championship. Managed the St. Louis Browns in 1938.

Street's SABR biography addresses his time in Washington: Persistence (in sticking with the San Francisco Seals in 1906 and 1907) paid off for Street, and his contract was sold to the Washington Senators. Of the 504 games Street played in the major leagues, 429 were over the next four years (1908-11) with Washington. His calling card was his defense, as he led the league in putouts and double plays in both 1908 and 1909. In 1910 he was atop his peers with a fielding percentage of .978. In today’s vernacular Street’s batting average would be characterized as worthy of the “Mendoza Line,” as his average with the Senators was a meek .210. Catchers of the day were never expected to hit that well, and in any event Washington was not fielding a championship team in those years, finishing no better than seventh place in the American League and no closer than 22½ games back of the pennant winner.

Importantly, Walter Johnson favored Street, acknowledging him as a first-rate catcher. “He always kept the pitcher in good spirits with his continual chatter of sense and nonsense,” said the Big Train. “ ‘ Ease up on this fellow, Walter, he has a wife and two kids,’ he would call jokingly when some batter was hugging the plate and getting a toehold for a crack at one of my fast ones. ‘This fellow hasn’t had a hit off you since you joined the league,’ might be his next remark and so on throughout the game.”

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Player #42A: Robert A. "Bob" Unglaub. Infielder for the Washington Senators in 1908-1910. 554 hits and 5 home runs over 6 MLB seasons. Debuted with the New York Highlanders in 1904. Managed the Boston Americans in 1907.

Unglaub's SABR biography reviews his time in Washington: In his two and a half seasons as a regular with the Senators, Unglaub was a valuable commodity to the club. He reported for 1909 with a new attitude (after squabbling with Cantillon over his salary following the midseason 1908 deal sending him from Boston to Washington), “It’s whatever Joe says,” he remarked, “If the team needs me anywhere at all, it is satisfactory to me, for I shall try and deliver the goods. I would, of course, prefer the infield, but if there is not room there, it is all the same to me.” (Washington Post, April 8, 1909)

During his tenure in Washington, Unglaub was alternately praised and criticized for both his hitting and his fielding. His managers (Cantillon and Jimmy McAleer) thought enough of his offensive abilities to often bat him third or clean up, and he was considered a clutch hitter. The local reporter said of him, “There is not a man on the local team more dangerous to the opposing pitchers when there are men on the bases than Bob Unglaub…when it comes to wielding the ash he fits in mighty nicely with the local aggregation…Unglaub is a batter whom any pitcher must fear, for when he hits the ball it usually goes on a long journey.” (Washington Post, April 17, 1909)

Despite some defensive shortcomings, Unglaub was considered valuable in the field for his versatility, experience, and leadership. He played third and first when Bill Shipke and Jerry Freeman struggled, and plugged the gaps at second and outfield when Jim Delahanty and Clyde Milan went down with extended injuries. He also saw significant playing time in right field. It was in the infield that Unglaub made the biggest difference: “…the fact that Unglaub is a valuable man to coach the infield as well as the pitcher gives him the preference.” (Washington Post, April 26, 1909)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #43A: William D. "Dolly" Gray. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1909-1911. 15 wins in 3 MLB seasons. Holds MLB record for walks allowed in an inning (8) and for consecutive walks allowed (7). In 1911, he threw the first pitch in Griffith Stadium.

Gray's SABR biography explains his place in the MLB record books: Southpaw pitcher Dolly Gray posted five 20-win seasons in the Pacific Coast League before coming to the Washington Senators (aka Nationals) in 1909. He literally walked into the record books on August 28 when he lost a one-hitter to the Chicago White Sox, 6-4. He walked seven consecutive batters (eight total) in the six-run second inning, then found his rhythm and finished the game. Billy Evans was the plate umpire for the game, and he opined in his sports column years later that Gray must have thrown at least 20 pitches in the inning that barely missed the plate. The only hit he gave up was a grounder to first base. Some fans and writers have suggested that it was really a no-hitter, because first baseman Bob Unglaub admitted he should have handled the grounder easily.

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[GeoPoto]

How Walter Johnson became a National Hero (Part 6): Two days later, Johnson faced Rube Waddell of the St. Louis Browns. Waddell was baseball's real "rebel without a cause." A great pitcher, he drove managers insane wherever he played. Seemingly as innocent and erratic as a child, Waddell would miss time at the ballpark to chase fire engines or to just go fishing. Sportswriters would come to talk of Walter Johnson's fastball in the same breath as Waddell's, who had thrown very hard for Connie Mack's A's beginning in 1902. That is, he had until he injured his arm while horsing around with teammate Andy Coakley prior to the start of the 1905 World Series, which the A's lost in five games, mainly because of Christy Mathewson's "three golden eggs" --three shutouts in the first ever best-of-seven World Series.

Rube Waddell's arm was never quite the same after the fall of '05, but he still had plenty left when he faced the Senators in September '08. He struck out 17 Nats and was the winner over Walter Johnson, who struck out nine. The Big Train had pitched seven complete games for the Senators, with a save thrown in for good measure, within 17 days, and Joe Cantillon did not give him a break until the end of the campaign, which must not have come too soon for poor Walter. He had indeed earned his forthcoming salary increase of $800, to $3,500 for 1909.

The 20-year-old destined to become the greatest righthander of all time had truly arrived. Just out of his teens, Johnson was already getting about 60 letters a day from fans across the country. He was answering all of them, succinctly explaining to reporters who asked that if there were folks who were kind enough to write him, then the least he could do was write them back. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

Another example of how Walter came to enjoy the off season. The caption on the reverse reads: Walter Johnson. Two Out, and the Bag's Full. -- Walter Johnson, veteran ball player, strikes out a couple of wild turkeys in Florida. Daytona Beach, Fla. -- Photo Shows: Walter Johnson former pitcher for the Washington Senators and now manager of the Newark Bears, with two wild turkeys he bagged near here.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #44A: Robert "Bob" Groom. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1909-1913. 119 wins and 13 saves in 10 MLB seasons. For the St. Louis Browns in 1917, he pitched a no-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader after pitching 2 innings of no-hit relief in the first game. With Koob, only teammates to pitch no-hitters on consecutive days. His best season was 1912 as he went 24-13 with a 2.62 ERA and Washington finished second in the American League. In 1909, his 7-26 record included 15 consecutive losses, during which his 42-110 Senator teammates mustered a total of 19 runs. Walter Johnson's record that year was 12-25.

Groom's SABR biography covers his transition to the big league: The 1908 (West Coast League) Beavers fared much better (than they did in 1907), in large part because of Groom. Finishing second with a 95-90 record, Portland led the league as late as July 5, and Bobby was the Beavers’ star pitcher, recording a league-leading 29 wins versus 15 losses and 2 ties. After an early July flirtation with Cleveland and nationally-published rumors that Groom would soon join Addie Joss on the Naps’ pitching staff, it never came to pass. Instead, Washington bought him from Portland at the end of the season for $1,750. Walter McCredie, who would develop a reputation for sending important players to the majors, often called Groom “the best pitcher to go East” from the Pacific Coast League.

As a pitcher, Groom was fast and intimidating, and his demeanor generally serious and inscrutable. His ball movement was extraordinary, occasionally so extraordinary that inexperienced backstops had trouble catching him. In recalling Groom, American League umpire Billy Evans noted, “He was plenty fast and inclined to be wild,” but Evans described his curve as “magnificent and sweeping.” Building on a youthful fast ball, Groom developed a repertoire that included the curve Evans admired, a change of pace, and an occasional spitball moistened with tobacco juice. Evans believed that Groom never received full credit for his ability. “He happened to be on the same team as Walter Johnson, who overshadowed the whole staff,” said Evans. “If he had been with some other club, I dare say Groom would have been regarded as a speed marvel.” Evans also recalled Groom as a man with great confidence. “When he walked out to the rubber, you got the idea that he thought he was a pretty good pitcher. I agreed with him.”

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[GeoPoto]

Player #45A: Herman A. "Germany" Schaefer. Infielder for the Washington Senators in 1909-1914. 972 hits, 9 home runs, and 201 stolen bases in 15 MLB seasons. His "steal" of first base prompted rule making it illegal. Popular as a baseball "trickster" and "on-field clown", often in tandem with Charley O'Leary and, later, with Nick Altrock. Altrock eventually perfected the art with Al Schacht.

Big Ed Delahanty's brother Jim had a bad year at the dish (in 1909), following up a .317 season with .232 before being sent to Detroit for Germany Schaefer, a reliable hitter and accomplished baserunner, in an exchange of second baseman. A regular player with the great Tiger teams since 1905, Schaefer, who like Rube Waddell was one of baseball's more renowned zany characters, had once caused a change in baseball's rules. After stealing second with a man on third, he was not able to coax a throw from Cleveland catcher Nig Clarke. So on the next pitch, Schaefer went back to first so that he could try again. He did, this time drawing a throw which allowed the winning run to score. As a result of Scheafer's unexpected maneuver, it would become illegal to run in the wrong direction on the basepaths. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #46A: James C. "Jim" Delahanty. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1907-1909. 1,159 hits, 19 home runs and 151 stolen bases in 13 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Chicago Orphans in 1901. His best season was 1911 as he posted a .411 OBP with 15 stolen bases for the Detroit Tigers in 628 plate appearances. In all he had 5 MLB seasons with more than 500 plate appearances.

Delahanty's SABR biography discusses his baseball career and time in Washington: Remembered mostly for his more famous older brother Ed, Jim Delahanty was a fine player in his own right, and one of the most well-traveled hitters of the Deadball Era. During a professional career that lasted nearly two decades, the free-swinging right-hander played for fifteen different clubs, including eight in the major leagues. Despite his lengthy itinerary as a professional ballplayer, Delahanty bore an excellent reputation within his profession. “Delahanty is looked upon as one of the ‘classy’ boys of the American League,” Alfred Spink wrote in 1910. “He is a most graceful fielder and a congenial sort of a fellow both on and off the field.” Though second base was his primary position, during his career the versatile Irishman filled every position on the diamond except catcher, and finished his career with an excellent .283 batting average in 1,186 career games.

Delahanty lasted only 33 games with the Browns, contributing a disappointing .221 batting average with only three extra base hits before St. Louis sold him to the Washington Senators on June 11, 1907. Shifted to second base full time, Delahanty found his new environs to his liking, batting .292 in 108 games for Washington. The following year, Delahanty put in another fine season, batting .317 in 83 games, though his campaign was marred by nagging injuries and an ugly incident in his hometown of Cleveland on August 4. In a game which Washington lost 7-5, Delahanty and teammate Otis Clymer were ejected for arguing with umpire Silk O’Loughlin. According to reports, Delahanty responded to the ejection by unleashing a torrent of profanity that could be heard throughout the park. American League president Ban Johnson responded to the incident by suspending Delahanty, fining him $50, and banning him from the Cleveland park for one year. Not surprisingly, Delahanty considered the ruling unfair and excessive. “O’Loughlin’s decisions were way off and I told him so, and when he put me out of the game I grew sore and said things to him, but I did it quietly and no one in the stands heard it,” Delahanty insisted. In order to be fair to the other contenders in that year’s hotly contested pennant race, Washington manager Joe Cantillon decided that if Delahanty could not play in Cleveland, he also wouldn’t play him in Detroit, Chicago, or St. Louis, a decision which resulted in Delahanty missing 14 games in addition to the 13 Johnson had suspended him for. At the start of the next season, Johnson lifted the Cleveland ban.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #47A: Norman A. "Kid" Elberfeld. "The Tabasco Kid". Shortstop for the Washington Senators 1910-1911. 1,235 hits, 10 home runs, and 213 stolen bases in 14 MLB seasons. Fiery temper involved him in numerous ferocious arguments and assaults on umpires. Managed the New York Highlanders in 1908. Debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1898. Had a career OBP of .355 and 7 MLB seasons with at least 500 plate appearances.

Elberfeld's SABR biography summarizes his career and early MLB experience: Kid Elberfeld, called “the dirtiest, scrappiest, most pestiferous, most rantankerous [sic], most rambunctious ball player that ever stood on spikes” for his vicious arguments on the diamond, patterned his combative style after that of his favorite team, the Baltimore Orioles of the mid-1890s. He believed, like those Oriole players, that an umpire should be kept in his place, and that what happened behind an arbiter’s back was none of his business. But, when Elberfeld kept his volatile temper in check, he was also an “ideal infielder–full of ginger.” Called by George Stallings one of the two best shortstops in baseball, his throwing arm was “cyclonic,” and, though only 5’7,” 158 lbs., he was fearless in turning the double play. Not surprisingly, he was frequently spiked, and by 1907 wore a whalebone shin guard on his right leg for protection. He was also one of the best hitting shortstops of his day, with a career .271 average, and a master at getting hit by close pitches. He perfected the art of angling his body in toward the plate, holding his arms in such as way as to take only a glancing blow while simultaneously appearing to make an honest attempt to avoid the pitch, and then, for effect, shouting and gesticulating at the pitcher. He became so adept at this that he still ranks 13th on the career hit by pitch list, with 165.

He jumped back to Detroit the Tigers of the Western League) in 1900 (after a brief stint with Cincinnati), where, as the “most aggressive” player on the “most aggressive and scrappiest” team in the newly renamed American League, he was ejected from three games during one eight-game stretch in June. Though he batted only .263, he led all shortstops with an astonishing average of over seven successful chances per game.

Elberfeld remained with Detroit for the next 2½ years. In 1901, as the Tigers staked their claim to major league status, he batted .308 with 11 triples and three home runs, all of which would remain his major league career highs. Near the end of the 1902 season, New York Giants’ owner John T. Brush and manager John McGraw attempted to beef up their last place team by signing several Detroit players, and reportedly signed Elberfeld to a two-year contract for $4500 per year. But the 1903 peace agreement returned Elberfeld to Detroit, and, when Edward Barrow was suddenly named to replace suicide-victim Win Mercer as new Detroit manager, Barrow inherited an unhappy shortstop. Though Elberfeld started fast, batting .431 after the first three weeks of the season, his hitting soon tailed off and his fielding was shoddy. On June 2, Barrow fined and suspended him for “loaferish conduct,” suspecting Elberfeld of playing poorly to force a trade to the St. Louis Browns. Eight days later, Barrow did trade him, not to St. Louis, but to the New York Highlanders.

We will pick the Kid's career up with the Highlanders the next time he surfaces in our progression.

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[Den*nis O*Brien]

I thank the OP for starting this thread. I have nothing to add but really liked all of the "Good stuff" shown by all. I hope it keeps going !!!

[GeoPoto]

You are welcome, Dennis. Thank you for the feedback.

The 1910 Washington Senators won 66 games, lost 85 (with 6 ties), and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Jimmy McAleer and played home games at National Park.

Throughout this (the 1910) season, if for no other reason, Washington fans would have something to cheer about. The 22-year-old Big Train lived up to every expectation that he had produced with his incredible performances in September 1908. On the seventh-place 1910 Senators, Johnson's record was 25-17, with a pair of one-hitters and a pair of two-hitters. He was the league's dominant pitcher, leading in strikeouts, innings pitched, and complete games.

Johnson's 25-17 record, marking the only time in history a pitcher has gone from 25 losses to 25 wins in one year, would certainly have been enhanced if he had had better backup. Only the quick Clyde Milan and the defensive wiz at shortstop, George McBride, excelled. Milan established himself as a base-stealing menace by swiping 44 bases and hitting .279 in a league that, as a whole, hit just .243 in 1910. McBride, however, was consistently a weak hitter, finishing at .230. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

William Howard Taft threw out the first pitch during Opening Day ceremonies preceding the Washington Nationals–Philadelphia Athletics game on April 14, 1910. The National Park where the first-ever presidential ceremonial first pitch was thrown burned down in March 1911, and a new stadium, also called National Park at first, was built in its place. It would be renamed Griffith Stadium in 1923. 1n 1913, Vice President James S. Sherman threw out the first pitch at Washington's home opener. Taft did not attend the 1913 game because of the death of his friend Archibald Butt in the Titanic disaster. (I can't help but wonder if poor Mr. Butt, and his interesting name, were made the, ahem, point of many playground jokes during his younger days.)

Deveaux picks up the story of the first presidential opener: On April 14, 1910, Walter Johnson took the mound for the season opener for the Senators. This was the first of 14 times he would do so in his 21-year career. The opening game was also historically significant because William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States, threw out the first ball and became the first President to inaugurate a baseball season. In April of the previous year, President Taft and Vice-President James Sherman had made an appearance at a Nationals game, the first time a U.S. President had shown up at a ballgame in the city since Benjamin Harrison had back in 1892. The tradition of the ceremonial first pitch is one that would be followed from 1910 onward.

Prior to the ceremonial toss, new manager Jimmy McAleer had urged a shy Walter Johnson to volunteer to catch the ball. Walter had responded that he was sure the President had not come to the ballgame just to play catch. Gabby Street was enlisted as the official receiver, but then for some reason apparently known only to President Taft, the President turned and threw the ball to Walter Johnson. A member of the presidential party who had overheard Johnson's remark to McAleer had interpreted it for President Taft in such a way that the President understood that Walter had backed out of the ceremony because he was too bashful. For Johnson, the baseball became the first in a collection signed by various presidents which he would accumulate and treasure.

The initial excitement was somewhat tempered when Secretary of State Charles Bennett, sitting in the presidential box with Taft and Vice-President Sherman, was skulled by a line drive fouled off the bat of Frank "Home Run" Baker of the A's. There was general confusion until Bennett waved to attendants to indicate that he was not in need of first aid. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

In the 1960's, Sports Pics Photo Premiums showcased Presidential First Pitches. The first in the series features President Taft.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #48A: George E. Browne. Right fielder for the Washington Senators in 1909-1910. 1,176 hits, 18 home runs, and 190 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. Led the NL in runs scored in 1904. 1905 WS champion. Debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1901. His best season was 1903 for the New York Giants as he posted a .364 OBP with 27 stolen bases in 652 plate appearances. In all he had 7 seasons with more than 500 plate appearances.

George Edward Browne was an American professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants, Boston Doves, Chicago Cubs, Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox, and Brooklyn Dodgers between 1901 and 1912. Browne entered the major leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1901. Though he usually spent one or two seasons with a team, he remained with the New York Giants from 1902 to 1907. He was the National League leader in runs scored in 1904 with New York; runs were down across the league and Browne's 99 runs were the lowest total for a league leader until 1915.

A member of the 1905 World Series champion Giants, Browne hit .227 with one RBI and two runs scored in the World Series. Moonlight Graham, whose one-inning major-league career became famous through the movie Field of Dreams, replaced Browne in his lone appearance for the 1905 Giants.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #49: William T. "Bill" Burns. "Sleepy Bill". Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1908-1909. 30 wins and 2 saves in 5 MLB seasons. His career ERA was 2.72 in 717.2 innings pitched for 5 different MLB teams, ending in 1912 with the Detroit Tigers. He twice lost no-hitters with two outs in the ninth. He was key go-between in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal.

Burns' SABR biography highlights his career: “Sleepy Bill” Burns pitched for five major-league teams in five seasons from 1908 to 1912. At his peak, he beat Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson. The great Ty Cobb, a left-handed batter, said he would rather bat against the right-handed Johnson than face Burns, a tough lefty. Burns was blessed with natural ability, but he was shuttled from team to team because he was egocentric, lackadaisical, and difficult to manage. In 1919 Burns infamously returned to the major-league scene as one of the conspirators in the Black Sox Scandal. At the criminal trial in 1921, he turned State’s evidence in exchange for immunity from prosecution. His account of events has been accepted as factual, but veracity was not his strong suit.

In 1906, Burns joined the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League and compiled a 16-16 record. He bettered it with a 24-17 mark for the pennant-winning Angels the following year. Upon the recommendation of scout Denny Long, the Washington Senators drafted him. Burns had an excellent fastball, curveball, and changeup, and used the same casual windup in delivering each of them so that the batter had no idea which pitch was coming. He pitched with a crossfire motion, in which his left arm came across his right leg, à la the great southpaw Eddie Plank. Burns was ambidextrous; though he never pitched right-handed in a game, he did in batting practice “with considerable speed.” Burns’s pickoff move was exceptional. Umpire Billy Evans said that he had never seen a more deceptive one. Batters would sometimes start their swing as Burns threw to first base.

During (a close contest) in Chicago, Burns fell asleep on the bench in the eighth inning while his teammates were batting and had to be awakened when it was time for him to return to the mound. He had no trouble falling asleep whenever and wherever he wanted. This trait earned him the nickname “Sleepy Bill.” He could also be seen nonchalantly reading a magazine or newspaper while on the bench during a game.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #35B: William E. "Wid" Conroy. Utility player for the Washington Senators in 1909-1911. 1,257 hits, 22 home runs, and 262 stolen bases in 11 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. He had at least 384 plate appearances in each of his 11 MLB seasons. He was the first-string SS on the NL champion Pittsburgh Pirates in 1902. He moved to 3B in 1903 with the New York Highlanders, twice leading AL third basemen in total chances per game. He was an opening day starter for the Highlanders for the first five years of the team's existence. In 1907 he swiped 41 bases second only to Ty Cobb. He finished his career with Washington and in one of his last games set an AL record with 13 total chances at 3B.

Conroy's SABR biography describes his time in Pittsburgh: The following season (1902) the Brewers franchise moved to St. Louis and a legion of National Leaguers jumped to the junior circuit, but Wid left Milwaukee and became one of the few American Leaguers to jump over to the National League, signing with the defending league champion Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates initially pegged Conroy as a backup for Honus Wagner, but Wagner eventually moved to the outfield and Conroy assumed the starting shortstop role.

Appearing in 99 games for one of the best teams in history, Conroy was the weakest hitter in the vaunted Pittsburgh lineup, collecting only 17 extra base hits in 365 at-bats and posting a .299 on-base percentage. He played commendable defense however, and earned the respect and loyalty of his teammates for his take-no-prisoners approach to the game. In the fourth inning of a contest against the Chicago Cubs on June 23, Conroy got into a fistfight with the Cubs star shortstop, Joe Tinker, after Conroy had blocked Tinker on the base paths and spiked another Cub the previous day. Thirsty for revenge, Tinker got his chance when he moved from first to second on an infield hit. According to the Chicago Tribune, “Tinker tore down to second” and seeing Conroy covering the base, “pushed the Pirate off the bag … Conroy wheeled quickly and started toward the cushion as if to strike Tinker, whereupon the latter pushed his open hand over the greater part of Conroy’s face in the manner so irritating to belligerents.” A scuffle ensued, in which Conroy landed blows on Tinker’s shoulder and the Cub shortstop struck Wid on the neck, before the pair could be separated. The fracas upset Pirates secretary Harry Pulliam, who declared in the days following the fight that he was “so disgusted by that row between Tinker and Conroy that I couldn’t go out to the grounds.”

But the ensuing punishments upset the Pirates even more, as the chairman of the league’s executive committee, John Brush, suspended Conroy for 20 days, while benching Tinker for only three. Pittsburgh manager Fred Clarke blasted the ruling, noting that “if Conroy had not covered the bag he would have stamped himself an incompetent of the worst kind . Yet he is suspended for 20 days, because he did his duty.” Owner Barney Dreyfuss appealed the ruling, but Brush dismissed the complaint.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #50: Clifford C. "Gavvy" Cravath. "Cactus". Right fielder with the Washington Senators in 1909. 1,134 hits and 119 home runs in 11 MLB seasons, mostly with the Philadelphia Phillies. He had a career OBP of .380 and was one of the most prolific power hitters of the dead-ball era. He led the NL in home runs six times and RBI's twice. He first played 5 seasons in the Pacific Coast League and picked up his nickname by hitting a ball that killed a seagull ("Gaviota" in Spanish) in flight. His MLB debut came in 1908 with the Boston Red Sox. The Senators moved him to Minneapolis after just four games in 1909 and he didn't return to MLB until 1912, when at age 31 he began 9 seasons with Philadelphia. One of his better seasons came in 1913 as he posted a .407 OBP with 19 home runs and 128 RBI's in 594 plate appearances.

Cravath's SABR biography discusses his time in MLB: Gavvy Cravath was an anomaly in the Deadball Era. Employing a powerful swing and taking advantage of Baker Bowl‘s forgiving dimensions, the Philadelphia clean-up hitter led the National League in home runs six times, establishing new (albeit short-lived) twentieth-century records for most home runs in a season and career. In an era when “inside baseball” ruled supreme, Cravath bucked the trend and preached what he practiced. “Short singles are like left-hand jabs in the boxing ring, but a home run is a knock-out punch,” he asserted. “It is the clean-up man of the club that does the heavy scoring work even if he is wide in the shoulders and slow on his feet. There is no advice I can give in batting, except to hammer the ball. Some players steal bases with hook slides and speed. I steal bases with my bat.”

Not fitting the mold of the stereotypical Deadball Era fly chaser, Cravath had difficulty breaking into a Boston outfield that soon became dominated by the fleet-footed Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper. Throughout his career Gavvy remained sensitive about his relative lack of speed. “They call me wooden shoes and piano legs and a few other pet names,” he once said. “I do not claim to be the fastest man in the world, but I can get around the bases with a fair wind and all sails set. And so long as I am busting the old apple on the seam, I am not worrying a great deal about my legs.” Cravath was batting .256 with only a single home run (but 11 triples) when the Red Sox sold him to the Chicago White Sox in February 1909. A slow start in the Windy City in 1909 got him traded (along with sore-armed pitcher Nick Altrock and backup first-baseman Jiggs Donahue) to the lowly Washington Senators for Sleepy Bill Burns, a promising but corrupt pitcher who had posted a 1.70 ERA as a rookie in 1908.

Washington manager Joe Cantillon also was the owner of the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association, and he sent Gavvy to Minneapolis after the new outfielder went hitless in six at-bats for Washington. The 1910-11 Millers are now recognized as the outstanding minor-league team of the Deadball Era, and Cravath became the team’s biggest star. Learning to hit to the opposite field to take advantage of Nicollet Park‘s short porch (it was a lot like Baker Bowl, running 279 feet down the right-field foul line with a 30-foot fence), the right-handed hitting Cravath batted .327 with 14 home runs in 1910. The following year he led the Association with a .363 batting average, and his 29 home runs were the most ever recorded in organized baseball. At one point that season Cantillon threatened to fine Gavvy $50 if he hit any more home runs over the right-field barrier; apparently, he’d broken the same window in a Nicollet Avenue haberdashery three times during a single week.

Also, his nickname: It was during his semi-pro days that he gained the nickname “Gavvy.” There are many stories about its origin, but it’s apparently a contraction for the Spanish word gaviota, which means “seagull.” During a Sunday game in the early 1900s, Cravath reportedly hit a ball so hard that it killed a seagull in flight. Mexican fans shouted “Gaviota.” The English-speaking fans thought it was a cheer and the name stuck.

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[brianp-beme]

Gavvy was ahead of the curve when it came to power hitting. If he had instead been born 15-20 years later, he probably would have put up some hefty numbers in the post-deadball era.

Someone took a bite out of this Standard Biscuit.

Brian

[GeoPoto]

Brian: Thanks for posting the Cravath Standard Biscuit. If he were around now, Cravath would be Adam Dunn. Or Kyle Schwarber.

Player #46B: James C. "Jim" Delahanty. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1907-1909. 1,159 hits, 19 home runs and 151 stolen bases in 13 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Chicago Orphans in 1901. His best season was 1911 as he posted a .411 OBP with 15 stolen bases for the Detroit Tigers in 628 plate appearances. In all he had 5 MLB seasons with more than 500 plate appearances. His final years in MLB were with the Brooklyn Tip-Tops in 1914-1915.

We return to Delahanty's SABR biography to pick up his time after Washington: Jim remained with Washington through August 1909, when he was traded to the Detroit Tigers for Germany Schaefer and Red Killefer. Delahanty played 46 games down the stretch for the eventual AL champs, and appeared in all seven World Series games, leading the Tigers with a .346 average, including five doubles, in a losing cause. After the Series, Alfred Spink remarked that Del’s “aggressive playing, desperate base running and timely bingling was probably one of the real features of this series.”

After another solid campaign in 1910, Delahanty put together the best season of his career in 1911–thanks in part to the new cork-centered baseball–as he stayed healthy all year and batted .339 with career highs in on base percentage (.411), slugging percentage (.463), runs (83), hits (184), doubles (30), triples (14) and RBI (94). With the 32-year-old Delahanty having lost several steps in the field, however, manager Hughey Jennings also played Delahanty at first base 71 times during the season.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #51: John A. "Jiggs" Donahue. First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1909. 731 hits and 143 stolen bases in 9 MLB seasons. 1906 World Series champion. He debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1900-1901. He was a superb defensive player. His best offensive season was 1905 with the Chicago White Sox as he posted a .346 OBP with 76 RBI's and 32 stolen bases in 608 plate appearances. 1909 was his final MLB season. Donahue was regarded as the best defensive first baseman of his time. He was also one of the best hitters among the "hitless wonders" team that won the 1906 AL pennant and then upset the Chicago Cubs in that year's World Series.

When in your vaunted pride you hear
The roaring welcome of the stands,
The unleashed hero-tinted cheer,
The echo of applauding hands,
Lift up your head above all men –
Think how these thousand worship you –
Go to it – eat it – pal – and then
Remember Donahue

When headlines on the Printed Page
Rate you the Ruler of the Field –
The war god of a golden age
That reels before your lance and shield –
Take in the boost of voice and pen,
Say, “Here at last, I’ve drawn my due” –
Swell with the thrill of it – and then
Remember Donahue

What is there left to curb you now?
The world is at your steel shod feet,
The laurel grips your clammy brow
Where no man comes who might compete:
So lift your beaker up again,
Nor turn to Time’s remorseless cue –
Here’s how – Cobb, Matty, Walsh – and then
Drink one to Donahue.
— Grantland Rice, “Donahue Eulogy”

Donahue's SABR biography summarizes his heyday in Chicago and his untimely end: When Donahue arrived in Chicago, veteran Frank Isbell was entrenched at first base. It took only a few weeks for Jiggs to claim the position with his glove work, with Isbell being exiled to second base and the outfield. Donahue played in 102 games. His batting average was .248 with 17 of his 91 hits for extra bases. But it was his defense that kept him in the lineup. The second year in Chicago added to Donahue’s reputation as the best defensive first baseman in the game. He led American League first basemen in fielding percentage (.988), putouts (1,645), assists (114), and double plays turned (77). He batted.287, his major-league best.

The White Sox of 1906 were dubbed the Hitless Wonders. By season’s end they had just three players hitting over .250, Jiggs among them at .257. At the end of July the White Sox were 7½ games behind the Philadelphia A’s in fourth place. They began August with a 19-game winning streak and finished in first place, 5½ games ahead of the second-place New York Highlanders. Their victory set up the only Windy City World Series, against the powerhouse and highly favored Chicago Cubs, who set a major-league record with 116 victories in 152 games. (The 2001 Seattle Mariners tied the record in a 162-game season.)

Financial agreements for the World Series called for the winners to get a 75 percent share of the Series receipts. In a pre-Series meeting the White Sox players discussed proposing a 50-50 split with the Cubs. Showing what a team leader he had become, Jiggs took the floor, and declaimed, “I want to knock that scheme with all my might. I think we ought to play the string out. … For my part, boys, if we go out and let these fellows beat us, I am in favor of pocketing our 25 percent and not saying a word. If they skin us that is all we deserve. But they can’t beat us. … I say play for the big money.” Donahue also led on the field, offensively and defensively, as the White Sox took the Cubs in six games. He batted .333 and recorded the only hit against the Cubs’ Ed Reulbach in Game Two. But again, it was his defense that stood out most.

On July 19, 1913, Jiggs Donahue died (of Syphilis). He had just turned 34 years old. It was front-page news in Springfield, including the Grantland Rice poem above. Ed Walsh and William Sullivan (Jiggs’s White Sox roommate) represented the White Sox at his funeral. (Although their train arrived too late for the Funeral Mass, they were in time for the graveside service.) Charles Comiskey sent an arrangement of roses. Donahue, considered by many baseball’s greatest defensive first baseman, was laid to rest in Springfield’s Calvary Cemetery in an unmarked grave.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #47B: Norman A. "Kid" Elberfeld. "The Tabasco Kid". Shortstop for the Washington Senators 1910-1911. 1,235 hits, 10 home runs, and 213 stolen bases in 14 MLB seasons. Fiery temper involved him in numerous ferocious arguments and assaults on umpires. Managed the New York Highlanders in 1908. Debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1898. Had a career OBP of .355 and 7 MLB seasons with at least 500 plate appearances.

(As the Senators revised the roster leading up to the 1910 season,) The new third baseman was Kid Elberfeld, the "Tabasco Kid," a former star shortstop with the New York Highlanders who, at 35 was, needless to say, not a kid anymore. Elberfeld didn't help much, batting .251 with just about the worst fielding average among the league's starting third baseman. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #37B: Robert S. "Bob" Ganley. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1909. 540 hits and 112 stolen bases in 5 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1905. His best season was 1907 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .337 OBP with 40 stolen bases and 73 runs scored.

Bob Ganley played a little over 2 seasons in Washington's outfield. During that time, he maintained an OPS+ of 110, or about 10 percent above league average during those deadball years. He scored 139 runs and stole 74 bases. In 1909, however, he started poorly, was traded to Philadelphia where his hitting got even worse, and never played in MLB again. Despite a reputation for defense: "Bob Ganley covers so much territory for the Athletics that he leaves little for the other outfielders to do." - Sporting Life of August 21, 1909

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[GeoPoto]

Player #52: Henry H. "Doc" Gessler. "Brownie". Right fielder with the Washington Senators in 1909-1911. 831 hits and 142 stolen bases in 8 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Detroit Tigers in 1903. He led the AL in OBP in 1908. He led the AL in hit by pitches in 1910. One of his best seasons was his last in 1911 as he posted a .406 OBP with 78 RBI's and 29 stolen bases in 551 plate appearances. His career OBP was .370.

Gessler's SABR biography summarizes his career and goes on to explain how he became a Senator: Doc Gessler was also known as Brownie – a right fielder and left-handed first baseman who played in 880 major-league games over eight seasons for a total of five teams. He hit only 14 home runs in his career, but was the first man wearing a Boston Red Sox uniform to hit a homer in a regular-season game, and his three home runs in the 1908 season actually led the team in homers.

While Gessler was ill during some of the early 1909 season, confined to his room with tonsillitis in early May, Harry Lord assumed his duties as captain. There were a number of rumors in May and June that Gessler might be trade bait, and some significant offers were floated, but nothing seemed sufficient for (Boston Red Sox owner John I.) Taylor. He was looking for a solid pitcher, as much as anything (in part because he’d traded Cy Young away in February). Washington manager Joe Cantillon in particular talked with Taylor for several months. In midyear, Lake began to play young Harry Hooper as his right fielder, and Lord took over as captain for the remainder of the season. Chicago’s Charlie Comiskey was reportedly looking to acquire both Gessler and Speaker, but Taylor was more interested to build the Boston team, not sell off assets. Doc’s hitting began to pick up considerably in August and by the end of the month was tops on the team.

Then came a bizarre day. On September 9 Joe Cantillon finally got his man. The Washington manager traded pitcher Charlie Smith to the Red Sox and acquired Doc Gessler. The trade occurred while the Sox were in the capital playing the Senators, and was executed just prior to that day’s game. Cantillon, for whatever reason, agreed with Boston manager Fred Lake that Gessler could suit up with the Red Sox. He did, and sat on the bench throughout most of the first nine innings. But the score was tied, 1-1. Harry Lord doubled to start the top of the 10th, but was erased at home after Tris Speaker’s fly ball was dropped by Washington’s center fielder and Speaker (sic) tried to make it all the way home after having to hang close to the second-base bag. Gessler, who had been inserted in the game a bit earlier, came to the plate for his first at-bat of the day – and singled to center, driving in Speaker with the go-ahead run. Four batters later, a bases-loaded single scored him from third – a ballplayer who was Senators property had played for the opposing team and driven in the run that beat them. Not only did the Red Sox get Smith, but they got $2,500 – and one last win from Gessler’s bat. “Guess that’ll give you something to remember me by,” Gessler said to Lake as he picked up his glove to play right in the bottom of the 10th. The Boston Globe offered a headline: “THANKS FOR THAT LITTLE LOAN, MR. CANTILLON.”

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[GeoPoto]

Player #43B: William D. "Dolly" Gray. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1909-1911. 15 wins in 3 MLB seasons. Holds MLB record for walks allowed in an inning (8) and for consecutive walks allowed (7). In 1911, he threw the first pitch in Griffith Stadium.

Gray's SABR biography explains his nickname: Known as Will Gray on the diamonds in Arizona, he did not earn the moniker of “Dolly” until he joined the Los Angeles Loo Loos of the California League in 1902. The song “Goodbye, Dolly Gray” had become popular at the turn of the century and the Los Angeles Times was quick to apply the name to the Loo Loos’ newest pitcher. During Gray’s career the nickname Dolly was applied to almost any player named Gray.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #28C: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

Deveaux recounts Griffith's earliest days: Clark Griffith's life began 31 years before the founding of the American League, in which he had had a leading organizational role along with Ban Johnson and Charles Comisky. Griffith first saw the light of day on the morning of November 20, 1869, in Vernon County in southwestern Missouri, about 15 miles from the Kansas border. His parents had come from Illinois on a covered wagon train bound for the more fertile Oklahoma panhandle.

Griffith's father, Isaiah, came from proud Colonial Virginia stock and his mother was the descendent of one of the original purchasers of Nantucket, Mass., in the midseventeenth century. Isaiah Griffith decided to leave the wagon train early and had staked out 40 acres to farm. He quickly turned to hunting for a living, supplying railway companies with food for their workers. Two-year old Clark was orphaned when his father was accidentally shot by his neighbor's teenage son, who had mistaken him for a deer. . . .

. . . By the age of ten, Clark's brother Earl was stalking game with a shotgun. Clark, six years his junior, soon followed Earl as a provider for the family. As a ten-year old, he was making his own traps and catching coon, skunk, and possum for very good pay -- up to $1.25 per hide. At 11, he hired himself out to a local farmer, chopping corn and doing chores all summer long. His pay at the end of the summer was two little pigs.

Much later in life, Griffith -- who had by then met U.S. presidents, been a pitching star in the major leagues, owned a big-league club, and been elected to the Hall of Fame -- insisted that his greatest thrill in life had nothing to do with any of those accomplishments. He instead told Washington Post reporter Shirley Povich about an experience he'd had in the company of his proudest possession as a child, his dog Major. The dog had been half bulldog, half hound. In Griffith's estimation, purebred hounds were too lazy to make excellent coon hunters. Clark had trained Major to bark only twice if he was on to something. The usual modus operandi was for Major to chase their bounty up a tree, where Clark would climb and shake limbs until the animal would lose its grip. Major would take over on the ground and bring an end to the proceedings. On this one occasion, Clark noticed that Major was having an awful time of finishing his job. When he got back down, he clubbed Major by mistake before finally subduing the coon. While walking home, he met a farmer who told him that what he had over his back wasn't a coon at all, but a wildcat. When Clark got in better light, he saw that the farmer was right, and that he had licked a wildcat that was as heavy as he was at the time, about 60 pounds. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[ValKehl]

George, I'm greatly enjoying all of your posts re Washington players - both your narratives and the pics of your cards. Knowing how much you like/prefer cards which show the subjects as being with Washington, I figured you wouldn't mind my showing a couple of cards that aren't seen very often and that show Griffith with Washington. Hope all is going well for you.
Best,
Val

[GeoPoto]

Hi Val. Thanks for posting the unusual Griffith cards, which are outstanding. You are correct that I (try to) limit my collection to cards of players while they played (or managed) with Washington. One of the (few) exceptions to this policy is Griffith -- I do collect Griffith cards (and photos) from before he joined Washington. I am very glad to hear you are enjoying this thread.

Player #44B: Robert "Bob" Groom. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1909-1913. 119 wins and 13 saves in 10 MLB seasons. For the St. Louis Browns in 1917, he pitched a no-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader after pitching 2 innings of no-hit relief in the first game. With Koob, only teammates to pitch no-hitters on consecutive days. His best season was 1912 as he went 24-13 with a 2.62 ERA and Washington finished second in the American League. In 1909, his 7-26 record included 15 consecutive losses, during which his 42-110 Senator teammates mustered a total of 19 runs. Walter Johnson's record that year was 12-25.

Groom's SABR biography explains his early Washington experience: In his five years in the minor leagues, Bobby had won 99 games and lost 107. When he went to Washington, he was no longer “Bobby” but “Bob,” and occasionally dubbed “Sir Robert.” In 1909, the 24-year-old Groom joined 21-year-old Walter Johnson on the woeful (42-110) Washington Nationals. Bob did his share, losing 26 and winning only 7, but future Hall-of-Famer Johnson had a strikingly similar record, losing 25 and winning just 12. Debuting in relief against the Yankees on Tuesday, April 13, Bob pitched two innings, and the report was that he “displayed good control.” The April 14 game was rained out, and Bob started the game on April 15. He was described as “wild as the proverbial Texas pony.” After he walked or hit the first three batters and the fourth batter smacked a double, scoring two runs, Groom was unceremoniously removed. One local sportswriter quipped that Groom “could not find the plate with a search warrant.”

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[GeoPoto]

Player #53: Thomas J. "Tom" Hughes. "Long Tom". Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1904-1909 and 1911-1913. 132 wins and 15 saves in 13 MLB seasons. 1903 World Series champion with the Boston Americans. His career ERA was 3.09. He debuted with the Chicago Orphans in 1900-1901. He went 20-7 for the 1903 world champion Boston team, but his best season may have been 1908 with Washington despite a 18-15 record as he posted a 2.21 ERA in 276.1 innings pitched.

Hughes' SABR biography tells us about his up-and-down pitching career in Washington: Long Tom Hughes mixed a happy-go-lucky lifestyle with a Chicago-tough pitching moxie. Tall for his time at 6-foot-1, he stayed at about 175 pounds throughout his career. A heavy smoker and drinker, he took no particular care of his body, yet managed to stay in the major leagues until nearly age 35, and in the semi-pro ranks past age 40. Hughes loved being on the mound, at the center of the game. He had an outstanding drop curveball, a good change of pace that helped his fastball, and a rubber arm. After throwing 200 or more innings every year from 1903 to 1908, Hughes’s arm finally gave out, and he spent the 1910 season in the minors. Yet, in this age before reconstructive surgery, Hughes then succeeded in doing what few pitchers of his era could: he came back from a lame arm, and pitched three more seasons in the major leagues, winning 28 games for the Senators from 1911 to 1913. “Prize fighters might not be able to come back,” Alfred Spink observed prophetically in 1910, “but good, old, sturdy, big-hearted athletes like the grand old man, Hughes, can.”

In 1905, Hughes enjoyed one of his best seasons in Washington, finishing the year with a 2.35 ERA in 291⅓ innings, though his 17 wins were offset by 20 losses. He pitched six shutouts, five over the same team, the Cleveland Naps. “His one ambition this season has been to be the master of that team of heavy-hitters at Cleveland,” the Washington Post reported. “And now that he has succeeded…the baseball world is talking about his achievement. Hughes is regarded by ball players as one of the most skilled pitchers in either big league. They claim he has no superior when he wants to exercise all his pitching talents. But Tom doesn’t always feel that way.” At season’s end, one Washington paper collected money for a fan testimonial for ‘Long Tom.’ In appreciation for his efforts, the fans presented Hughes with a diamond scarf pin in the shape of a fleur-de-lis.

But the love affair was not mutual. Frustrated by pitching for the league’s doormats, Hughes slumped in 1906, as he posted a 7-17 record with an awful 3.62 ERA. Late in the season, Hughes quit the team, declaring, “The American League is a joke. I am tired of being the scapegoat of the Washington club for the last two years…. Rather than come back to Washington, I will join an amateur club or play with the outlaws. This proposition of being the fall guy for the bunch is not what it is cracked up to be. No more of it in mine. I am through with Washington for good.” The Washington Post reported that manager Jake Stahl had already suspended Hughes, for “being too friendly with the cup that cheers.”

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[GeoPoto]

Player #54A: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

We go to Deveaux's account of Johnson's 1910 season: Of his 14 opening-day starts, Walter Johnson would win eight of them, an incredible seven by shutout. This one (1910) was the first -- a one-hit masterpiece against the Athletics in front of 12,000 partisans. The no-hitter was lost in the seventh inning when rightfielder Doc Gessler, never known for his prowess with the glove, got tangled up with a fan at the edge of the roped-off outfield and dropped the ball. Gesler, who hit .259 and .282 as the Nats' regular rightfielder in 1910 and '11 before retiring at age 30 to become a physician, apologized to the Big Train. He need not have.

Walter Johnson never, ever, noted errors behind him. He also never spoke of any lack of offensive support behind him. Nor did he ever complain about the vagaries of umpires and the effects their calls might have had on his fate. Johnson was also a rare specimen in the rowdy early years of the century in that he was genuinely concerned about the safety of batters. The fact that he hit a record 205 batters during the course of his career seems illogical. . . .

. . . Walter Johnson's 1910 ERA was a minuscule 1.35, and for a while it ws thought his 313 strikeouts had established a new all-time mark. He had indeed shattered Rube Waddell's mark of 302 set in 1903, but it was later found that Waddell had registered 349 K's in '04. Amazingly, the editor of the Spalding Baseball Guide refused to heap any praise upon the Nats' wunderkind. Among other things, it was written that Johnson "made a better record than he did in some other years, but there is still room for improvement in his pitching . . . he lacks that control which is necessary to place him with the leaders in the Base Ball world." Yet, Johnson was considered enough of an asset that, just after the 1910 World Series, won by Connie Mack's A's, there were rumors flying about that he might be traded for Ty Cobb who, two months shy of his 24th birthday, had just won his fifth consecutive A.L. batting title. When asked about the rumor, Tigers president Frank Navin expressed the opinion that Washington would never consider trading Walter Johnson for anyone, even Ty Cobb.

The Big Train was something of an idler on the mound, meaning he never gunned for strikeouts. He was of a humble nature, and there was evidence that he was the kind who had no use for records and was content to just win, without regard for how that was to be accomplished. This may never have seemed so true at this early stage of his career as in the anomalous July 8 game at St. Louis. Barney struck out the first seven men he faced and eight of the first nine. However, buoyed by a large lead when the Nats scored ten runs in the fifth inning, he didn't strike out anyone else among the anemic Browns over the course of the rest of the game. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #55: James R. "Jimmy" McAleer. "Loafer". Manager with the Washington Senators in 1909-1911. As a center fielder, he had 1,008 hits and 262 stolen bases in 13 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Cleveland Spiders in 1989-1998. His best season was probably 1892 with Cleveland as he posted a .318 OBP with 92 runs scored and 40 stolen bases in 638 plate appearances. He finished his playing career with the St. Louis Browns in 1902 and 1907. He also managed the Cleveland Blues in 1901 and the St. Louis Browns in 1902-1909. He was also a major shareholder in the Boston Red Sox in 1911-1913. The Red Sox won the World Series in 1912, but his ownership was brief, fraught with conflict, and ended amid acrimony.

Deveaux explains McAleer's introduction to Washington and the benefits for Walter Johnson: Now that Cantillon was on his way out (as manager of Washington following the 1909 season) because of the poor quality of his ball club at Washington, the league president (Ban Johnson) stepped in and suggested the hiring of Jimmy McAleer, most recently the manager of the St. Louis Browns who had finished an awful seventh in 1909. The affable McAleer had finished out of the second division only three times in eight years with the Browns, so although Washington was becoming known as a burial ground for managers, he couldn't afford to be choosy. The marriage was consummated, and the former stylish outfielder of the Cleveland Spiders took over the helm of the Washington Nationals for 1910. . . .

. . . It seemed that Jimmy McAleer played a role in turning Walter Johnson around in 1910. From then on, the Big Train could count on being a starting pitcher only, and not having to drive himself to the point of exhaustion with frequent relief appearances. Also, with McAleer, Walter would be given normal rest time between starts. McAleer also offered advice from an opposing manager's viewpoint -- he felt that Johnson could be beaten whenever he began to rely too heavily on his curveball. The tip proved invaluable. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

McAleer's SABR biography covers his tumultuous first year as "owner" of the Boston Red Sox: The 1912 season, McAleer’s first as club president, was an unqualified success. The team opened its new stadium, Fenway Park, on April 20, coasted to the pennant by 14 games over the second-place Senators, and defeated the New York Giants in the World Series. However, McAleer and Stahl, who was not McAleer’s choice to manage the team, clashed often. The team was also divided by friction between Irish Catholic players, led by catcher Bill Carrigan, and the Protestant contingent headed by stars Tris Speaker and Joe Wood. McAleer was an Irish Catholic, while Stahl, a Protestant, was a close friend of Speaker and Wood. The two factions engaged in petty bickering and the occasional physical altercation, while Stahl and McAleer battled openly. The feuding on the Boston club provided much fodder for local newspaper columns and marred an otherwise successful season.

The differences between Stahl and McAleer came to a head during the World Series. With the Red Sox leading the Series three games to one (with one tie), Stahl chose Joe Wood to pitch Game Six at Fenway Park. McAleer, however, ordered his manager to send Buck O’Brien, an Irish Catholic, to the mound instead. McAleer had his way, and the Red Sox lost 5-2, with all five runs scored off O’Brien in the first inning. Wood was so angry with the outcome that he reportedly attacked O’Brien with a bat before the seventh game. Teammates broke up the ugly fight, but Wood pitched so poorly afterward that many believe to this day that he lost the game on purpose. He faced only nine batters in Game Seven, allowing six runs and seven hits before giving way to a reliever. He appeared to be merely lobbing the ball across the plate, perhaps to show his disgust with McAleer, or possibly because he was exhausted from the pregame fight with O’Brien. Though the Red Sox eventually prevailed in the eight-game Series, questions about the integrity of the seventh game of the 1912 World Series have lingered ever since.

McAleer’s popularity in Boston was further damaged by a ticket fiasco before Game Seven. The Royal Rooters, Boston’s boisterous, mostly Irish fan club headed by Mayor John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, paraded on the field at Fenway Park before the game and proceeded to their usual block of seats in the left-field stands, only to find that club management had sold the seats out from under them. A near-riot ensued that delayed the game for nearly an hour before the police could gain control of the situation. McAleer blamed a “clerical error” for the mix-up, but the outraged Rooters called for a fan boycott of the eighth game the next day. As a result, only about 17,000 people, half of Fenway Park’s capacity, saw the Red Sox win the world championship.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #56A: George F. "Pinch" McBride. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1908-1920. 1,203 hits, 7 home runs, and 133 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. Has the lowest batting average of any player with 5,000 MLB at-bats. Managed the Washington Senators in 1921 but was struck in the face by a line drive during batting practice and forced to retire.

Deveaux introduces McBride to the Senators: To further reinforce the middle of the infield for 1908, a 27-year-old shortstop named George McBride was brought in from Kansas City of the American Association, and he would provide stability for a good decade. McBride was the league's premier defensive shortstop during his time. He led the American League at fielding his position four straight years between 1912 and 1915, and led in double plays six years between '08 and '15. His offensive credentials were something quite different. For players with more than 5,000 at-bats, McBride holds the record for the lowest career batting average (.218), and slugging average (.264), testimony to the superior defensive skills which kept him in the game long enough to attain such an ignominious record. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #39B: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography summarizes his time in baseball: He was a left-handed hitter who batted .285 over the course of 16 seasons, and Clark Griffith called him Washington’s greatest centerfielder, claiming that he played the position more shallow than any man in baseball. Yet Clyde “Deerfoot” Milan achieved his greatest fame as a base stealer. After Milan supplanted Ty Cobb as the American League’s stolen-base leader by pilfering 88 bases in 1912 and 75 in 1913, F. C. Lane of Baseball Magazine called him “Milan the Marvel, the Flying Mercury of the diamond, the man who shattered the American League record, and the greatest base runner of the decade.” It was hyperbole, of course; Cobb re-claimed the AL record in 1915 by stealing 96 bases and went on to swipe far more bases over the decade than Milan, but Deerfoot stole a total of 481 during the Deadball Era, ranking third in the AL behind only Cobb (765) and Eddie Collins (564).

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[GeoPoto]

Player #57: Frank R. "Flossie" Oberlin. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1907 and 1909-1910. 5 wins and 227 innings pitched in 4 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Boston Americans in 1906-1907.

Oberlin's SABR biography summarizes his meager MLB accomplishments: Frank Oberlin’s major-league pitching record was 5-24. He was 2-8 for the Boston Americans and 3-16 for the Washington Senators. As a batter, he hit for a .104 average, again somewhat better for Boston (.154 in 26 at-bats) than for Washington (.078 in 51 at-bats.) He drew one base on balls for both teams, bumping up his career on-base percentage to .138 over the four years of his career in the big leagues. Defensively, Oberlin was a little lacking, too, with 12 errors in 85 chances, for a lifetime .859 fielding percentage. He was much more successful in the minors, with a won/loss record of 81-85.

And his final days with Washington: He achieved the best earned run average of his career in his eight appearances for the Senators in 1910, but one’s ERA can be deceiving. His won/loss record was 0-6, and the real story rests in the runs allowed figure. In 57 1/3 innings, Oberlin only allowed 19 earned runs, but in actuality he allowed 32 runs. Though he lost a 2-1 game to Boston on April 19, there were times when once the runs started scoring, on an error, Oberlin was unable to plug the dike. On June 24, he bore another hard-luck 2-1 loss, again to Boston, but he had only himself to blame for the wild pitch he uncorked in the tenth inning. His last major-league appearance was in relief on June 28, a game Washington dropped to New York, 9-7. On July 1, he was released.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #58: Frank C. "Doc" Reisling. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1909-1910. 15 wins in 4 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Brooklyn Superbas in 1904-1905. He had a career ERA of 2.45 in 311.2 innings pitched. His one almost full season was his best and his last as he posted a 2.54 ERA on 191 innings pitched in 1910.

Reisling is perhaps most remembered as the manager of Tecumseh in 1914 when he successfully scheduled a triple header on the last day of the season in an attempt to win the pennant. In the early days of baseball, travel was difficult (expensive) and rain outs were common, often due to unplayable conditions caused by rain that fell days earlier. Teams did not play the same number of games, no matter how long it took; instead, the season ended at a predetermined date, and each team's win/loss percentage determined the winner. Teams could make-up previosly-postponed games late in the season, provided they could corral their opponent, who typically had little incentive to play, let alone win. 1n 1914, Tecumseh needed to win three games on the last day of the season to capture the best winning percentage in their league, and thereby the pennant. Reisling managed to get the triple-header scheduled, his team won all three games and appeared to have won the pennant. Doc's plan failed, however, when the league's president invalidated Tecumseh's third victory.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #45B: Herman A. "Germany" Schaefer. Infielder for the Washington Senators in 1909-1914. 972 hits, 9 home runs, and 201 stolen bases in 15 MLB seasons. His "steal" of first base prompted rule making it illegal. Popular as a baseball "trickster" and "on-field clown", often in tandem with Charley O'Leary and, later, with Nick Altrock. Altrock eventually perfected the art with Al Schacht.

Schaefer's SABR biography describes his eccentric approach to baseball: Always willing to entertain the crowd, Germany Schaefer’s antics as a player and coach helped pave the way for later baseball clowns. An infielder with decent range and an average bat, Schaefer had impeccable timing, and more than once delighted fans with clutch performances, including legendary homers off Rube Waddell and Doc White. He gained his greatest notoriety for “stealing first base,” a maneuver that led to a rule change. . . .

. . . “The Prince,” as he (Schaefer) was often called because of his flashy showmanship on the field, always enjoyed performing in front of his hometown crowd, and on May 24, 1906, he turned in one of the most memorable games of his career. Schaefer was called on to pinch hit with two outs in the ninth, a runner on base, and his Tigers down by a run. According to teammate Davy Jones in The Glory of Their Times, Germany announced to the crowd: “Ladies and gentlemen, you are now looking at Herman Schaefer, better known as ‘Herman the Great,’ acknowledged by one and all to be the greatest pinch-hitter in the world. I am now going to hit the ball into the left field bleachers. Thank you.”

Facing Chicago’s Doc White, Schaefer proceeded to hit the first pitch into the left field bleachers for a game-winning homer. As he made his way around the diamond, Germany supposedly slid into every base, announcing his progress as if it were a horse race as he went around. “Schaefer leads at the half!” and so on. After hook-sliding into home, he popped up, doffed his cap, bowed, and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, this concludes this afternoon’s performance. I thank you for your kind attention.” Newspaper accounts of the game confirm the dramatic baseball details but not the fanciful embellishments offered by Jones.

Once while facing Rube Waddell, one of his favorite targets for verbal abuse, Schaefer reportedly launched a long home run out of Philadelphia’s Columbia Park and razzed the left-hander as he trotted around the bases. Carrying his bat with him, Schaefer pretended it was a gun, “shooting” Rube as he moved from bag to bag. Among Schaefer’s other supposed antics: during a steady rain he once appeared at the plate wearing rubber boots and a raincoat, and he once ventured to the plate sporting a fake black mustache. In both instances, his outlandish behavior reportedly resulted in his ejection. In addition, Schaefer was a master of the hidden-ball trick, which he performed in the 1907 World Series.

Schaefer did not reserve his pranks for players alone. According to one story, umpire Jack Sheridan wandered into his favorite Chicago watering-hole for a few drinks one evening. After tilting back a few too many spirits, Sheridan fell asleep on his table, located near a drainpipe. When Schaefer ambled in and saw the ump snoozing, he hopped upstairs and knelt on the floor. Cupping his hands, he moaned into the drainpipe, “Jack Sheridan, your time has come…” After Schaefer’s creepy warning was repeated, Sheridan shook himself awake and streaked from the saloon, frightened sober. The incident so spooked Sheridan that he reportedly gave up drinking for a time. Later, Schaefer let the cat out of the bag during a game that Sheridan was working in New York. When Germany strolled to the plate, he couldn’t resist moaning, “Jack Sheridan, your time has come…” Sheridan’s neck snapped toward Schaefer, “You Dutch so-and-so, you’re out of this game!” . . .

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[GeoPoto]

Player #33C: Charles E. "Gabby" Street. "The Old Sarge". Catcher for the Washington Senators in 1908-1911. 312 hits and 2 home runs in 8 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Cincinnati Reds in 1904. Caught ball dropped from top of Washington Monument. Holds MLB record for longest gap between MLB games at 19 years -- 1912-1931. Managed the St. Louis Cardinals in 1929 and 1930-1933, including the 1931 World Series championship. Managed the St. Louis Browns in 1938.

Here is Deveaux's account of Street's most memorable performance: Gabby Street is associated with baseball lore because of his connection to one particular incident. In Washington, D.C., the prospect of catching a ball dropped from the 555-foot high Washington Monument was always a hot topic. Made of Maryland white marble and shaped like a hollow shaft, the structure had been erected to commemorate the first president, George Washington. The government had begun building it in 1848, but it wasn't completed until 1884 due to delays caused by the Civil War and other political wrangling. When it was finally finished, it offered a breathtaking view at the top of an iron stairway of 898 steps.

In 1894, a catcher named Pops Schriver had attempted to catch a ball dropped from the top of the monument. Some said Schriver was successful on the first try. Other accounts said it never happened at all. It seems certain that other old-time catchers, Charlie Snyder and future Hall of Famer Buck Ewing, were not successful. Outfielder Paul Hines met with the same result. So Street, a Southerner who earned his nickname "Gabby" for obvious reasons and who may have been baseball's precursor to Ted Turner as "The Mouth of the South," became determined to give it a try. The idea came about because two well-to-do Senators fans had been discussing the topic and had made a $500 bet. They then prevailed upon Street to settle their wager. Things were done right this time, unlike in 1894 when police had had to shoo Schriver and the interested onlookers away from the site. Formal permission for the attempt was obtained from the superintendent of parks. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

On the morning of August 21, 1908, the two bettors, Preston Gibson and John Biddle, climbed to the top of the Washington Monument with a basketful of baseballs and a wooden chute designed to slide the balls beyond the wide base of the structure. Signals were given from above, but the first ten balls which came down caromed off the base of the monument. Gibson then discarded the chute and threw the balls out. Finally, on the 15th try, Street made the historic catch. It was completed with both arms high above his head, as if he'd caught a foul pop. There the similarity ended. The impact drove the mitt that caught Walter Johnson's fastball almost down to the ground, but Gabby held on.

It was reported at the time that mathematicians had calculated that Street's hand had resisted 300 pounds of force. Street said afterward that he hadn't caught sight of the ball until it was halfway down. The toss previous to the one he had caught had hit the tip of his mitt, and he knew at that moment that he was risking breaking his arm if he didn't catch the ball cleanly. The ball had dropped an estimated 504 feet. This would stand as the record for all mankind until 1930, when Charles Hartnett, the Chicago Cub catcher, coincidentally also nicknamed "Gabby," would catch a ball dropped from the Giidyear blimp from an altitude of about 550 feet. On the same afternoon that he'd completed his oddball stunt, Gabby Street caught a 3-1 Walter Johnson victory over the Detroit Tigers. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

We will now pause this progression. Expected restart date: 21 August.

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[brianp-beme]

This card depicts the ball whizzing by Gabby in one of the failed attempts, with a bonus sweaty 'stuck together' Sweet Caporal back visible on the front, and a remnant Clark Griffith batting on the back.

Brian

[GeoPoto]

Thanks for the post, Brian.

Player #59: Jesse N. Tannehill. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1908-1909. 197 wins and 7 saves in 15 MLB seasons. 1901 NL ERA leader. Pitched a no-hitter in 1904. Debuted with the Cincinnati Reds in 1894. Pitched over 2,750 MLB innings with a career ERA of 2.80.

Tannehill's SABR biography covers his success with Pittsburgh and his end in Washington: Every year from 1897 to 1904, Tannehill ranked among his league’s top five in fewest walks per nine innings pitched. He wasn’t a big strikeout pitcher, either–he recorded only 940 strikeouts in more than 2,750 career innings–but his low walk totals still ensured him an annual spot among pitchers with the best strikeout to walk ratios. In 1901, he fanned a career-high 118 batters while walking just 36, and led the National League with a 2.18 ERA as the Pirates captured the pennant. Pittsburgh’s dominance continued the following season as the Pirates won 103 games and clinched the pennant with a month left in the season. The Pirates’ staff (Deacon Phillippe, Tannehill, Sam Leever, Ed Doheny, and Jack Chesbro) threw twenty-one shutouts, led the league in strikeouts, walked the fewest batters, and threw back-to-back two-hitters and back-to-back three-hitters.

Amidst Pittsburgh’s success, rumors surfaced about players secretly negotiating with Ban Johnson to join the American League, with Tannehill believed to be one of the main catalysts. After a game in August, Jesse got into an altercation with reserve Jimmy Burke. A scuffle occurred resulting in Tannehill dislocating his pitching shoulder. Tannehill went to a local hospital where the doctor's administrated ether so his arm could be popped back into place. While under the anesthetic Tannehill told Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss about conversations he had with Johnson. He even dropped the names of the other Pirates involved. Five days later at Tannehill’s apartment, six Pirates were promised a $1,000 bonus for jumping leagues in 1903. Word got out and suspected ring-leader Jack O’Connor was suspended even though Tannehill reportedly told a friend that he was behind the meeting. When an All-Star game was set up after the season between the Pirates and a group of American League All-Stars, Tannehill did not participate. Dreyfuss, knowing Tannehill had already received a bonus from the American League, handed the pitcher his unconditional release and told him to take his baggage from Exposition Park at once. Along with teammates O’Connor and Jack Chesbro, Tannehill signed with the New York Highlanders. . . .

. . . Unhappy in New York, after the (1903) season Tannehill expressed interest in joining his hometown Cincinnati Reds. Instead the Highlanders traded the unhappy hurler to the Boston Americans for pitcher Tom Hughes. Critics questioned the trade, arguing that the sore-armed Tannehill was in decline. Hughes was four years younger than Jesse and had won 20 games for Boston in 1903. Nonetheless, Boston manager Jimmy Collins assured critics that Hughes would not be missed. “I am more pleased than ever with my trade for Tannehill,” stated Collins. “We need a left-hander and I don’t know a better one in the business. He is in great shape and will be Johnny-on-the-spot with that stick of his and that helps a team wonderfully, I tell you.” Collins was right–the trade proved to be a winner for Boston. Tannehill went 21-11 with a 2.04 ERA in 1904 while Hughes struggled to a 7-11 mark before New York traded him in midseason. Boston, powered by a stalwart pitching rotation which established still-standing American League records for complete games (148) and fewest walks (233), won a second consecutive American League pennant. On August 17, Tannehill pitched the third no-hitter in American League history when he blanked the White Sox, 6-0. . . .

. . . A sore arm limited Tannehill to just six wins the following season (1907 with the Boston Americans) and after pitching in one game in 1908, he was traded to Washington. Boston management had become unhappy with him. On numerous occasions Tannehill mentioned that he would rather play in Washington for his hunting companion Joe Cantillon than anywhere else. Once Tannehill arrived in the nation’s capital he wasn’t shy about his happiness in leaving Boston. “I could not pitch in Boston. The weather there is hard on my arm and I could not get it going right,” stated Tannehill. “It feels better already, though I have only been out of the town for a few hours.” Despite the change in climate, Tannehill was unable to stay healthy for the Nationals, as a dislocated shoulder and displaced ribs limited him to two wins in 1908. The next season Tannehill pitched in only three games before being sold to Minneapolis of the American Association.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #42B: Robert A. "Bob" Unglaub. Infielder for the Washington Senators in 1908-1910. 554 hits and 5 home runs over 6 MLB seasons. Debuted with the New York Highlanders in 1904. Managed the Boston Americans in 1907.

We go back to Unglaub's SABR biography and his end in Washington and his tragic demise: Unglaub’s influence on the (Washington) team may not have always been positive. In May of 1909 it was reported that the cause of an injury that kept Unglaub out of the lineup came when Bob Ganley broke his ribs when he struck him with a bat in an altercation. This incident was denied, saying the sore ribs were an old injury, but Ganley, who happened to be captain of the team, was conspicuously released around this time.

After two and a half seasons with Washington, Unglaub was sold to Lincoln, Nebraska of the minor leagues. He was a player-manager for Lincoln in 1911 and his contract was sold to Baltimore of the Eastern League prior to the 1912 season. He finished that year in Minneapolis. In 1913 he went to the Northern league as manager and he usually finished the seasons playing a handful of games for Minneapolis of the American Association. It was a routine he followed through the 1916 season.

During the off-seasons Unglaub utilized his engineering degree by hiring on with the Pennsylvania Railroad shops in his hometown of Baltimore. On November 29, 1916, “While superintending repair work on a locomotive an accident occurred which crushed and mangled him so that all efforts to save his life failed.”

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[GeoPoto]

The 1911 Washington Senators won 64 games, lost 90, and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Jimmy McAleer and played home games at National Park. (Standby for a guest appearance by Natty Boh!)

We go to Deveaux for an account of the tumultuous runup to the season: (Prior to the 1911 season, Washington) Team president Tom Noyes was summoned to Atlanta by a jittery (Washington manager, Jimmy) McAleer, who did not relish starting a new season without his two most valuable commodities, who were threatening to hold out for more money. Noyes quickly gave Clyde Milan what he was asking for, and offered to raise Walter Johnson's pay to $6,500. Barney made what was a characteristic speech for him, and told Noyes, "Nothing doing." When Johnson showed he meant it by catching the next train to his father's dairy farm in Coffeyville, Kansas (Walter also raised purebred birds and won prizes at county fairs), the Washington media and fans became riled. Accused of stinginess, and amid rumors that he was considering trading Johnson to Detroit or Philadelphia, Tom Noyes steadfastly held to his position that Walter Johnson would be the highest-paid pitcher in the league if he accepted the Senators' offer.

The stalemate over money between the Big Train and team president Noyes had resulted in manager McAleer ordering Johnson to leave training camp because of his refusal to sign. The league's best pitcher had been asking for $7,500 a year, and eventually he did settle for a three-year arrangement at $7,000 per. Because of the holdout, Johnson lost the opening-day assignment to southpaw Dolly Gray, who was embarking on a season in which he would go 4-14, 5.06.

Not only was Walter Johnson not present for the 1911 opener, but Washington's shabby wooden ballpark wasn't there either. Except for a small bleacher section, it had burned down 18 days before. There was considerable scrambling to erect a concrete and steel structure. Somehow, it was ready for baseball on April 12, despite the fact that wooden forms were still protecting drying concrete. The only box seats were for the President of the United States. The dimensions of League (or National) Park would change little in the years to come. From left to right they were established at 407-421-328. The right-field distance was reduced to 320 feet in 1926. The right-center field scoreboard was 41 feet high, and it mushroomed to an unreasonable 56 feet in 1946 when enhanced with the omnipresent sign advertising the "National Bohemian" beer company. Needless to say, this ballpark would be the kiss of death to would-be home run hitters. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #48B: George E. Browne. Right fielder for the Washington Senators in 1909-1910. 1,176 hits, 18 home runs, and 190 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. Led the NL in runs scored in 1904. 1905 WS champion. Debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1901. His best season was 1903 for the New York Giants as he posted a .364 OBP with 27 stolen bases in 652 plate appearances. In all he had 7 seasons with more than 500 plate appearances.

Browne's SABR biography: After leaving the Giants following the 1907 season, Browne played one season with the Boston Doves and was sold to the Chicago Cubs; the Washington Senators then purchased him early in the 1909 season. He remained there until mid-1910, when he was sold to the Chicago White Sox. For his career, he compiled a .273 batting average, 303 runs batted in, 614 runs scored, and 190 stolen bases.

In 1920, Browne became sick with tuberculosis right as former teammate Christy Mathewson was recovering from the illness. Newspaper accounts highlighted the differences in financial capacity between the former star Mathewson and the lesser-known Browne. While Mathewson had been able to afford the best treatment, Browne's friends had to help ensure that he was admitted to a hospital in the Bronx. The New York Giants raised $1,825 for him in a benefit baseball game. On December 9, 1920, Browne died of tuberculosis at his home in Hyde Park, New York, at the age of 44.

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[jbro]

I'm also a vintage Washington collector and just wanted to say that this thread is amazing! Thanks for getting it started.

[GeoPoto]

Hey jbro! Welcome to the club. I thought it was just Val and me. It is good to hear you are out there. Thanks for the kind words.

[GeoPoto]

Player #35C: William E. "Wid" Conroy. Utility player for the Washington Senators in 1909-1911. 1,257 hits, 22 home runs, and 262 stolen bases in 11 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. He had at least 384 plate appearances in each of his 11 MLB seasons. He was the first-string SS on the NL champion Pittsburgh Pirates in 1902. He moved to 3B in 1903 with the New York Highlanders, twice leading AL third basemen in total chances per game. He was an opening day starter for the Highlanders for the first five years of the team's existence. In 1907 he swiped 41 bases second only to Ty Cobb. He finished his career with Washington and in one of his last games set an AL record with 13 total chances at 3B.

Conroy's SABR biography summarizes his career and the origins of his nickname: An adept base stealer known for taking unusually large leads from first base, Wid Conroy used his raw speed and acrobatic skills to earn a reputation as one of the most versatile defensive players of the Deadball Era. During his eleven-year major league career, Conroy played a significant number of games at third base, shortstop, and left field, eliciting praise for his keen intelligence, sure-handedness, and leaping catches. One writer declared that Conroy’s movements around third base were “as graceful as a dancing master,” while another observed that “no matter in what position he is played, Conroy is generally recognized as a heady, hard-working ball player of much natural ability.”

From an early age, William demonstrated a love for baseball, spending much of his free time playing on Camden’s sandlots, and earning the nickname “Widow,” which would later be shortened to “Wid” during his playing career. Conroy pleaded ignorance as to the origin of his peculiar moniker, but fellow Camdenites asserted that he earned the name because of “his motherly interest in youngsters smaller and younger than himself, who used to number themselves in his ‘gang.’”

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[GeoPoto]

Player #47C: Norman A. "Kid" Elberfeld. "The Tabasco Kid". Shortstop for the Washington Senators 1910-1911. 1,235 hits, 10 home runs, and 213 stolen bases in 14 MLB seasons. Fiery temper involved him in numerous ferocious arguments and assaults on umpires. Managed the New York Highlanders in 1908. Debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1898. Had a career OBP of .355 and 7 MLB seasons with at least 500 plate appearances.

Elberfeld's SABR biography picks up his career following his 1903 trade from Detroit to the Highlanders: Over the next three years with New York, Elberfeld solidified his reputation as one of the best hitting shortstops in baseball. From 1904 to 1906, he had the highest batting (.275) and on-base-plus-slugging (.688) percentages of any shortstop in the American League, and second in the majors only to Honus Wagner. But injuries and suspensions continued to dog him; the Highlanders might have won pennants in 1904 and 1906 had Elberfeld not missed 89 games during those years. In late 1906 he also had two memorable run-ins with umpire Silk O’Loughlin. The first, on August 8, occurred when Elberfeld was denied first base by after being hit by a pitch, prompting him to menace the umpire with a bat. Then, on September 3, the two went at it again in a brawl described by the New York Times as “one of the most disgraceful scenes ever witnessed on a baseball field.” The Highlanders were in a close pennant race with Chicago, and when Elberfeld was suspended for only a total of eight games by President Johnson, some viewed it as an act of favoritism toward the Highlanders.

On May 1, 1908, with the New Yorkers tied for first place, Elberfeld was severely spiked by Washington outfielder Bob Ganley, essentially ending Elberfeld’s season. The team continued to play well without him through May, but won only seven games during June. On June 25, Farrell finally forced Griffith to resign, and Elberfeld got his chance to be manager. His tenure was a disaster. New York lost 15 of their next 18 games and the Washington Post soon quoted an unnamed Highlander saying: “We are … playing under the direction of a crazy man. It won’t take Elberfeld more than two weeks to make us the most demoralized ball team that the American League has ever known. He thinks he is a manager, but he can’t convince anyone but himself that he has the first qualification for the place. It’s a joke.” But Elberfeld himself apparently did harbor doubts about his qualifications; some years later Baseball Magazine reported that he wouldn’t select the team’s starting pitchers without first consulting his wife. Regardless of who picked the pitchers, the Highlanders sank to last place, Chase jumped the team in early September, and Elberfeld’s sole stint as a major league manager ended with a dismal 27-71 record.

We will pick this account up again when Elberfeld next surfaces in our progression.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #43C: William D. "Dolly" Gray. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1909-1911. 15 wins in 3 MLB seasons. Holds MLB record for walks allowed in an inning (8) and for consecutive walks allowed (7). In 1911, he threw the first pitch in Griffith Stadium.

Gray's SABR biography walks us through his MLB career: Gray batted .205 in 1907 but that figure does not include his best day at the plate. On November 10 the Angels faced the San Diego Pickwicks, a strong semipro team that had added Walter Johnson. Gray smashed a double and a home run off the Washington hurler as the Angels won, 9-2. Gray nearly duplicated his performance (In 1907 he won a league-leading 32 games.) the following year, as did the team. Gray went 26-11 with a 1.71 ERA and the Angels won 110 games. In October 1908 his contract was sold to Washington.

Gray went to 1911 spring training as the veteran lefty on the team. McAleer made it known to the press that Gray needed to establish himself during the spring camp if the team was to be successful. Gray arrived in Atlanta with his new bride and weighing about 10 to 15 pounds more than normal. He told reporters that he thought the extra weight would make him more effective.

Gray revealed late in camp that he had a new pitch, an “ointment curve.” He supposedly could get it to break down and either left or right. Whether the pitch actually involved adding a substance to the ball was unclear. Meanwhile, McAleer and Walter Johnson were embroiled in contract negotiations while Johnson tended his farm in Coffeyville, Kansas. He (Johnson) did not report until just before Opening Day.

We will pick up the account of Gray's final season when he next surfaces in our progression.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #28D: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

We return to Deveaux's account of Griffith's development: At age 13, Clark Griffith became sickly, a victim of malaria, then prevalent in the Missouri lowland country. His mother was advised to move him out of the area, which she did. Resettled with relatives in Bloomington, Illinois, Clark, who had been the mascot of the local Stringtown, MO., team, got more serious about baseball. The sport had been invented only about 40 years earlier -- this was at a time when the batter needed seven balls for a walk, and a strikeout was achieved even if the catcher, who was the only player who wore a glove, caught the ball on a bounce. The Illinois climate worked wonders for Clark's health, and at 16 he had already earned a local reputation in Bloomington, hometown of big-league pitching ace Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn.

In 1888, Griffith signed to play for Bloomington, which held a franchise in the Inter-State League of the era. He lost his first game in bizarre fashion -- he gave up just five hits but himself committed five of his team's ten errors. Nonetheless, he did become the top pitcher in the league, and at age 18, Clark Griffith was already about to get his big break. An exhibition game was arranged with Milwaukee of the superior Western League. As the winner of that game, Griffith was offered a $225-a -month salary with Milwaukee, and his professional career took off. He joined a team which featured Jimmy McAleer, who 23 years later would create a vacancy with the Nationals that would bring him to the capital and alter the face of baseball in Washington, D.C.

By the end of the following season, Griffith was the best pitcher Milwaukee had, finishing the season with a record of 25-11. Charles Comiskey, then managing the major-league American Association's St. Louis Browns, signed him, starting Griffith on a protracted tour that would include seven big-league stops. He won 14 games as a rookie for the Browns in 1891, but then was traded to the Boston Americans for a pitcher named Jack Easton who would win just five more games in the major leagues. Now a teammate of future Hall of Famers Hugh Duffy, Mike "King' Kelly, and Dan Brouthers, Griffith went 3-1 and played on a pennant winner. However, the seven games he pitched in for Boston were his last for the team. The American Association disbanded, and for 1892, the National League would be the only game in town. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #44C: Robert "Bob" Groom. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1909-1913. 119 wins and 13 saves in 10 MLB seasons. For the St. Louis Browns in 1917, he pitched a no-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader after pitching 2 innings of no-hit relief in the first game. With Koob, only teammates to pitch no-hitters on consecutive days. His best season was 1912 as he went 24-13 with a 2.62 ERA and Washington finished second in the American League. In 1909, his 7-26 record included 15 consecutive losses, during which his 42-110 Senator teammates mustered a total of 19 runs. Walter Johnson's record that year was 12-25.

Groom's SABR biography continues his story: During the 1911 season Ty Cobb named Bob Groom — not even yet in his prime — to his list of the dozen pitchers he had the most trouble hitting. Indeed, Cobb’s lifetime batting average against Groom (.275 compared with Cobb’s overall lifetime average of .367) bore out Cobb’s assessment. Cobb’s difficulty may have had something to do with what Billy Evans had described as Groom’s typical demeanor.

(Let's briefly jump ahead to the end of Groom's time in Washington.) After five years with Washington, in 1914 Bob jumped at the chance to play homestands in St. Louis. Federal League (Handlan) Park was just a trolley ride from his home in Belleville. He signed on with the St. Louis Terriers, for whom he pitched 280 innings in 42 games, going 13-20 and tying a teammate for the dubious distinction of most losses in the league. The Terriers were hardly an offensive powerhouse, finishing last (62-89) by managing to score the fewest runs per game in the league. The following season, with their hitting bolstered by fresh players, the Terriers made a run for the 1915 pennant. They finished second, nosed out by Chicago by the closest pennant margin in baseball history, .001. Bob’s record that year was 11-11; he pitched 209 innings in 37 games.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #54B: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Deveaux reports on how 1911 went for Walter Johnson: When he did make his first start (after missing opening day due to a salary holdout), on April 15, Walter Johnson again brought attention to his unusual talents. On this particular day, he turned the trick of striking out four Red Sox batters in the same inning. Even more unlikely, Boston scored during the inning. Washington catcher Eddie Ainsmith missed the third strike on the second strikeout. Larry Gardner stole second when Johnson fanned future Hall of Famer Harry Hooper, and then scored on a double by Tris Speaker, another Hall of Famer to be. ("Spoke" happens to hold the all-time record for doubles -- 792 according to Total Baseball, but it's been 793 for so long that the number has become synonymous with Speaker.)

Despite another slow start, Walter Johnson would win 16 of his last 20 decisions and put together a record of 23-15 for 1911, leading the league in complete games and placing in the top three in most of the other important categories. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[Kawika]

Couple of Walter Johnson items for this stellar thread's inventory.
Keep up the great work, George.

https://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_o_ka_pakipika/sportscardsetc/baseball/bbhofthefirstclass/huge/914CJ%20WaJo.jpg

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[GeoPoto]

Thanks for the post, David, particularly the outstanding CJ, which is one of my white whales.

[GeoPoto]

Player #60: John F. "Jack" Lelivelt. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1909-1911. 347 hits and 46 stolen bases in 6 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .353. He finished his MLB career in 1913-1914 with the Cleveland Naps. He held the International League longest hitting streak (42 games) from 1911 until 2007. He is a member of the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame.

Lelivelt's SABR biography recounts his 1911 and 1912 seasons: In 1911 Lelivelt batted .320 in 72 games for Washington. He missed time at the end of the season with a “badly sprained tendon” in his left leg. In July the Senators had agreed to trade “players to be named later” for three players on the minor-league Rochester, New York, team. At the end of the season, Rochester manager John Ganzel demanded a pair of quality players from Washington, including Lelivelt, and the Senators complied, although a .320 hitter was clearly undeserving of a demotion. After Clark Griffith became the Washington manager, he tried to reacquire Lelivelt in February 1912, but Ganzel would not give him up. Griffith blamed his predecessor McAleer for making a foolish deal.

As a member of the 1912 Rochester Hustlers of the Double-A International League, Lelivelt feasted on minor-league pitching. On Opening Day, April 19, he hit a three-run homer in a 4-1 victory over Providence. From April 23 to June 3 he had a 33-game hitting streak during which he batted .444. In a game against Toronto on May 31, he hit a ball to left field that went “out of sight.” Since no one could find the ball, he was awarded a home run. Lelivelt batted .351 in 125 games for Rochester and was traded on August 23 to the New York Highlanders.

In his return to the American League on August 27, Lelivelt played center field and went 5-for-8 in New York’s doubleheader sweep of Cleveland. Four days later, Washington fans cheered him and Griffith fumed as Lelivelt hit a “smoking double to left field” to drive in the only run in New York’s 1-0 defeat of the Senators. In a 6-1 victory over Mack’s Athletics on September 4, Lelivelt “robbed Baker of a home run in the eighth, with two on bases, when he jumped into the air and pulled down a drive with one hand.” Two days later Lelivelt’s daring baserunning in New York made headlines. He was on third base when Philadelphia’s great second baseman Eddie Collins caught an easy pop fly.

“There was no chance in the world for Lelivelt to score on the catch. Anyway, he ran far up the line in an effort to make Collins throw the ball to the catcher. Then just when Collins, who was looking directly at him, was about ready to toss the ball to the pitcher, Lelivelt kept going and headed for the plate. Collins was so astounded at this unexpected display of nerve that he made a wild throw to [catcher Jack] Lapp, and Lelivelt crossed the plate in safety. Fans and players roared with laughter and Collins kicked himself all over the diamond.”

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[GeoPoto]

Player #56B: George F. "Pinch" McBride. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1908-1920. 1,203 hits, 7 home runs, and 133 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. Has the lowest batting average of any player with 5,000 MLB at-bats. Managed the Washington Senators in 1921 but was struck in the face by a line drive during batting practice and forced to retire.

McBride's SABR biography summarizes his career: Like his contemporary in the National League, Mickey Doolan, George McBride was the prototypical “good-field, no-hit” shortstop during the Deadball Era. Widely viewed as the best defensive shortstop in his league, McBride struggled mightily at the bat. A relatively large shortstop, standing 5’11” and weighing 170 pounds, McBride was described in the press as an “aggressive, alert, and quick-witted” fielder. He led the AL in fielding percentage five times, including four times consecutively from 1912 to 1915, and was near the lead in most other years. Meanwhile, he achieved only a .218 lifetime batting average, never exceeding .235 for a single season. He was an iron man during his days as the regular shortstop for the Washington Senators, and was recognized as one of the headiest players of his day.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #39C: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Deveaux talks about Milan's standing in Washington: Clyde Milan was the Nats' second (after Walter Johnson) Bonafide star, a fielder in the class of Cobb and Tris Speaker. Jimmy McAleer, likely the best outfielder of his time, had taught him how to play an even shallower center field than the great Speaker. Milan was durable as well, appearing in the outfield in 511 consecutive games from 1910 to 1913. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[ValKehl]

George, I continue to greatly enjoy this thread and all of your posts.

Sadly, unless my memory has failed me again, WaJo and Milan were the only two Senators who achieved sustained excellence, until the 1920's. Hence, I'm really looking forward to your posts about players from this era.

[Hankphenom]

Delete.

[Hankphenom]

Couple of Walter Johnson items for this stellar thread's inventory.
Keep up the great work, George.

https://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_o_ka_pakipika/sportscardsetc/baseball/bbhofthefirstclass/huge/914CJ%20WaJo.jpg

https://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_o_ka_pakipika/sportscardsetc/baseball/bbhofthefirstclass/huge/25Exh%20WaJo%20auto.jpg
Wowza!

[GeoPoto]

Thanks again Val. There's a lot of ground to cover.

Player #45C: Herman A. "Germany" Schaefer. Infielder for the Washington Senators in 1909-1914. 972 hits, 9 home runs, and 201 stolen bases in 15 MLB seasons. His "steal" of first base prompted rule making it illegal. Popular as a baseball "trickster" and "on-field clown", often in tandem with Charley O'Leary and, later, with Nick Altrock. Altrock eventually perfected the art with Al Schacht.

We go back to Schaefer's SABR biography to pick up his career: . . . In 1907, Schaefer was named captain of the Tigers, whom he helped to back-to-back pennants. Germany was one of the few Tigers who befriended Ty Cobb, and he was a key figure in the Tigers late-season drive to win the 1907 pennant. Despite his popularity in Detroit, late in 1909 Schaefer was traded to Washington, for whom he played through 1914. In 1911, he enjoyed his finest offensive season, batting .334 in 125 games. During his last few years with Washington, Germany spent more time in the coach’s box than on the field. He was an accomplished sign-stealer and heckler, qualities integral to coaching during the era. One publication described Schaefer as “next to Hughie Jennings, the best grass-puller in captivity.”

On at least one occasion Schaefer stole first base. On August 4, 1911, in the bottom of the ninth, Schaefer stole second, hoping to draw a throw and allow teammate Clyde Milan, who was on third with the potential winning run, to steal home. White Sox catcher Fred Payne didn’t fall for the gambit, however, so Schaefer, now on second, took his lead toward the first-base side of the bag and promptly stole first on a subsequent pitch. Sox manager Hugh Duffy came out to argue, and while Duffy jawed with umpire Tommy Connolly, Schaefer scampered for second again. This time Schaefer got caught in a rundown, as had been his intention, and Milan dashed for home, where he was nipped to end the inning. Schaefer and his teammates then argued unsuccessfully that the play should be nullified because the White Sox had ten players on the field, although Duffy hadn’t been an active player since 1908. The official scorer credited Schaefer with only one stolen base, but he “had a perfect right to go from second back to first,” umpire Connolly insisted after the game. It has been widely reported that Schaefer also stole first base on another occasion, against Cleveland in 1908, although the details usually given are contradictory and the incident is almost certainly a fabrication. . . .

We will now pause this progression. Expected restart date: 13 September.

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Player #33D: Charles E. "Gabby" Street. "The Old Sarge". Catcher for the Washington Senators in 1908-1911. 312 hits and 2 home runs in 8 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Cincinnati Reds in 1904. Caught ball dropped from top of Washington Monument. Holds MLB record for longest gap between MLB games at 19 years -- 1912-1931. Managed the St. Louis Cardinals in 1929 and 1930-1933, including the 1931 World Series championship. Managed the St. Louis Browns in 1938.

Street's SABR biography explains his role in an early version of an All-Star game: On April 14, 1911, Cleveland pitcher Addie Joss died at 31 of tubercular meningitis. Joss, who was one of the great pitchers of the Deadball Era, or any era for that matter, was also well-respected and well-liked by his peers. His Cleveland teammates began to canvass other American League players to play in a game to raise funds for Joss’s widow, Lillian, and her two children. The game was played on July 24, 1911, at Cleveland’s League Park. It was an unofficial “All-Star Game” that predated Arch Ward’s concept by 22 years. It was also one of the greatest collections of baseball talent as the Cleveland Naps took on the American League stars. The Naps were led by Joe Jackson, Napoleon Lajoie, and Jack Graney. The All-Stars were rightly named; they included Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Sam Crawford, Frank Baker, Eddie Collins, Hal Chase, and Walter Johnson.

Street volunteered to participate. “As far as I am concerned, that outfit can stand as the all-star team of all time, outside of the backstop of course,” He said. “I didn’t need to be good with that bunch. Cy Young started on the mound for Cleveland as I recall it and he was still pretty good for an old fellow, but these fellows just blasted him.” Attendance for the game was reported to be 15,270, and $12,914 was raised for Lillian Joss.

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The 1912 Washington Senators won 91 games, lost 61, and finished in second place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played their home games at National Park.

Deveaux addresses the runup to the 1912 season: (When he took over before the 1912 season) Clark Griffith wanted a young team to replace the previous season's 64-90 entry. The regular lineup he was about to assemble would stay together for four years. Only the reliable George McBride at shortstop, a .235 hitter in 1911, and centerfielder Jesse Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan, who had just completed his .315 campaign and was stealing nearly as many bases as the great Cobb, were retained as regular position players.

Griffith got rid of Walter Johnson's catcher, Gabby Street, insisting that the two youngsters the Nats already had, John Henry and Eddie Ainsmith, would fill the bill between them. He cut loose a pair of sidekicks from his Highlander days, infielders Wid Conroy and Kid Elberfeld. All told, Griffith released or sold ten players -- veteran outfielders Jack Lelivelt and Doc Gessler, and pitcher Dixie Walker (whose two sons would one day become stars in the National League), were among those set adrift.

To replace them, Griffith brought in youngsters. Eddie "Kid" Foster, 24, would play third and Ray Morgan, just 20, second. Morgan would supply a dependable brand of second base for this ballclub for seven years, and hit .238 as a rookie and .254 for his career, spent entirely in Washington. At 25, Clyde Milan would anchor an outfield also featuring 22-year old holdover Clarence "Tilly" Walker, 21-year old rookie Howard Shanks, and an older newcomer, Danny Moeller, 27, a fleet outfielder who had last appeared in the big leagues with the Pirates in 1908. The 1912 pitching staff wasn't deep -- the bulk of the work would go to Walter Johnson, Bob Groom, and Tom Hughes. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #61A: Edward W. "Dorf" Ainsmith was born Edward Anshmedt. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1910-1918. 707 hits and 22 home runs in 15 MLB seasons. His best season was 1919 with the Detroit Tigers as he posted a .354 OBP with 42 runs scored and 35 RBIs in 419 plate appearances. He finished his MLB career with the New York Giants in 1924. He later managed the Rockford Peaches in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Ainsmith's BABR biographical info includes: Eddie, born Edward Anshmedt, is one of only five major leaguers (through 2020) born in Russia, although he came to the United States at a very young age and grew up in Cambridge, MA. As a youngster, he wanted to be a boxer, but his parents discouraged him from that dangerous pursuit, and he became a ballplayer instead. He was scouted and signed by Mike Kahoe and broke into the majors as one of the youngest players in the league in 1910 when he was 20 years old.

Eddie spent his first nine years with the Washington Senators in the dead-ball era, never hitting higher than .226 and only once getting over 300 at-bats. He was a teammate of pitcher Walter Johnson all nine years, and he was Johnson's personal catcher as he was particularly good at catching the hard stuff that the young fireballer could dish out at the time. He caught 48 of the "Big Train"'s career 110 shutouts. He had some speed, stealing 17 bases in 1913 and 16 bases in 1917 in spite of getting only limited playing time.

In 1917, Buck Herzog and Ty Cobb had a major fight in a hotel room for half an hour. The SABR biography of Herzog says Ainsmith was the only other person present. He had a feisty temperament and was fined or suspended a number of times for various unsportsmanlike actions towards umpires. He and pitcher Joe Engel once beat up a man, earning Eddie a 30-day jail sentence that was suspended through the intervention of Senators owner Clark Griffith. He was drafted to serve in the United States military during World War I, but again owner Griffith intervened to get him special treatment. Instead of going overseas, he played on a Baltimore shipyard workers team.

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Player #47D: Norman A. "Kid" Elberfeld. "The Tabasco Kid". Shortstop for the Washington Senators 1910-1911. 1,235 hits, 10 home runs, and 213 stolen bases in 14 MLB seasons. Fiery temper involved him in numerous ferocious arguments and assaults on umpires. Managed the New York Highlanders in 1908. Debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1898. Had a career OBP of .355 and 7 MLB seasons with at least 500 plate appearances.

Elberfeld's SABR biography describes his time in Washington: Though replaced by George Stallings as manager (of the New York Highlanders) after the (1908) season, Elberfeld remained with the team, reluctantly, as a player in 1909; his nasty reputation, high salary, and history of injuries made him difficult to trade. His battered legs forced him to play more at third base, a familiar position from his early days and one for which he was well-suited because of his strong arm. Rusty from his long lay off, Elberfeld batted only .237 that year, but showed enough life to enable Stallings to sell him to Washington in December. The next spring, he began coaching young players from D.C.-area town and high school teams, an occupation that would dominate his activities after his playing days ended. “[Kids are] the future players, future fans, and future owners,” he later said. “We need to teach them the game from the time they are old enough to swing a bat.”

Elberfeld remained with Washington for two years, and manager Jimmy McAleer twice selected Elberfeld to play on post-season “all-star” teams formed to keep the pennant-winning A’s sharp for their upcoming World Series appearances. In 1911, Elberfeld played through ankle, hip, and back injuries. Though he batted a solid .272 and posted a career high .405 OBP, in 1912 the new Nats manager Griffith was determined to go with younger players, and, prior to the season, Elberfeld was sold to Montgomery of the Southern Association. He batted .260 in 78 games for the Rebels, then moved on to the Chattanooga Lookouts in 1913 as player-manager where he batted .332 in 94 games. He was then hired to manage New Orleans, but after a change in team ownership left him jobless, Brooklyn signed him as a coach and utility player. Elberfeld played his final major league game on September 24, 1914, entering the game, ironically, as a late-inning defensive replacement when starting shortstop Dick Egan was ejected for arguing a call.

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Player #43D: William D. "Dolly" Gray. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1909-1911. 15 wins in 3 MLB seasons. Holds MLB record for walks allowed in an inning (8) and for consecutive walks allowed (7). In 1911, he threw the first pitch in Griffith Stadium.

We return to Gray's SABR biography as the 1911 season begins: It would be Gray's last in MLB: Johnson’s issues (Walter's arrival was delayed until just before opening day by contract negotiations.) opened the gate for Gray to pitch on Opening Day, April 12, against the Red Sox and Smoky Joe Wood. Before the game, Gray was on the receiving end of President William Howard Taft’s “straight and true” first pitch from his box in the stands. The Red Sox took a 4-1 lead as Gray allowed four hits and two walks, and committed an error. Washington rallied in the sixth, with Gray removed for a pinch-hitter, to take a 7-4 lead. Dixie Walker finished the game for Washington and was given the 8-5 win.

Gray earned his first win a month later with a 6-5 victory over the White Sox. He struggled with consistency and was shuffled between starting and relieving. His second win came on June 28 versus the Athletics. He struck out a season-high six and did not allow a walk in the 4-3 win. It proved to be the last win of his major-league career; he closed out the season 2-13 with a 5.06 ERA that was the worst in the league for a pitcher with 100 innings or more.

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Player #28E: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

Deveaux explains how Griffith came to be the largest stockholder in Washington: Now coming upon his 42nd birthday (in 1912, after resigning during the previous season as manager of the New York Highlanders), Clark Griffith had thoughts of becoming a stockholder himself. Having pitched for 16 years in the majors and been manager for 11, he undoubtedly considered the fact that only he, of the three main founders of the American League, had yet to achieve the kind of financial success enjoyed by Ban Johnson and Charles Comiskey. Even his old teammate, Jimmy McAleer, was becoming an owner at Boston. Although he couldn't afford to back himself up financially, Griffith made an offer to buy as large a piece of the team as the stockholders were willing to sell. The deal fell through when many of the stockholders tried to jack up the share price to turn a quick profit.

Then, Griffith's pal, club president Tom Noyes, and Edward Walsh offered to sell their shares to Griffith for what they had cost them. They also drew their partner, Ben Minor, in on the same deal. Noyes was suggesting selling their combined 1,200 shares at $12.50, and that Griffith should also shell out the $15 per share the other shareholders wanted for another 800 shares. A total of 2,000 shares would give Griffith a tenth interest in the Washington Senators and also, more impressively, make him the largest single shareholder in the club.

Griffith turned his energies toward finding the money to do the deal. Ban Johnson had promised a $10,000 loan when Griffith had first heard of the Washington possibility, but now Johnson balked. Relations between the two became strained as a result. Clark Griffith got no support from Charles Comiskey. The Chisox owner told him he would be crazy to sink any money into a club located in "that baseball graveyard" known as Washington.

Griffith nonetheless proceeded to give Noyes all of his own cash assets, an amount of $8,000. He needed $19,000 more, and Noyes agreed to wait two weeks for it. Years before, the Old Fox had invested in a ranch at Craig, Montana. His older brother Earl had been running it for him, and now it was Griffith's salvation. The First National Bank of Montana consented to a $20,000 mortgage on the ranch. Griffith rushed back to Washington with the cash, and signed a three-year contract on October 27, 1911, which would pay him the grand sum of $7,500 a year. Thus began the career in Washington of the man whose name was to become synonymous with Senators baseball. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #44D: Robert "Bob" Groom. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1909-1913. 119 wins and 13 saves in 10 MLB seasons. For the St. Louis Browns in 1917, he pitched a no-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader after pitching 2 innings of no-hit relief in the first game. With Koob, only teammates to pitch no-hitters on consecutive days. His best season was 1912 as he went 24-13 with a 2.62 ERA and Washington finished second in the American League. In 1909, his 7-26 record included 15 consecutive losses, during which his 42-110 Senator teammates mustered a total of 19 runs. Walter Johnson's record that year was 12-25.

Groom's SABR biography addresses his 1912 season: With Clark Griffith at the helm in 1912, the Nationals improved dramatically, winning 91, losing 61, and finishing in second place. Pitching a career-high 316 innings, Groom won 24 games and Johnson won 33, combining for over 60 percent of Washington’s victories. A major highlight of the 1912 season was the Nationals’ 17-consecutive-game winning streak. Bob started and won four of the games in that streak, his most impressive win being the last, on June 18. Only after that game was over did the Nationals’ fans learn the grit it had taken for Bob Groom to win that game. Before the game, he discovered a painful abscess on his back between his shoulders. The Nationals’ team physician recommended a debilitating operation, but Bob refused, and instead had the doctor insert a drainage tube. With the tube in his back, he put on his uniform and pitched a complete game, giving the Nationals a 5-4 victory over Philadelphia.

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Player #62A: John P. Henry. Catcher for the Washington Senators in 1910-1917. 397 hits and 55 stolen bases in 9 MLB seasons. He ended his career with the Boston Braves in 1918. His best season was 1916 with the Washington Senators as he posted a .364 OBP with 46 RBIs in 376 plate appearances.

A native of Amherst, Massachusetts, Henry was a classical light-hitting, good defensive catcher. He entered the majors in 1910 with the Washington Senators, playing for them seven years before joining the Boston Braves (1918).

Heading into the 1912 season, Senators owner Calvin Griffith traded catcher Gabby Street to the New York Highlanders for third baseman John Knight. Then Henry shared duties with Eddie Ainsmith, serving as the personal catcher for pitcher Walter Johnson. His most productive season came in 1916, when he posted career-numbers in games (117), batting average (.249), runs (28), extrabases (15) and runs batted in (46). Henry would manage to stick around in a part-time role until 1917, when he was sold to the Braves.

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Player #54C (Part 1): Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Deveaux recalls some of Johnson's 1912 exploits: Naturally, though, the team's top performer in 1912 was again Walter Johnson, who broke the 30-win mark for the first time. His slate was 33-12 (according to Macmillan's The Baseball Encyclopedia), and led the league with a 1.39 ERA. The Big Train held the opposition to a pathetic .196 batting average, and in this regard, Johnson would do better in just one other season over his 21-year career: 1913. The 1912 season marked the beginning of Walter Johnson's most glorious era. . . .

. . . On August 20, Barney pitched 8.2 innings of relief in the first game of a doubleheader and beat the Indians 4-2; it was his 15th consecutive win, which broke Jack Chesbro's 1904 record. In the second game of the August 20 doubleheader, big 21-year-old righthander Jay Cashion, enjoying his only decent season in the big leagues, took the focus off Johnson for the moment when he no-hit the Indians to earn a 2-0 shutout in a game called after six innings. Three days later, with an 8-1 conquest of the Tigers, Walter Johnson brought his season record to 29-7 by winning his 16th in a row. He set this record in 51 days, nearly averaging a win every three days -- a truly amazing accomplishment, considering that as often as not, he had no more than two days' rest between starts. . . .

. . . On September 6, 1912 Walter Johnson faced the ace of the Boston Red Sox, Smokey Joe Wood, before a crowd of 30,000 a Fenway Park. When asked to compare his own fastball with Wood's, the modest one had once replied, "Listen my friend, there's no man alive who can throw harder than Joe Wood." Wood, for his part, later in life told Lawrence Ritter for Ritter's wonderful The Glory of Their Times that Walter Johnson had been the only pitcher he'd ever hit against who, whenever he swung and missed, left him no clue as to whether he had swung over or under the ball. Back on June 26, the two had engaged in quite a battle, won by Boston 3-0, in which Wood had allowed three hits and Johnson four. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

We will finish this account tomorrow.

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Player #54C (Part 2): Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Back to Deveaux: Clark Griffith, showman that he was, had really stirred the pot for this matchup (Johnson versus Wood in Boston). Ironically, Joe Wood at this point was only three wins short of Walter Johnson's all-time record of 16 consecutive victories. The Old Fox gave the word to the press that Red Sox manager Jake Stahl had been holding Wood back for the easiest opponents. Griffith made it clear that when the Nationals came to Boston, Wood would have to face Walter Johnson, and that Johnson would be held back until such time as Wood was ready to pitch. To make sure that there was no mistake about there being a challenge issued, the Old Fox said that Wood was going to be considered to be nothing more than a true coward if he didn't start against the great Walter.

If ever there was a game which fulfilled its promise, this was the one. Wood was in trouble in four different innings and the Big Train got by unfettered until the sixth. Alas, this was the year of the Red Sox, and with two outs, back-to-back doubles courtesy of Tris Speaker and Duffy Lewis brought in the game's only run. Speaker's double into a roped-off area would have been an out had there not been an overflow crowd. Lewis' hit was really a pop fly at the foul line that Danny Moeller got his glove on but couldn't hold.
For the record, Smokey Joe Wood did go on to win two more games to tie the Big Train's record, but he failed to break it. There was indeed not a lot to choose between the outstanding performances rendered by Johnson and Wood in 1912 -- Johnson's ERA (1.39) and strikeouts (303) were better, whereas Wood led in complete games (35) and shutouts (10). Walter held the opposition to the .196 composite average already mentioned; Wood limited batters to .216. Wood won 34 and Johnson, with an inferior offensive alignment backing him, 33. Gracious sportsman that he was, Johnson, covering the World Series for the Boston Herald, predicted that Joe Wood would not lose a game. He did, but won three as the Red Sox took the Series in seven over the New York Giants, making a world champion of ex-Washington boy-manager Jake Stahl. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #63: John W. "Jack" Knight. Infielder with the Washington Senators in 1912. 636 hits and 14 home runs in 8 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1905-1907. His best season was 1910 with the New York Highlanders as he posted a .372 OBP with 58 runs scored and 23 stolen bases in 472 plate appearances. His career ended with the New York Yankees in 1913.

Knight's SABR biography: There was another August deal done; on the 20th (of August, 1908), the New York Highlanders purchased his (Knight's) contract from Baltimore, but let him complete the season with the Orioles. In Buffalo, they called him “the handicap man” because he was a major-league player working in the minors; Sporting Life praised his defense: “While not a great hitter, Knight kills more hits than he makes. He is not a showy fielder, but like Lajoie, he covers a vast amount of ground without apparent effort. On account of his height, Knight gets balls that many of his contemporaries never could reach.”

It was back to the major leagues for three seasons with New York (1909-1911), determined to prove his worth, and he became a distinctly-improved hitter (.236, then .312, and .268, with a career-best 62 RBIs in 1911). . . . He’d long been considered an excellent fielder, adept at any infield position – with even some debate as to which position he played best – but why did he suddenly start to hit? Sporting Life shrugged, “[H]e seems to have suddenly discovered the elixir of swatology.” Two weeks later, the publication somewhat unhelpfully added that he appeared to have changed his style of batting. In his final year with New York, Knight began to show some inconsistency in his fielding, but manager Hal Chase (for whom Knight had filled in at first) thought there wasn’t a better first baseman in the business.

Clark Griffith of the Washington Senators had been inquiring about Knight throughout much of 1911; he finally landed his man and consummated a trade on February 17, 1912, sending Gabby Street to New York and, five days later, including Rip Williams in the deal as well. The Highlanders had a new manager, Harry Wolverton, and he wanted someone who he believed would be more reliable in the field. His contract with Washington was a high $4,000 a year, and he was said to have not reported in good physical condition. He hit .161 in 32 games and on June 28, having not used him that much, he was sold to the International League’s Jersey City Skeeters. He had been “unable to get into his stride. He could not play up to his standard, and caused the loss of games instead of the winning of them. When a man agrees to deliver a ton of coal and then offers a pint of peanuts instead there is not much chance for him to collect the price agreed upon for the coal. Knight should get in shape for next year’s start, and it is to be hoped that he will ‘come back’ if he does so.”

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Player #64: Frank B. LaPorte. Infielder with the Washington Senators in 1912-1913. 1,185 hits and 16 home runs in 11 MLB seasons. He debuted with the New York Highlanders in 1905-1907 and 1908-1910. His best season was 1911 with the St. Louis Browns as he posted a .361 OBP with 82 RBIs in 565 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Federal League's Indianapolis Hoosiers/Newark Peppers in 1914-1915, including the Federal League pennant in 1914. He was the 1914 Federal League RBI champion. He was the first player to play for both the New York and Boston rival teams from the American League.

LaPorte's SABR biography: In the annals of the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry, there aren’t too many players who started with New York, then played for Boston, and then played for New York again. Frank LaPorte wasn’t the only one, but he was the first. . . .

. . . The year 1911 was the first time in LaPorte’s career that he had the opportunity to play consistently at his preferred position, second base. He appeared in 136 games (with the St. Louis Browns), 133 of them at second, and he hit .314 (almost 50 points higher than anyone else on the team) and drove in 82 runs, 20 more than any other Brown. The team itself fared poorly (45-107, in last place in the American League and 56½ games out of first place.

LaPorte was on the same pace in 1912, and things were proceeding well enough through his first 80 games. The Browns were an improved ballclub on offense, and LaPorte was hanging right in there, hitting .312 and having knocked in 38 – when he was suddenly sold to the Senators on August 6. George Stovall had taken over as manager 39 games into the St. Louis season, but why would the Browns dump a player who’d been doing so well? Sporting Life had an answer, if a bit of a brusque one: “It didn’t take George long to realize that LaPorte was a drone. And, as a natural result, he lost his job. LaPorte didn’t fit into Stovall’s scheme of play. Neither does any other man who isn’t a fighter and a hustler.”

Clark Griffith was now the manager in Washington and sought LaPorte, whom he knew from when he was managing in New York. He acquired him as a utility player, however, not to use him as a regular. “It is not intended to play LaPorte regularly unless someone is hurt,” stated Washington Post columnist Joe S. Jackson the morning after the trade. As it turned out, work was found and LaPorte got into 40 more games, hitting .309. While with the Senators, he was one of several players who saved many men and women during a hotel fire in Detroit on September 15.

It was a disappointing year for LaPorte in 1913; he appeared in just 79 games and batted only .252, but the Senators’ starting infielders each played fairly full seasons and Griffith wasn’t about to mess with matters, given that the team was in the pennant hunt all year long, finishing second – though LaPorte’s bat might have helped give them a boost in the middle months when things weren’t looking quite as good. About a week before the end of the season – on September 27 – Griffith sold LaPorte’s contract to the Kansas City Blues of the American Association.

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Player #56C: George F. "Pinch" McBride. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1908-1920. 1,203 hits, 7 home runs, and 133 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. Has the lowest batting average of any player with 5,000 MLB at-bats. Managed the Washington Senators in 1921 but was struck in the face by a line drive during batting practice and forced to retire.

McBride's SABR biography follows his time in Washington: McBride’s nomadic baseball wanderings ended following the 1907 season, when he was purchased by the Washington Senators of the American League. Beginning in 1908, McBride played 13 seasons with the Nats, holding down the regular shortstop position for the first nine of those years. He was considered an iron man for his time. From 1908 to 1914, he played at least 150 games a season, including every Senators game during the 1908, 1909, and 1911 seasons. He was the AL leader in fielding percentage in 1909 and in each of the four seasons between 1912 and 1915, and always among the league leaders in putouts, and assists. His defense was such that he received votes for the Chalmers Award in 1913 and 1914 despite batting .214 and .203 in those respective years. In addition to his superior glove work, McBride was also noted for the good head he had for the game, and was named field captain of the Nats in 1909, a title he held throughout the remainder of his playing days. . . .

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Player #39D: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography picks up his career story: Milan’s peak was from 1911 to 1913 when he played in every game but one, batted over .300 each season, and averaged almost 74 stolen bases per season. In 1912 he finished fourth in the Chalmers Award voting, and his American League record-breaking total of 88 steals would have been 91 if Washington’s game against St. Louis on August 9th hadn’t been rained out in the third inning. Running into Milan on a train that summer, Billy Evans, who had umpired Milan’s first game back in 1907, remarked on his wonderful improvement in every department of the game, base running in particular. “When I broke in, I thought all a man with speed had to do was get on in some way and then throw in the speed clutch,” Milan told the umpire. “I watched with disgust while other players much slower than me stole with ease on the same catcher who had thrown me out. It finally got through my cranium that a fellow had to do a lot of things besides run wild to be a good base runner. I used to have a habit of going down on the second pitch, but the catchers soon got wise to it and never failed to waste that second ball, much to my disadvantage. Now I try to fool the catcher by going down any old time. Changing my style of slide has also helped me steal many a base that would have otherwise resulted in an out. I used to go into the bag too straight, making it an easy matter for the fielder to put the ball on me, but I soon realized the value of the hook slide.”

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Player #65A: Raymond C. "Ray" Morgan. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1911-1918. 630 hits and 88 stolen bases in 8 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .348. His best season was 1913 as he posted a .369 OBP with 19 stolen bases in 565 plate appearances. He has an odd link to Babe Ruth: in 1917, he led off a game by drawing a 4-pitch walk from Boston starter Ruth, who was then ejected from the game by the home plate umpire. Ruth was replaced by Ernie Shore and Morgan was thrown out attempting to steal on Shore's first pitch. Shore then retired the next 26 batters he faced. Shore's "perfect game" was eventually down-graded to a "combined no-hitter" by subsequent revisions in the MLB criteria.

Morgan's SABR biography: Morgan played second base for the Washington Senators in the final decade of the Deadball Era alongside slick-fielding shortstop George McBride. Morgan often was sidelined by injuries but played mostly on a regular basis from 1912–17. He was used less in 1918, his final season, having lost favor with Griffith, who was still the field manager at the time.

On June 23, 1917, in Boston, Morgan played a pivotal role in one of baseball’s most famous games. He led off the game by drawing a walk from Ruth, the Red Sox starter. Ruth was so incensed by the calls, he punched the umpire and was ejected. Shore took over on the mound, and Morgan was immediately thrown out trying to steal. Shore famously retired the next 26 batters in a row, a feat that until 1991 was deemed a perfect game.

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Player #33E: Charles E. "Gabby" Street. "The Old Sarge". Catcher for the Washington Senators in 1908-1911. 312 hits and 2 home runs in 8 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Cincinnati Reds in 1904. Caught ball dropped from top of Washington Monument. Holds MLB record for longest gap between MLB games at 19 years -- 1912-1931. Managed the St. Louis Cardinals in 1929 and 1930-1933, including the 1931 World Series championship. Managed the St. Louis Browns in 1938.

Street's SABR biography introduces "the old Sarge": Gabby Street became known as Sergeant Street when he enlisted in the Army in March 1918. As Street put it, he was going off to fight in the “real” World Series.

“I was sent to Fort Slocum, N.Y., and everybody interested in baseball thought it was great that I should be on hand to catch the army team. I finally convinced my lieutenant that I joined the army to fight, pointing out that I could have continued playing baseball for a salary. I was one of the first 50,000 to get over and took part in three major engagements: Chateau Thierry, St. Mihiel and the Argonne. That St. Louis regiment, the 138th, was as fine as an outfit as I ever saw, and I was proud to be attached to it,” said Sergeant Street. The Sporting News, October 2, 1930.

Street was assigned to the 1st Gas Regiment, Chemical Warfare Division. He and his men joined the 138th in the Battle of the Argonne. Street’s men held down a smoke screen for the 138th Infantry on September 26, 1918. A machine-gun bullet from a German airplane punctured his right leg on October 2, 1918. He was awarded the Purple Heart, and his fighting days were at an end.

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Player #45D: Herman A. "Germany" Schaefer. Infielder for the Washington Senators in 1909-1914. 972 hits, 9 home runs , and 201 stolen bases in 15 MLB seasons. His "steal" of first base prompted rule making it illegal. Popular as a baseball "trickster" and "on-field clown", often in tandem with Charley O'Leary and, later, with Nick Altrock. Altrock eventually perfected the art with Al Schacht.

Schaefer's SABR biography: . . . Schaefer continued to fine tune his crazed antics as a player/coach. Umpire Silk O’Loughlin chased him from a game in Chicago on June 8, 1912 for eating popcorn in the coach’s box, and Schaefer also began to perform tricks, like tight-rope walking the foul line and using two bats to “row across the grass.” His performances were later incorporated by baseball clowns Nick Altrock and Al Schacht. While he enjoyed drawing laughter, Schaefer defended his comedic coaching as important to team success. “Is humorous coaching of value to a team? I think so. It is valuable for two reasons. It keeps our fellow in good spirits, and it sometimes distracts the opposing players…I guess Clark Griffith thinks so also, for he encourages me in my tomfoolery,” Schaefer told The Sporting News in 1912.

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Player #66: Edward G. "Dixie" Walker. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1909-1912. 25 wins and 481 innings pitched in 4 MLB seasons. In 1910, he went 11-11 with a 3.30 ERA in 199.1 innings pitched. His brother Ernie played 3 MLB seasons and his sons Dixie and Harry played a combined 29 MLB seasons.

Edward "Dixie" Walker pitched four seasons for the Washington Senators. He was a year older than teammate Walter Johnson and was his roommate.
He was the brother of Ernie Walker and father of "Harry the Hat" Walker and Fred "Dixie" Walker. Until the Hairstons arrived, the Walkers were the only set of major-leaguers to have two generations in a row of brothers. He is the only father of two major-league batting champions.

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Player #67: Alva M. "Rip" Williams. Catcher/First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1912-1916. 314 hits and 2 home runs in 7 MLB seasons. He debuted with Boston Red Sox in 1911. One of his better seasons was 1912 with Washington as he posted a .352 OBP with 22 RBIs in 172 plate appearances. His final season was 1918 with the Cleveland Indians.

Williams' SABR biography runs through his career in Washington: Though the third catcher on the team (in 1912), injuries to both John Henry and Eddie Ainsmith gave Williams more playing time and he took advantage. He appeared in 60 games and hit for a .318 batting average. It was the highest he would ever hit.

He had a reputation as a hard-hitter, but when he hit a pinch-hit home run in 1913 off George Kahler on May 21 in Cleveland, he not only tied the score for Washington in the top of the ninth, but it was the first home run he had ever hit, at any level of play. It was driven over center fielder Buddy Ryan’s head and Williams – not known for speed – sprinted around the bases “fairly staggering” as he rounded third, but scoring standing up for an inside-the-park home run. The Senators won the game, the tenth win in a row for Walter Johnson. In 1913, though suffering from a weak arm that prevented him playing in many more games, he hit for a .283 average, with six doubles and two triples.

He hit another homer in 1914, in the first game on July 3 off Guy Cooper of the Red Sox. It was a three-run homer in a game in which he was just a single shy of hitting for the cycle, a 12-0 shutout for Walter Johnson. Williams worked in 81 games in 1913, batting .278. He may have struck balls with force but his career slugging percentage was just .352.

He drove in 31 runs, matching his career best (with the Red Sox in 1911) in 1915, playing in 91 games, while batting for a .244 average. Four of those RBIs came all in one game, against the Red Sox, in a 4-2 win on April 29. He’d driven in every run of the game for Washington and helped Walter Johnson record yet another win. He liked catching Johnson, saying, “When Walter lets ‘em loose they come like shells, but his very speed seems to make the ball stick in your glove. Johnson never crosses a catcher. If the sign is for a fast one on the outside that is where she comes.”

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Deveaux explains how the 1913 season got started for Washington: Right off the bat, the 1913 edition of the Washington Senators set out to show that the previous year's performance had not been a fluke. President Woodrow Wilson agreed to tend to the opening ceremonies, thus lending credence to Clark Griffith's dream of having the President in the ballpark to usher in each new season. The Old Fox was also lobbying to have the first game of each season always played in Washington. In the 1913 season opener on April 10, the newly named New York Yankees, formerly Highlanders, encountered the same old Walter Johnson, who beat them 2-1. The Big Train permitted a run in the first inning, and then shut them out the rest of the way. More than a month would pass, over a span of eight games, before he would allow a run again. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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The 1913 Washington Senators won 90 games, lost 64, and finished in second place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

Deveaux talks to the 1913 season: The 1913 Senators, sans Ty Cobb (this reference will become clear when we next get to Griffith), were another excellent club nonetheless. They won 90 games, just a two-game aggregate short of the previous year's standing. They were the best draw in the league, what with the Altrock-and-Schaefer comedy team supplementing an alert ballclub. And then there was also one of the top attractions in all of baseball, the lightning-fast Walter Johnson.

The Big Train's roommate, Clyde Milan, followed his 88-stolen-base season with 75 more, enough to comfortably outdistance both Cobb and Eddie Collins for his second consecutive title, the only two of his career. Danny Moeller stole 62 bases, runnerup to Milan in the league, and catcher Eddie Ainsmith got into the act with three steals in one inning and 17 for the season. The club's 287 stolen bases was tops in the A.L. and fell just one short of tying for best in the league's short history. More impressively, the mark of 288 established by the 1910 New York Highlanders remained unbroken for two-thirds of a century before being shattered by the Oakland Athletics in 1976 (341).

Walter Johnson was again superb, so much so that this was probably the greatest of all his seasons. For once, he had gotten off to a fast start, and not just any fast start but the fastest ever. Walter this season held opposing batters to an unbelievable .187 batting average and .217 on-base percentage, both bests for his entire career. His 36-7 record would represent career highs in terms of wins and winning percentage. His league-leading 1.14 ERA would also remain his best. The 11 shutouts Barney recorded led the league and would also endure as the most for him in a season.

Johnson put together three long victory streaks, emerging as the winning pitcher in ten, fourteen (over a period of more than two months), and then seven games in a row at various times. Lanky rookie Joe Boehling, an astute purchase Griffith had made from the Richmond Battleaxes, went 17-7 with a very sound 2.14 ERA. Boehling would win 12 in each of the following two years for the Nats before dropping out of baseball and then returning for a lengthy stint as a minor leaguer. The Senators led the league in strikeouts for the second straight year, and in shutouts. They were also tops in stolen bases for a second straight year. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #68: Baldomero P. "Merito" Acosta Fernandez. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1913-1916 and 1918. 111 hits and 17 stolen bases in 5 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .354. He also played for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1918. He also played winter baseball in the Cuban League in 1913-1925. He was also a long-time manager and part-owner of the Havana Cubans. He is a member of the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame.

Acosta's SABR biography explains his debut at 17: One of the main attractions of the Louisville Slugger Museum is its Signature Wall showing the names and signatures that have been branded on bats for hundreds of baseball players dating back to the beginning of the practice. Among the names of plaques featured from the 1920s is Baldonaro Acosto. The incorrectly spelled name on his plaque does not indicate that at one time Baldomero “Merito” Acosta was one of the top Latin prospects in baseball. . . .
. . . While managing the Cincinnati Reds in 1911, Clark Griffith had been impressed with Cubans Armando Marsans and Rafael Almeida. The next season Griffith moved over to the American League to manage the Washington Senators (commonly known as the Nationals at the time), and he hoped to discover more talent on the island that he could import for his new club. He developed a relationship with Victor Muñoz to help “bird dog” players in Cuba. In January 1913, based on Muñoz’s recommendation, Griffith signed Acosta, along with Jacinto Calvo of the Almendares club. It was reported that the senior Baldomero proclaimed a holiday in their hometown of Marianao to celebrate the signing.

Acosta made a good showing in his first major-league spring training, but it was widely accepted that at just 16 years old he was much too young to play in the big leagues and would be farmed out to a minor-league club to start the season. But when Washington broke north in April, Acosta was still on the Opening Day roster. Griffith wanted a left-handed outfield bat on the bench, and he figured that the young Acosta could get better experience being around the big-league squad versus playing in the minor leagues. Acosta batted with a hunched-over batting stance that drew several walks, and Griffith wanted to personally work with Acosta to adjust his swing and add some power to it. Griffith’s decision was probably financially motivated as well — keeping a couple of inexperienced rookies on the team would cost less than signing other players who worked their way up from the minors. “I could cite a dozen cases where players who were in the majors and were released owing to lack of experience came back at absurd prices,” said the Old Fox.

Acosta languished on the bench for nearly two months, stepping onto the field occasionally only as a base coach. By the end of May he was pleading with Griffith either to play him or farm him out. Quotes in the Washington papers attributed to Acosta were either completely literal to his broken English or were a bit embellished. “I no like sit on bench….In big league sit on bench and yell. No fun for Cuban ball player.” The quote may or may not have been altered a bit for the article, but it summed up Acosta’s mindset. Finally on June 5, Acosta was sent in to pinch-hit for pitcher Nick Altrock, and he reached base on his first attempt when he laid down a bunt and St. Louis Browns pitcher Roy Mitchell bobbled it for an error. At just over two weeks past his 17th birthday, Merito became the youngest player of the modern era to make a major-league debut. Acosta continued to be used sparingly during the season, normally for pinch-running duties or fielding substitutions. It was not until September 6 when Acosta finally achieved his first big-league hit, a pinch-hit bunt single off Yankees’ pitcher Cy Pieh. Two more bunts and an error allowed Acosta also to score his first big league run. To this day he is still the youngest Latin American player to make his debut and get a base hit in the majors.

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Player #28F: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

Deveaux reports how Cobb could have been a Senator: Clark Griffith's "little ballclub," as he'd gotten into the habit of calling it, again finished second in 1913, by 6.5 games. The A's, however, had been ahead by double-digits until the last week of the season. This 96-57 Philadelphia team featured a pitching staff which included a couple of future members of the Hall of Fame -- Eddie Plank and Chief Bender. Jack Coombs was taking a regular turn, and rookies Herb Pennock and Bullet Joe Bush, both of whom would attain stardom, were starting to contribute. The pride of the A's was the infield, then widely referred to as the "$100,000 Infield," which included Stuffy McInnis, Eddie Collins, Jack Barry, and Frank "Home Run" Baker.

On the "little ballclub," even by the standards of the time, there was not much offensive firepower. Clark Griffith came to a conclusion that rocked the baseball world. With Walter Johnson capable of winning at nearly every turn and the Nats a viable contender along with the A's and Naps (as were called the Indians, named after their star player, the affable Napoleon Lajoie), Griffith was desperate for more hitting. Barely a week into the season, he claimed to have made the Detroit Tigers an overture he felt they couldn't possibly refuse. The New York Times printed it -- Washington had tendered an astounding $100,000 bid for Ty Cobb.

According to Griffith, he had written a check and passed it to Tigers owner Frank Navin with the stipulation that he be allowed two weeks to cover it. In return, Washington wanted the one-and-only Cobb, at once the most prolific and most combative position player in the league, winner of six straight batting crowns and on his way to extending the string to nine (eventually, 12 in 13 years). Navin must have thought Griffith was joking, but for the public record, he never did confirm whether the offer had been been made, let alone considered. If the proposition ever really was dangled in front of Navin, his astonishment might have been minimal compared to that of the members of the Senators' board of directors. The Old Fox was ready for them.

Griffith's plan, according to writer Shirley Povich, had been to sell 100,000 one-dollar tickets to fans who could use them for whatever game they wished. After all, there were always empty seats at League Park. The fans would support this, thought Griffith, since it was obvious that the team was now very good and just a step away, as the saying goes. Newspapermen dismissed the rumors of an imminent deal, reasoning that no player, even Ty Cobb, could possibly be worth $100,000. Besides, they wondered, where would Washington get the money? The whole situation eventually dissipated when nothing happened. Just as well for Clark Griffith, who was likely spared what seemed like an oncoming confrontation with the club's directors. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #54D (Part 1): Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Deveaux talks about Walter's best season: To emphasize just how dominant 25-year-old Johnson had become, in 1913 he had an astonishing, and heart-breaking, five one-hitters. The St. Louis Browns earned the title of being Johnson's "jinx team," breaking a surreal string of scoreless innings during the course of a 10-5 Washington victory on May 14. In this game, Johnson passed the record of 53 scoreless frames, previously held by Jack Coombs. The Big Train, who had had his string of 16 consecutive wins interrupted by St. Louis the previous summer, struck out six Brownies in the first three innings, firing nothing but fastballs. Coincidentally, the batter Walter retired in the first inning to set the new mark was Pete Compton, the same Pete Compton who had broken Barney's win streak less than nine months earlier.

Finally, with one out in the fourth, Gus Williams doubled and Del Pratt singled to bring home a run for the Browns, the first Johnson had surrendered in 55.2 innings, the equivalent of more than six full ballgames. It is interesting to note that the one out Walter got in the fourth inning, oddly enough, is not officially part of the streak. The modern way of calculating is bizarre to say the least -- it is such that outs in innings in which the streak is broken don't count. Hence, for years, the record was considered to be 56 innings.

In either case, the accomplishment stood as the major-league record for 55 years, until broken by Don Drysdale in 1968, the so-called "Year of the Pitcher." Drysdale's record of 58.2 was later topped by another Dodger, Orel Hershiser, who bumped the mark up to 59. While Drysdale no longer owns the National League record, Walter Johnson's record of 55.2 still stands as the American League standard, and it was the record of which Walter was proudest. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #54D (Part 2): Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

We stick with Deveaux: One of the strangest games in baseball history took place on October 4 (1913). With nothing at stake, Clark Griffith, nearing his 44th birthday, decided to pitch an inning. The game was a farce, the players padding their averages and the umpires allowing four outs in one inning. Walter Johnson, who'd pitched his 12th shutout five days earlier for his 36th victory, played center field, but relieved in the ninth and permitted a double and a triple, and two runs.

Those final two runs account for the difference in Walter's final reported earned run average for the season. For more than 70 years, his ERA for 1913 stood at 1.09. When it was discovered that the results of the 1913 travesty had been left out, history was rewritten and Barney's ERA was bumped to 1.14. As a result, when Bob Gibson came along 55 years later and posted a 1.12 ERA, he passed Johnson's record, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, for the best ever ERA in a single season. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #69: James A. "Jim" Shaw. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1913-1921. 84 wins and 16 saves in 9 MLB seasons. He was nicknamed "Grunting" Jim Shaw because of the distinct grunting noise he made every time he threw a pitch off the mound. Shaw had a career ERA of 3.07. In 1919, he posted a 17-17 record with a 2.73 ERA in 306.2 innings pitched.

Shaw's Sabr biography: Only 20 years old when the Washington Senators broke camp in spring 1914, right-hander Jim Shaw was deemed a can’t-miss pitching prodigy. The youngster had impressed the previous September during a brief late-season audition with the club, and his spring work had left some onlookers near-swooning, with favorable comparison to renowned staff ace Walter Johnson coming from no-less-informed an observer than Washington manager Clark Griffith. Good-sized (6-feet, 180 pounds) with broad shoulders and noticeably long arms, Shaw bore a striking physical resemblance to Johnson and reputedly threw just as hard, with a nasty, sharp-breaking curve besides. Greatness, it seemed, was destined for Jim Shaw.

A century later, any comparison of the long-forgotten Shaw to the immortal Walter Johnson would be ludicrous. Handicapped by chronic control problems, nagging injuries, and an often complacent attitude, Shaw was never able to fully harness his natural talent and proved a disappointment. But he was far from a bust. Despite his shortcomings, Shaw gave the Senators almost a decade of useful service, posting five double-digit-win seasons. At times he even managed to lead American League hurlers in certain secondary pitching statistics, some positive — game appearances (1919); innings pitched (1919), and retroactive saves (1914 and 1919), others not — walks (1914 and 1917) and wild pitches (1919 and 1920). In the end, Jim Shaw was neither phenom nor flop. Rather, the descriptive that perhaps best suits him is: underachiever.

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Player #39E: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography takes us through his rise to MLB: The son of a blacksmith, Jesse Clyde Milan (pronounced “millin”) was born on March 25, 1887, in Linden, Tennessee, a quiet hamlet of about 700 residents nestled in the hills above the Buffalo River, 65 miles southwest of Nashville. He was one of eight children (four boys and four girls), and his younger brother Horace also took up professional baseball, briefly joining him in the Washington outfield in 1915 and 1917. Another younger brother, Frank, became a noted Broadway actor, co-starring alongside Humphrey Bogart in the famed original staging of The Petrified Forest. Baseball was almost unknown in rural Middle Tennessee where the Milans grew up, and Clyde told Lane that he didn’t play much of the sport as a youngster. “To show what little experience I really had, I will say that in 1903 I played in just nine games of baseball, and the following season I didn’t play the game at all,” he recalled. Clyde’s chief sporting interest in those years was hunting for quail and wild turkey with his two setters, Dan and Joe.

Deveaux talks about Horace: Clyde Milan managed to improve to .294 after an off year in '16, and was joined by his brother Horace, who had been brought up for a second cup of coffee. Between the '15 and '17 seasons, Horace Milan got 32 hits in an even 100 at-bats, for a cool .320 career average, frozen forever in time. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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The 1914 Washington Senators won 81 games, lost 73, and finished in third place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

The threat of the First World War hovered over and then descended upon the United States in 1914, but the little ball club (Griffith's pet description of the Senators) remained intact and reached first place for one day, on June7, only to fall back to third by the end of the year, behind the A's and Red Sox. The Nationals were just about as good as the previous year, but as a team did not lead in any category except the number of strikeouts by the pitching staff.

Walter Johnson, now making $12,000 a year (which represented a $5,000 raise on his expired three-year pact and as much money as Ty Cobb had made in 1913), was still himself, but things did not go his way on many occasions. Barney wound up with a 28-18 record despite a golden 1.72 ERA. He pitched more innings, 372, than in any other year of his career. He led the league in wins, games (51), complete games (33), strikeouts (225) and shutouts (9). The baseball player who had put the Washington Senators on the map was by now widely recognized as the best pitcher baseball had ever known.

Again in 1914, the Senators lacked hitting, particularly from a power standpoint. Deerfoot Milan hit .295, best on the team, but missed 40 games after sustaining a broken jaw on July 17 as a result of an outfield collision with Danny Moeller in Cleveland. Only third baseman Eddie Foster, at .282, excelled offensively. There were an inordinate number of low-scoring losses, making it impossible for Walter Johnson in particular and the team in general to remain successful for any extended period. There were a crushing 11 1-0 losses, three absorbed by Johnson.

The infield was composed of a bunch of crackerjacks, so the pitchers had great support from that standpoint. In this season, infielders Morgan, McBride, and Foster led the league in double plays at their respective positions. The other infielder, first baseman Chick Gandil, was also a slick gloveman, but his batting slipped to .259 from .318 in '13. The Senators batted .244 as a unit, below the league average, and barely crawled into third, losing a full nine games off their record of the preceding year.

While gathering war clouds dampened the spirits of baseball partisans all over the country, there was still at least some fun to be had at the old ballpark. Cleveland outfielder Jack Graney had a bull terrier named Larry who served as the team's mascot. Larry was also acrobatic and did tricks to entertain the fans at all big-league venues. This was all well and good until Larry refused to give up the ball to the umpire, Big Bill Dinneen, at League Park. Back then, fans, let alone dogs, had to return balls batted into the stands. Larry's obstinacy was not appreciated, and he was banned from attending any more Washington games by no less an authority than League president Ban Johnson. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #70A: J. Joseph "Joe" Boehling. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1912-1916. 56 wins and 4 saves in 7 MLB seasons. His career ERA was 2.97. His best season was 1913 with Washington as he posted a 17-7 record with a 2.14 ERA in 235.1 innings pitched. He finished his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1916-1917 and 1920.

In 1913, Boehling was used primarily as a starter alongside Walter Johnson in what was his best season. He pitched in 38 games, starting 25 of them, and finished the season with 18 complete games and three shutouts. He finished with a 17-7 record and an ERA of 2.14. His ERA of 2.14 was sixth in the American League, better than the ERAs of Hall of Famers Chief Bender (2.21) and Rube Marquard (2.50). During January 1914, Boehling signed a one-year contract to continue playing with the Senators. Boehling played 34 games during the 1914 season, and finished the season with a 12–8 record and a 3.03 ERA.

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Player #71: Jay Carl Cashion. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1911-1914. 12 wins and 1 save in 4 MLB seasons. In 1912 he posted a 10-6 record with a 3.17 ERA in 170.1 innings pitched.

"...Carl Cashion... is perhaps the biggest man in the major leagues, but being all muscle and sinew, without as much flesh on him as a spring chicken, is fast nonetheless, and is something of an athletic phenomenon. This big youngster is a natural batter. He has hit .300 to date..." - Sporting Life of May 18, 1912, while Cashion was still primarily a pitcher, after Carl had hit .324 in 1911 in the majors and over .300 in the minors.

"Another boxman who had Rusie's speed, but in this instance never gained control, was Carl Cashion, a giant tried out by Griffith a few years ago. Cash had so much stuff that it was hard to follow the pill as it flashed across the plate. The pity is that he was unable to tame it..." - Baseball Magazine in 1919

Carl Cashion pitched four seasons in the big leagues, most notably going 10-6 for the 1912 Washington Senators, a team on which Walter Johnson won 33 games. Cashion was three years younger than Walter. Carl occasionally played the outfield for the Senators, and when his pitching arm gave out, he became a minor league outfielder. Carl made his major league debut not long after he turned 20.

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Player #72A: Charles A. "Chick" Gandil. First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1912-1915. 1,176 hits and 151 stolen bases in 9 MLB seasons. 1917 World Series champion. He led AL first baseman in fielding percentage 4 times. He debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 1910. His best season was 1913 with Washington as he posted a .363 OBP with 72 RBI's and 22 stolen bases in 603 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Chicago White Sox in 1917-1919. He is best known as the "ringleader" of the players involved in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

Gandil's SABR biography reviews his time in Washington: Gandil got off to a solid start in 1912 (for Montreal in the Eastern League), batting .309 in 29 games, after which he was traded to the Washington Senators. This time, the big first sacker was ready for the major leagues, and in 117 games with Washington he hit .305 and led American League first basemen in fielding percentage.

Gandil was highly regarded by Washington. In 1914 Senators manager Clark Griffith wrote, “He proved to be ‘The Missing Link’ needed to round out my infield. We won seventeen straight games after he joined the club, which shows that we must have been strengthened a good bit somewhere. I class Gandil ahead of McInnes [sic] as he has a greater range in scooping up throws to the bag and is just as good a batsman.”

Gandil continued to perform well with Washington both at bat and in the field. In 1913 he hit for a career-high average of .318. He was also tough and durable, averaging 143 games during his three full seasons with Washington, despite knee problems that haunted him throughout his career. When asked by a reporter after the 1912 season what his greatest asset was, he replied “plenty of grit.” He reportedly used the heaviest lumber in the American League, as his bats weighed between 53 and 56 ounces.

Gandil was sold to Cleveland before the 1916 season for a reported price of $7,500. One of the main reasons for the sale was supposedly the fact that Gandil was a chain smoker, occasionally lighting up between innings, which annoyed Griffith.

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Player #28G: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

How the Old Fox helped start the American League -- Part 1: (Account taken from Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.) In September of 1900, Griffith, Chicago Colts owner Charles Comiskey and businessman/baseball entrepreneur Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson met in a Chicago tavern, the West Side's Polk Street Cafe. Johnson had founded the Western League, enjoying some success, but carrying dreams of developing it into another major league. For that, he'd need major league-caliber players, and the National League was not about to give up its primary product, its talented players. At first, Johnson had tried to reach a profitable compromise with the National League. He had two requests. First, he wanted to limit the number of players that the National League could "draft" from American League squads. The best American League teams were simply being dismantled in short order because of the contract between the leagues that said the National League could purchase American League players, no bargaining necessary. Also, Johnson wanted to move American League franchises into vacated National League cities, including Washington.

The National League denied his demands, however, setting the stage for a showdown.

Griffith was part of the meeting because of his connection to Comiskey, aa well as his role as vice president of the Ball Players Protective Association, a precursor to the modern Major League Baseball Players Association, or the union. For example, he had spent the preceding months attempting to get the National League to increase its maximum salary from $2,400 to $3,000. And he wanted the league to pay for player uniforms. He was interested in joining Johnson and Comiskey on one condition -- that the American League pursue major-league status. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

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Player #28G: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

How the Old Fox helped start the American League -- Part 2: Griffith was the trio's (Griffith along with Comiskey and Ban Johnson) link to the players, and by the time the winter was over, he had acquired written pledges from forty National Leaguers. His next step was approaching the National League's power brokers, demanding that they release players from their binding contracts. He carried with him a petition from the players, demanding their freedom, handing it to National League vice president A.H. Soden. Soon after, however, Griffith noticed his petition still in Soden's pocket. The V.P. had reneged on his agreement to distribute it to the National League owners, and Griffith was through with being diplomatic. He called Johnson and Comiskey with the news, yelling into the phone: "There's going to be a new major league if you can get the backing. Because I can get the players!" Then he went public with the new league's intentions, as well as what he felt were transgressions by the National League against players, preventing them from bettering their own situation.

The eight-team American League was formed in time for the start of the 1901 season, with Griffith managing and pitching in Chicago. He won twenty-four games for the first American League pennant winners, who beat out teams in Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., for the title. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

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Player #54E: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Here we begin Deveaux's account of Walter's stormy 1914-1915 off-season: As if the news from overseas wasn't gloomy enough, from Coffeyville, Kansas, came another ominous threat during the following winter. The rebel Federal League, an offshoot of a players' revolt against penurious owners, had formed the previous year. As had been the case when the American League was organized a decade and a half earlier, players now had some bargaining power -- they were able to shake off the shackles of baseball's reserve system and accept more money from a competing league for their services.

In the midst of this more advantageous environment, from a players' standpoint, Senators president Ben Minor hit upon the bright idea that Walter Johnson would have to take a cut in pay. His 28-18 did not warrant a $12,000 salary, and Minor resolved to write to his star hurler to address the matter. Clark Griffith nearly had a coronary and begged Minor not to do this. The Old Fox knew that the Chicago Federals were making a bid for Johnson's signature on a contract, and knew that Minor's ultimatum would be the straw to break Barney's back. Minor mailed his letter anyway. Johnson wrote back in mid-November, 1914, stating that he was looking for nothing less than $16,000 a year for three years, plus a $6,000 signing bonus.

Ben Minor believed rumors that the Federal League was about to go under, and that Walter Johnson was going to have to play by his rules. Minor wrote back that he could pay $12,500 only, for one, two, or three years. That is what Johnson really didn't like; he would not have anyone dictate terms of his contract. Then the Chicago Federals offered the Big Train $17,500 a year and his $6,000 bonus; Walter signed, on December 3, 1914.

Clark Griffith initially reacted in anger, claiming the Nats were going to sue the star pitcher " to the end of the earth" for breach of contract. The signing, the worst thing that could have happened to the American League, let alone the Washington Baseball Club, had immediate repercussions. League president Ban Johnson arranged the sale of Philadelphia's Eddie Collins to the White Sox so the league could have a marquee player to counter the Big Train in Chicago.

It is ironic how incensed Griffith had been with the great pitcher. He himself had of course once jumped leagues and raided National League clubs at the turn of the century. The time had come for the Old Fox to live up to his sobriquet. He enlisted the help of Fred Clarke, manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who happened to be a friend of his and who lived near Independence, Kansas, not far from where the recalcitrant pitcher lived. This was the same Fred Clarke who had once been too busy to give young Walter Johnson a tryout. On behalf of the Washington owner, Clarke reminded Johnson, just turned 27, of his obligation to baseball and particularly to the fans of Washington. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

We will complete this account, when Johnson surfaces in our treatment of 1915.

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Player #39F: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography discusses the rest of his career: In 1914 Milan suffered a broken jaw and missed six weeks of the season after colliding with right fielder Danny Moeller. He rebounded to play in at least 150 games in each of the next three seasons, 1915 to 1917, and he continued to play regularly through 1921, batting a career-high .322 in 1920. Griffith appointed Milan to manage the Nats in 1922 but the job didn’t agree with him; he suffered from ulcers as the club finished sixth, and he was fired after the season amidst reports that he was “too easy-going.”

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The 1915 Washington Senators won 85 games, lost 68, and finished in fourth place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

Deveaux runs over the 1915 season: In 1915, the Senators slipped down another notch in the standings, finishing fourth despite a slightly improved record of 85-68. Walter Johnson again led the league in a host of pitching categories and logged a 27-13 slate on his way to recording ten straight seasons with 20 or more wins. He improved his ERA to 1.55, just short of Joe Wood's league-leading 1.49. As it had been in 1912, the Senators' pitching staff was the A.L.'s best, recording a 2.31 ERA in a league which averaged 2.94. This was still the era of slap hitting, and the New York Yankees led the league with a grand total of 31 home runs.

Nineteen fifteen was also the year Ty Cobb reclaimed the stolen-base title with his career best 96, which stood as the majors' record until broken 47 years later by Maury Wills. The Senators did distinguish themselves on the basepaths in the July 19 game. They stole eight bases in one inning, the first, against Detroit, with Steve O'Neill the unfortunate catcher involved. Moeller, Milan, McBride, and Eddie Ainsmith, a fast runner for a catcher, all swiped two each. Ainsmith by this time caught only Walter Johnson -- he contended his hands needed several days to recover from the beating they took when Barney pitched.

Of note in 1915 was the August 22 game at Detroit, an 8-1 win, when the Nationals managed to score without recording a single official at-bat in the inning, the only time this has been done in major-league history. (Note: I suspect this record has been overcome by the ghost runner(s).) Following walks to Chick Gandil and Merito Acosta, Rip Williams moved the baserunners ahead with a sacrifice bunt. George McBride hit a sac fly to score Gandil, and Acosta was then picked off second base. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #70B: J. Joseph "Joe" Boehling. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1912-1916. 56 wins and 4 saves in 7 MLB seasons. His career ERA was 2.97. His best season was 1913 with Washington as he posted a 17-7 record with a 2.14 ERA in 235.1 innings pitched. He finished his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1916-1917 and 1920.

Joe Boehling pitched seven years in the majors. In his best year, he went 17-7 for the 1913 Washington Senators. He was three years younger than Hall of Fame teammate Walter Johnson. Boehling makes the list of the top ten Twins/Senators pitchers with the lowest ERA (minimum 500 innings since 1900). Joe was remembered in 2015 when the 2015 Brewers and 2015 Reds were poised to send rookie starting pitchers against each other for all three games of an upcoming series. MLB said the last time that happened was in 1913 when Joe was one of the rookie starters.

The 1915 season saw Boehling pitch a career high number of games with 40, 32 of them starts. After a 14–13 record in 1915 and a 9–11 record the following season, the Senators traded Boehling. On August 18, 1916, Boehling was traded along with Danny Moeller to the Cleveland Indians for Elmer Smith and Joe Leonard.

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Player #72B: Charles A. "Chick" Gandil. First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1912-1915. 1,176 hits and 151 stolen bases in 9 MLB seasons. 1917 World Series champion. He led AL first baseman in fielding percentage 4 times. He debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 1910. His best season was 1913 with Washington as he posted a .363 OBP with 72 RBI's and 22 stolen bases in 603 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Chicago White Sox in 1917-1919. He is best known as the "ringleader" of the players involved in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

Gandil's SABR biography talks to his involvement in the game-fixing scandal: Prior to his infamous involvement in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, Chick Gandil was one of the most highly regarded first basemen in the American League, both for his play on the field and his solid work ethic. In 1916 a Cleveland newspaper described Gandil as “a most likeable player, and one of excellent habits.” From 1912 to 1915 the right-handed Gandil starred for the Washington Senators, leading the club in runs batted in three times and batting .293. In the field Gandil paced American League first sackers in fielding percentage four times and in assists three times.

He continued his strong work with the Chicago White Sox from 1917 to 1919, helping the club to two American League pennants before forever tarnishing his legacy by helping to fix the 1919 World Series. Yet Gandil may have been the only banished player who gained more than he lost from the fix. After the 1919 World Series, the first baseman retired from major-league baseball, reportedly taking $35,000 in cash with him.

No one knows the full story of the Black Sox Scandal — few of the participants were willing to talk, and the whole plot was confused and poorly managed. But by all accounts Gandil, who claimed to be furious with Comiskey’s miserly ways, was one of the ringleaders. Most accounts agree that it was Gandil who approached gambler Sport Sullivan with the idea of fixing the Series, and that he also served as the players’ liaison with a second gambling syndicate that included Bill Burns (a former teammate of Gandil’s) and Abe Attell. Chick was also the go-between for all payments, and reportedly kept the lion’s share of the money. Though none of the other fixers took home more than $10,000 from the gamblers, Gandil reportedly pocketed $35,000 in payoffs.

It’s interesting to note that Gandil had a reasonably good Series. Although he hit only .233, that was the fourth best average among White Sox regulars. He was second on the team with five RBIs, and he had one game-winning hit. However, he made several suspicious plays in the field, and all but one of his seven hits came in games the fixers were trying to win, or in which they were already losing comfortably. Rumors of a Series fix began to circulate, with Gandil’s name prominently mentioned.

The next spring Gandil demanded a raise to $10,000 per year. When Comiskey balked, Gandil and his wife decided to remain in California. Flush with his financial windfall from the Series, Gandil announced his retirement from the majors, instead spending the season with outlaw teams in St. Anthony, Idaho, and Bakersfield, California. Thus Gandil was far away from the scene as investigations into the 1919 World Series began during the fall of 1920.

This thread will now experience a brief pause. Expected restart: 22 October.

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Player #28H: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

We begin Deveaux's summary of how the Washington lineup evolved prior to the 1915 season: Clark Griffith himself got a new contract prior to the opening of the 1915 baseball season, although it wasn't the five-year term he'd been seeking. It was for a reported $10,000 a year for three years, an increase from $7,500 a year. On the ballfield, he was contemplating changes. Chick Gandil was irresponsible, but got his hitting back on the beam with .291. But Griffith had been patient long enough with Howard Shanks and Danny Moeller in the outfield. On a scouting trip to Buffalo in search of some help, Griff made a discovery that would instead bolster the infield for a long time to come. He was at first only interested in Charlie Jamieson, an outfielder who in fact turned out to be a blue-chipper, except not before the Senators let him get away on waivers in 1917.

The Buffalo owner, David Harum, was talked not only into giving up Jamieson, but throwing in a first baseman named Joe Judge for an extra $500. . . . (We will return to this account very soon.) (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #54F: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

We go back to pick up Deveaux's account of Johnson's contract developments before the 1915 season: There was only one thing to do (renege on his contract with the Chicago Federals and accept an offer from Washington), according to Clarke (Fred, Pittsburgh Pirates owner, Kansas resident, and Griffith emissary), and he soon had Walter in tears. It was arranged that he would meet Clark Griffith summarily. At that meeting, Johnson agreed to sign for Minor's $12,500. Walter got the Old Fox's word that he would do everything in his power to get the best pitcher in baseball a big increase after that. This is what happened, and Johnson was very satisfied the following year to sign a five-year agreement, good through the 1920 season, at $16,000 per.

For the moment, however, there was still for Clark Griffith the problem of paying Walter Johnson the $6,000 bonus he had been promised by the Chicago Federals. To match that, Griff approached Ban Johnson and tried to sell him on the importance of retaining Walter Johnson in the American League. The league's "emergency fund" had grown to nearly a half a million dollars, and surely, Grifith pleaded, this was an emergency. Despite the league's healthy resources, Ban Johnson initially turned him down.

Charles Comiskey was reportedly with Ban Johnson while the league prexy discussed the matter with Griffith over the telephone. Johnson, exasperated, asked to confer with Comiskey. Griffith impressed upon the tightwad owner that if Walter Johnson headed for Chicago, that would be formidable opposition for his White Sox. Then Comiskey agreed to cover the $6,000, and the deal was finally done. Johnson turned the bonus over to his brother Earl, who wanted to buy a garage back home in Coffeyville, Kansas.

The squabble over the contract was humiliating for Walter Johnson, as was related in the April 1915, issue of Baseball Magazine. In the detailed article, the letter Johnson had received from Nationals president Ben Minor was reprinted in its entirety. In the ten pages it took to explain why he had signed with the Federals, Walter admitted he had broken his contract with the Chicago outfit only because he felt that that would be less serious than the harm he would do to baseball in Washington, D.C. Damned if he did, and damned if he didn't, he had been humbled more than he ever could have been by actually playing the game he excelled at.

It is worth noting that it was at this time that the nickname Big Train originated. Bud Milliken wrote in the Washington Post that the "Big Train" had been prevented by "a storm" from getting to spring training on time, an allegorical reference to the pitcher's absence. Milliken reintroduced the moniker a couple of weeks later, and it got picked up by other writers. Still, it would be nearly a decade before it would be universally adopted. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #73A: Joseph I. "Joe" Judge. First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1915-1932. 2,352 hits and 71 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. In 1924, as Washington won the AL pennant and the World Series, he had one of his better years as he posted a .393 OBP with 71 runs scored and 79 RBIs in 593 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1933-1934. He may have been the basis for the character of Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, whose author dated Judge's daughter in the 1940's.

We pick up Deveaux's account prior to the 1915 season: . . . Griffith thought Judge could hit, and that he was obviously a great fielder -- a natural ballplayer. A son of Irish immigrants and raised in one of the roughest sections of New York City, Judge would be a regular in the Washington lineup for 15 years. Nineteen fifteen was quite a remarkable year for players breaking into the major leagues --most noteworthy were Rogers Hornsby, George Sisler, Joe Judge, and another Washington player who would become another piece of a championship puzzle for the Nationals.

An industrious businessman, Clark Griffith had cultivated friendships with baseball men everywhere, and he kept an eye on developing minor-leaguers. He formed allegiances with owners, and in the spring of 1915, he loaned some money to the Petersburg club of the Virginia League. That loop folded, and in lieu of cash, Griffith was persuaded to take a promising young pitcher instead. (Again, we will return to this account very shortly.) (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #39G: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography takes us back to his earliest days in baseball: In 1905 Clyde traveled several days to join a semipro team in Blossom, Texas, after reading an advertisement that the manager of the club was looking for players. There was a great rivalry that year between Blossom and the neighboring town of Clarksville. “Dode Criss, now with St. Louis, was the star pitcher and batter of the Clarksville team, and he surely was some hitter,” Milan told a reporter in 1910. “Well, we played Clarksville and I not only hit Criss hard, but in the ninth inning, with the bases full, I guess I made the most remarkable catch off of his bat that I have ever made in my life. I don’t know today how I ever got near the ball, but I nailed it and was a hero in Blossom thereafter.” Milan ended up joining Blossom’s rivals, but he wasn’t with the Clarksville team very long before the North Texas League disbanded in mid-July due to an epidemic of yellow fever. Milan then finished up the season in the Missouri Valley League, with the South McAlester Miners in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). . . .

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Player #74A: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, mother, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

We again pick up Deveaux's account prior to the 1915 season: . . . The pitcher, Edgar Charles (Sam) Rice, would be converted into an outfielder without much power, but who could place the ball and who had the speed and instinct to steal bases and cover an enormous amount of real estate. Sam Rice would be good enough to make the Hall of Fame. He and Joe Judge would be teammates for 18 years, a record which would stand until broken in 1996 by Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker of the Detroit Tigers.

Sam Rice was already 25 1/2 years old by the time he first appeared in a game for the Nats on August 7, 1915. (He relieved in a 6-2 loss to Chicago, one of his nine appearances before the idea of his pitching was abandoned the following year. The right fielder behind him in his debut was Walter Johnson, subbing for the injured Danny Moeller.) The reason for Rice's late start in baseball remained a secret for 70 years. The truth was that he had shown up for a tryout three years earlier at Galesburg, Illinois, leaving a wife and two children behind in Indiana. A number of days later, while Rice's wife and children were visiting his parents in Morocco, Indiana, a tornado struck their farm. His wife, children, parents, and sisters were all killed.

Rice drifted for about a year after that, and then joined the navy. He became a star pitcher and, after seeing actual combat in Mexico, returned to pitch for Petersburg of the Virginia League during furloughs. He did so well that Clark Griffith thought it fit to accept his contract from the Petersburg owner as repayment of the old debt. Edgar Rice got a new name right then. Clark Griffith forgot Rice's given name and told a newspaper reporter that he thought it was Sam, and the name stuck. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.) (Note: This account of Rice acquiring his nickname is not universally accepted. There is evidence that the nickname existed prior to Rice joining Washington.)

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Player #75A: Howard S. "Howie" Shanks. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1912-1922. 1,440 hits and 185 stolen bases in 14 MLB seasons. His best season was 1921 with Washington as he posted an OBP of .370 with 81 runs scored and 69 RBIs in 647 plate appearances. He finished his career with the New York Yankees in 1925.

Shanks' SABR biography details his time with Washington: The Washington Senators drafted him in the September 1 Rule 5 draft. Mike Kahoe is credited with the actual signing; he worked as Washington’s main scout at the time. The Senators anticipated using Shanks in a utility role–or maybe not to use him at all. McAleer hailed from Youngstown and (it was written nearly a year later) he drafted Shanks to keep him from going to another team and then return him to Youngstown in the spring–in other words, to “cover him up.” But McAleer became a part-owner of the Boston Red Sox and Clark Griffith bought into the Senators. “When Griff looked over his youngsters this spring, he could not see anything the matter with Shanks except inexperience, so decided to keep him.”

His debut came on May 9, 1912, pinch-hitting for Dixie Walker, but made an out. Shanks got more work than initially expected (he ultimately played in 116 games) and by early August was said by the Washington Post to be “playing the best left field in the league.” He was a gamer, for sure. In the springtime he’d been beaned in batting practice and been out for a week or two. When he was hit again–hard–in the head on August 1, by a George Mullin fastball, “he fought the players of the two clubs who ran to the plate and tried to carry him. It required the services of about four athletes to hold Shanks’ legs and arms, while four others did the actual lugging.” He was dizzy in the dressing room, but recovered later in the day.

The Red Sox won the pennant, by 14 games over the Senators, who beat out the third-place Athletics by two games. Shanks drove in 48 runs and scored 25; he hit for a .231 average (.305 on-base percentage). He was a very good fielder who earned his keep with defense. Griffith later said that “the greatest play I ever saw was pulled off by one of my own boys–young Howard Shanks. That kid actually came in from the outfield, gathered up an error, carried it into the infield and converted it into a double play. I might add in passing that the stunt retired the side, and saved the game for us.” Shanks was playing left field that day against the White Sox, but he recorded a putout at second base, tagging baserunner Harry Lord and then threw to home plate in time to get Morrie Rath trying to score. (We will return to this account when Shanks next surfaces in our progression.)

(Aside: For those golfers among us, you have to love this guy's name!)

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The 1916 Washington Senators won 76 games, lost 77, and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

Deveaux takes on the 1916 season: The presence of Joe Judge precipitated the departure of Chick Gandil, who was sold to the Indians in February 1916. Later in the season, Danny Moeller and pitcher Joe Boehling were traded to the Indians for outfielder Elmer Smith and third baseman Joe Leonard, neither of whom was to make a big splash in Washington. Smith would be sold back to the Indians less than a year later and would enjoy a fine 10-year career.

Walter Johnson beat the Yankees 3-2 in 11 innings on Opening Day, April 12, the third opening-day win over the Yankees for Johnson. (The Yanks would beat the jinx two years later with a 6-3 decision at National Park.) After a good start, the Senators tailed off and finished 76-77, good enough for only seventh place in a very tight field, 14 1/2 games behind the champions, the Red Sox.

Clark Griffith's own standpat stance was starting to impact on his team's performance. This was not as serious as what was happening in Philadelphia, however, where Connie Mack, after winning the World Championship in 1913 and reaching the World Series again in 1914, had sold off his stars. In '16, the A's sank to an incredible 54 1/2 games behind the pennant-winning Red Sox; they won just 36 games and lost a whopping 117. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #61B: Edward W. "Dorf" Ainsmith was born Edward Anshmedt. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1910-1918. 707 hits and 22 home runs in 15 MLB seasons. His best season was 1919 with the Detroit Tigers as he posted a .354 OBP with 42 runs scored and 35 RBIs in 419 plate appearances. He finished his MLB career with the New York Giants in 1924. He later managed the Rockford Peaches in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Back to Ainsmith's SABR biographical info for an account of his post-playing days: After the 1924 season, he organized a tour of ballplayers to Japan where they played a number of successful exhibition games. Buoyed by that success, he decided to organize a tour of women players to the Far East next, partnering with Mary O'Gara, manager of the Philadelphia Bobbies, one of the most prominent female teams of the period, adding a few players to her core team. Eddie and his wife, Loretta, accompanied the team to Japan, as did former big league pitcher Earl Hamilton and his wife. However, there was dissension on the team, as both O'Gara and Ainsmith wanted to be the manager, and players split into factions. Once in Japan, the ladies could not hold their own against the teams of Japanese men they faced, even with Ainsmith and Hamilton helping them on the field, and the trip turned into a financial disaster as crowds stayed away. The initial promoters bailed out and the team moved on to Korea, where it split in half. Ainsmith and Hamilton convinced three of the better female players to stay with them and recruited four locals to complete the team, hoping to raise some money by arranging their own fixtures, as they did not have any money left to pay their return fare to the States. For her part, O'Gara went back to Kobe with the rest of the squad and unsuccessfully asked the local U.S. Consulate to bring them home; she eventually convinced a couple of local expatriate businessmen to give them the money to return, but Ainsmith's group was left stranded. He found enough money to get himself and his wife home, but left behind the three young female players. When the girls' families in the States were finally able to raise the money, one of the players, Leona Kearns, a 17-year-old left-handed pitcher, was washed overboard and died when the Empress of Asia was hit by a huge wave when she was on the deck.

In spite of his role and less than honorable conduct in the tragedy, Ainsmith continued to work around baseball for many years. When (Walter) Johnson became the Senators' manager in the late 1920s, he brought him in as a coach, although it is not clear if he ever officially was listed as such. He also worked as an umpire, although again, it is not clear where exactly. He later managed the Rockford Peaches and Fort Wayne Daisies in the AAGPBL, a rather sadly ironic turn of events.

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Player #76A: John "Needles" Bentley. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1913-1916. 46 wins and 8 saves in 9 MLB seasons. His most productive season was 1924 with the New York Giants as he posted a 16-5 record with a 3.78 ERA in 188 innings pitched. Was a good hitter with a career OBP of .316 in 616 plate appearances. Gave up World Series winning-ground ball single to McNeely in the 1924 "pebble" game.

Bentley's SABR biography sums up his role in one of Washington's greatest moments and the apex of his career as the "Babe Ruth of the Minors": The “Pebble” game. After 85 years it remains one of the most memorable games in the history of the World Series. On October 10, 1924, at Washington’s Griffith Stadium, in the seventh game of the World Series between the New York Giants and Washington Senators, the Senators’ Earl McNeely came to bat in the bottom of the 12th inning with the score tied, 3-3, runners on first and second, and one out. Moments later, his routine grounder fortuitously struck a pebble and bounced high over the head of Giants’ third baseman Freddie Lindstrom, and the Senators scored the winning run for their only World Series victory. Fittingly, the winning pitcher that day, in what would also be his only World Series victory that year, was the universally beloved Big Train, Walter Johnson. For New York, the losing pitcher was a 29-year-old left-hander named John Needles Bentley. Everybody called him Jack.

Jack Bentley remembered that game for the rest of his life; yet surprisingly, he recalled it with fondness, not regret. In October 1955, when he was 60 years old, Bentley told a reporter, “There I was, pitted against Walter Johnson, my boyhood idol. The whole country wanted him to win a Series. When we lost, I felt lower than a snake’s belly in a rut. But as I walked off the field and heard all those people hollering, I was a little bit pleased that I had brought so much happiness to so many people … by losing! My own family was rooting for Washington.” . . .

. . . On January 27, 1917, Jack Dunn, owner and manager of the International League’s Baltimore Orioles, had not yet finished assembling the core group of players who would soon make his team legendary. Two and a half years earlier, in July 1914, with the Orioles in first place by 5½ games but in desperate financial straits because of competition from the Federal League’s Baltimore Terrapins, Dunn had sold pitchers Babe Ruth and Ernie Shore and catcher Ben Egan to the Boston Red Sox for $20,000. After the subtractions from the roster, the Orioles had collapsed, finishing 21 games behind. Now Dunn was rebuilding, and on January 27 he announced that he had traded shortstop Sam Crane, in Dunn’s estimation “easily the best shortstop in the minor leagues last season,” to the Senators for catcher Alva Williams, outfielder Turner Barber, and Bentley. As it turned out, Dunn didn’t want Bentley to pitch; instead, having witnessed Bentley’s batting prowess in Minneapolis, Dunn installed him as the Baltimore Orioles’ starting first baseman.

It proved a very prescient move. Beginning in 1919, the Orioles won seven consecutive International League pennants, and for three of those years Bentley, who by then considered himself a hitter who occasionally pitched, put on one of the most dazzling offensive demonstrations the league had ever seen. In his first two seasons, 1917 and 1919 (he was in the US Army in 1918), with the exception of a lone pitching appearance in his first year, Bentley played exclusively at first base and in the outfield: In 185 games, he posted averages of .333 batting and .510 slugging. Then he really caught fire. From 1920 to 1922, Bentley’s numbers were staggering, as he batted .378 in 439 games, scored 340 runs, drove in 399, and had a slugging average of an astounding .590. In both 1920 (161) and 1921 (120), Bentley led the league in RBIs; in 1921, he won the league Triple Crown, batting .412 (the league’s highest season average in the 20th century), with 24 home runs and 120 RBIs. His 246 hits that season remain the league’s single-season record.

Yet Bentley continued to pitch when needed, and those results, too, were staggering. From 1920 through 1922, Bentley pitched in 56 games and produced a 41-6 record, a winning percentage of .872: in both 1921 (.923) and 1922 (.867), he led the league in that category. In 1920 (2.10) and 1922 (1.73), Bentley also led the league in ERA, and over three seasons his ERA was an astounding 2.07. During those years, by virtue of his performance both at the plate and on the mound, the press bestowed on Bentley the moniker Babe Ruth of the Minors.

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Player #77A: Edward C. "Eddie" Foster. Third baseman with the Washington Senators in 1912-1919. 1,490 hits and 195 stolen bases in 13 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .329. He debuted with the New York Highlanders in 1910. His first season in Washington was one of his best as he posted a .345 OBP with 98 runs scored and 27 stolen bases in 682 plate appearances. His final season was with the St. Louis Browns in 1922-1923.

Foster's SABR biography on his debut season: Foster didn’t get into any games for Washington in 1911, but made the club in 1912, played in every one of the 154 games, and hit for an impressive .285. He had, however, been converted into a third baseman, where Washington had more of a need. In the first few weeks of the new season, he made his mark – particularly against the New Yorkers. “With his batting and fielding, no one person has helped to keep the Highlanders in last place more than third baseman Eddie Foster, of the Washingtons. And the Highlanders had him once, too.” Indeed, the Highlanders could have pulled him back from Rochester but had elected to sell his contract to Clark Griffith’s Washington club.

Foster drove in 70 runs, which remained his career best. His three-run inside-the-park home run on April 27 off New York’s Ray Caldwell came in the bottom of the sixth, neither team having scored, and was “a resounding Rooseveltian rap,” in the words of Sporting Life editor Paul W. Eaton. In his 13 years in the majors, Foster hit six home runs.

Near the end of the season, none other than American League president Ban Johnson in effect called Foster the rookie of the year: “It is a delicate thing for me to pick a player as the best youngster in the American League, but I feel that Foster deserves the distinction.” With a late-season boost, though, teammate Chick Gandil outpaced Foster.

Note: Rorschach's ghost appears on the back of this otherwise blank-backed card.

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Player #28I: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

We go back to Deveaux's account of Griffith's early days in baseball: Griffith had developed a sore arm at the end of the previous season (1891), and no National League team bid for his services, so he found himself back in the minors at Tacoma, Washington. He rehabilitated his arm and had great success at Tacoma. His team was so strong, though, that the league ended up disbanding as a result. The Tacoma players hadn't been getting a paycheck for weeks anyway, so from there Griffith persuaded several of his teammates to follow him to Missoula, Montana; the townspeople there had offered to pay them Tacoma salaries to represent their team in the Montana State League, an outlaw association which pirated players from wherever it could. Missoula was a wild mining town full of gambling joints and saloons crowded along the one main street. In this atmosphere, Griffith became a hero, but it wouldn't be enough for a man who had already tasted the rewards of playing in the best leagues.

There were no offers coming Clark Griffith's way in 1893 either, so he headed for the west coast, where he joined Oakland of the tough Pacific Coast League. The star second baseman at Oakland was young Joe Cantillon. Again, Griffith was victimized by the instability of the minor-league baseball of the times. Unpaid for several weeks, he led an insurrection against the Oakland owners. The players refused to take the field for a game at San Francisco, and this precipitated a chain of events that led to the disbanding of the entire league.

Griffith had become close friends with Cantillon, and the two drifted up the California coast where they found work as, of all things, actors in a traveling vaudeville show. Griffith put his frontier background to good use, playing the part of an Indian who was shot, twice a night, by the six-shooting Cantillon. In late August, the young pitcher got his reprieve when the major leagues beckoned. James A. Hart, who had signed Griffith to his first contract with Milwaukee, had become president of the National League club at Chicago. Hart needed pitching help for his hapless Colts, and telegraphed Griffith, who proved of little use. Starting but two games, he was hit solidly. The 23-year-old righty made two relief appearances, one of them in Washington, his first appearance in the city where he would leave his most indelible mark. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #62B: John P. Henry. Catcher for the Washington Senators in 1910-1917. 397 hits and 55 stolen bases in 9 MLB seasons. He ended his career with the Boston Braves in 1918. His best season was 1916 with the Washington Senators as he posted a .364 OBP with 46 RBIs in 376 plate appearances.

John Henry, went to Amherst College and (through 2008) holds the record for the most at-bats by a major leaguer out of the school. After his major league days he continued to play in the minors through 1923. He coached Cornell University in 1920.

In the majors he was a defensive expert without much of a batting average or much power, but he did draw walks and could steal a base.

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Player #54G: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Deveaux addresses a development in 1916: Boston had a southpaw who was providing worthy opposition to Walter Johnson as the league's best pitcher. While Johnson, with his easy whiplike sidearmer, remained overpowering in 1916 -- leading in wins (25), strikeouts, complete games and innings pitched -- he also lost 20 games for the second time in his career. Thirteen of those defeats were by a single run, and four were of the disheartening 1-0 variety. Meanwhile, the big raw youngster of the Red Sox, George Herman "Babe" Ruth, led the American League in earned average, starts, and shutouts (nine, still the single-season league record for a lefthander).

Ruth would also establish a dominance over the Big Train when the two were the pitchers of record. Ruth would win the first six matchups, including a 13-inning barnburner. Within a few short years, however, American League batters would be rejoicing when Ruth would be converted into the greatest offensive phenomenon ever to grace a baseball diamond. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #56D: George F. "Pinch" McBride. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1908-1920. 1,203 hits, 7 home runs, and 133 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. Has the lowest batting average of any player with 5,000 MLB at-bats. Managed the Washington Senators in 1921 but was struck in the face by a line drive during batting practice and forced to retire.

. . . Never strong from the plate, McBride did not hit for either average or power. He compiled a paltry .218 lifetime batting average with just seven home runs, and never collected more than 26 extra base hits in any season. His most productive and consistent offensive seasons in the AL were from 1908 through 1911, during which he averaged between .230 and .235 a season. His hitting declined in the years following, as his average dipped to only .203 and .204 in 1914 and 1915, respectively, while still playing full time. Relegated to part-time duty after that, McBride mustered only a .185 mark over his final four seasons. Like many bad hitters during the Deadball Era, McBride acquired a reputation as a good hitter in the clutch. Incredibly, F.C. Lane of Baseball Magazine once declared that there were “few worse men for the pitcher to face with men on base than this same quiet, flawless fielder …” . . .

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Player #39H: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography: . . . Milan began the 1906 season by hitting .356 for Shawnee (Indian Territory) of the South Central League, but the team again disbanded before Milan received his pay. Disgusted with professional baseball, he was thinking about quitting when he received an invitation to join Wichita of the Western Association. “I felt none too sure that I could make good there, for the company was much faster,” Clyde recalled. That partial season in Wichita saw him hit just .211, but he returned in 1907 and batted .304 with 38 stolen bases in 114 games, attracting the attention of Washington manager Joe Cantillon, who had seen him in a spring exhibition. That summer Cantillon dispatched injured catcher Cliff Blankenship to Wichita with orders to purchase Milan’s contract, then go to Weiser, Idaho, to scout and possibly sign Walter Johnson. In later years Clyde loved to relate Blankenship’s remarks during his contract signing: “He told me that he was going out to Idaho to look over some young phenom. ‘It looks like a wild goose chase and probably a waste of train fare to look over that young punk,’ Blankenship said.” Milan cost the Nats $1,000, while Johnson was secured for a $100 bonus plus train fare. . . .

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[GeoPoto]

Player #65B: Raymond C. "Ray" Morgan. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1911-1918. 630 hits and 88 stolen bases in 8 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .348. His best season was 1913 as he posted a .369 OBP with 19 stolen bases in 565 plate appearances. He has an odd link to Babe Ruth: in 1917, he led off a game by drawing a 4-pitch walk from Boston starter Ruth, who was then ejected from the game by the home plate umpire. Ruth was replaced by Ernie Shore and Morgan was thrown out attempting to steal on Shore's first pitch. Shore then retired the next 26 batters he faced. Shore's "perfect game" was eventually down-graded to a "combined no-hitter" by subsequent revisions in the MLB criteria.

Morgan's SABR biography: During the 1913 season, he began to draw Griffith’s ire, who didn’t like Morgan’s frequent trips home to Baltimore by automobile to socialize with his friends. Travel by car, even the 30 or so miles between Washington and Baltimore, could be an adventure in those days. Morgan also developed a reputation as a fun-loving cut-up on road trips. He was an accomplished piano player, able to accompany any song his teammates wanted to sing. He’d break out in song by himself in hotel rooms or on trains “in that high tenor of his,” often in conjunction with a teammate or two. When these performances came late at night, they surely would not have pleased Griffith, a stickler for training rules.

Spring training in 1914 was the first of several to which Morgan reported well over his playing weight. Although a March 24 report praised his pre-season hitting, it noted that “Morgan is still considerably overweight.” He again started at second base on opening day. Morgan “Chevrolets to Baltimore and back twice a week,” the Washington Times wrote. Driving a car still was unusual enough that when Germany Schaefer, his roommate on the road, joined Morgan as an automobile owner, it was news. So was Griffith’s concern for his player’s safety.

The concern proved warranted. On April 10, Morgan’s auto collided with a Baltimore trolley car. He and two friends were on their way back to Washington. Morgan and another man were thrown from the automobile. All three men were shaken up but uninjured. “The machine was so badly damaged that it had to be abandoned,” a newspaper reported.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #74B: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Here is Deveaux's account of Rice's development beginning in 1916: The Senators' offence took another step backwards in 1916, putting the Nats in that regard pretty much on a par with the pathetic A's at the bottom of the league. In a case not unlike Ruth's, the Nats were taking notice of the hitting skills of pitcher Sam Rice. Washington third baseman Edie Foster, for one, was convinced that Rice, with his flat stroke, should give hitting a try. Rice himself became convinced he should when pitcher George "Hooks" Dauss of the Tigers, a notoriously weak hitter, banged a game-winning triple off him.

Given some time in the outfield, Sam Rice hit .299 in nearly 200 at-bats and was on his way to his Hall of Fame induction in 1963. A model of consistency over 19 years with the Senators, Rice would never hit below .294. (He played one final year with the Indians in 1934 and hit .293 at age 44.) He was the classic contact-type hitter who practically never struck out; he did so only 275 times in 20 years. He had no power but hustled enough to hit a good number of doubles and triples; his career high in homers was six, and his life-time total 34. Of Sam Rice's 33 round trippers as a Senator, not one in 19 years was hit over the fence at home, testimony to National Park's disheartening dimensions. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #75B: Howard S. "Howie" Shanks. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1912-1922. 1,440 hits and 185 stolen bases in 14 MLB seasons. His best season was 1921 with Washington as he posted an OBP of .370 with 81 runs scored and 69 RBIs in 647 plate appearances. He finished his career with the New York Yankees in 1925.

We go back to Shanks' SABR biography: He was rated an “ordinary hitter” but was “one of the few outfielders who frequently take part in infield plays” because he learned the art of positioning better than most. Numerous stories over his early years–accurately or otherwise–rated him as tops among left fielders in the game.

Shanks improved to .254 in 1913, despite what at first seemed like a broken foot (but was not) and then a turned ankle in mid-September. This season was the closest the Senators came to contending during his 11 seasons with Washington; they finished in second place, 6 1/2 games behind the Athletics. After the season, the famous Bonesetter Reese of Youngstown found a dislocated tendon in Shanks’s ankle and manipulated it back into position. (We will return to this account when Shanks next surfaces in our progression.)

This thread will now pause. Expected restart: 23 November

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[brianp-beme]

Until this informative thread makes a return, I leave you all with an incredibly large scan of a slim and trim Howard Shanks M101-4 Sporting News card with tougher to read, and less informative, scribbling on the back.

The incredibly large scan does have one side benefit - it is providing a better view of the enormous hat the woman spectator is wearing.

Brian

[GeoPoto]

Thanks to Brian for the Howie Shanks card, which memorializes a player who will always have special appeal to me because his name reminds me of my golf game. Meanwhile,

The 1917 Washington Senators won 74 games, lost 79, and finished in fifth place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

The Senators this season hit only four home runs for the entire campaign, second only to the 1908 Chicago White Sox in the modern era, who hit three. First baseman Joe Judge accounted for 50% of them, with two home runs for the season.

Deveaux leads in to the 1917 season: Attendance was down in Washington in 1917, where wartime seems to have had a particularly sobering effect. The Senators lost over $40,000 and could not have stayed afloat without the support of the men who sat on the board of directors. The franchise continued to operate because of loans the directors were able to personally underwrite. On the field, things were nearly as grim. The club climbed to fifth in 1917, but actually dropped two games off the previous year's pace.

Sam Rice led the offence, cracking the .300 mark during his first full season as a hitter and finishing at .302. George McBride, the regular shortstop since 1908, was replaced adequately by Howard Shanks, an outfielder with the Senators since 1912. Shanks' substitute in the outfield was Mike Menosky, from a place called Glen Campbell, PA., who hit .258. Joe Judge improved from a .220 hitter as a rookie to .285 in his sophomore year at age 23, but in July he broke his leg as a result of a sliding mishap.

Clyde Milan managed to improve to .294 after an off year in '16, and was joined by his brother Horace, who had been brought up for a second cup of coffee. Between the '15 and '17 seasons, Horace Milan got 32 hits in an even 100 at-bats, for a cool .320 career average frozen forever in time. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[ValKehl]

George, welcome back! I truly missed your daily posts about the Senators.

And, in further recognition of your mention that in 1917, in his first year as a regular position player, Sam Rice broke the .300 mark, here are my two favorite 1917 Sam Rice rookie cards:

[Lucas00]

I just saw this thread and Coincidentally just watched this YouTube video on antiques roadshow.

https://youtu.be/noiJQZ3zzrk

[GeoPoto]

Thank you, Val, for the sharp Rice RCs. And thank you, Lucas, for the video showing an (very) early Washington baseball pin. In response to Lucas' contribution, I will defer today's scheduled segment and digress briefly:

Washington was more active and important to the early development of baseball than most people might think. For example, it was the Nationals, a team of "government clerks", who went on the first "western swing" in 1867, two years before the Red Stockings' more famous tour. They went undefeated, including beating the Cincinnatis with Harry Wright in the lineup, 53-10, until shockingly they lost to the Forest City Club from Rockford, IL, a team of schoolboys, 29-23. The winning pitcher was seventeen-year-old A. G. Spalding, a Rockford grocery clerk.

Shirley Povich continues: The defeat of the Nationals was as sensational as their string of victories had been. Unfeelingly, the Chicago newspapers taunted the Nationals for that defeat by the Rockford schoolboys and predicted a victory the next day for their own "Champions of the West," the Chicago Excelsiors, who were to be the Nationals final opponents on the tour. The Excelsiors earlier in the month had twice defeated the Forest City conquerors of the Nationals, and in anticipation of further humiliation of the Washington club, the largest crowd ever to witness a baseball game in the West paid the admission fee of half a dollar.

Humiliation was the word for what took place that day, but it was the Excelsiors, not the Nationals, who were humbled. The Nationals took an early 7-0 lead to demoralize the Excelsiors completely and give them a sound beating by a score of 49 to 4. It was a glorious finish to the tour of the Nationals.

And then scandal broke briefly. The Chicago Tribune flatly accused the Washington club of "throwing" the Rockford game for betting purposes before taking on the Excelsiors. In high outrage, president Jones of the Nationals, accompanied by Arthur Pue Gorman, stomped into the Tribune office and compelled a retraction of the charge. (The Washington Senators by Shirley Povich.)

(By the way, Gorman would go on to become a senator from Maryland and give impetus to the use of the nickname "Senators" for future Nationals teams.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #77B: Edward C. "Eddie" Foster. Third baseman with the Washington Senators in 1912-1919. 1,490 hits and 195 stolen bases in 13 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .329. He debuted with the New York Highlanders in 1910. His first season in Washington was one of his best as he posted a .345 OBP with 98 runs scored and 27 stolen bases in 682 plate appearances. His final season was with the St. Louis Browns in 1922-1923.

Deveaux takes up Foster's greatest ability: It was during this period (beginning in 1912) that Griffith developed the famous "run-and-hit" play, which mainly featured the 5'6 1/2" Eddie "Kid" Foster, who was very adept at placing his hits. Griffith insisted Foster was even better than the former crony he had just let go, Willie Keeler. Instead of employing the hit-and-run, then already in vogue, it was assumed that with Kid Foster at the plate, any Senator baserunner would be going, so skilled was Foster at placing the ball where he wanted.

Foster hit .285 in his rookie year and led the league in at-bats, an accomplishment he would replicate three more times. Not only was he a complete player, but he had great endurance as well, missing no games in four of his first five seasons in Washington. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #78: Melvin A. "Bert" Gallia. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1912-1917. 66 wins and 10 saves in 9 MLB seasons. His career ERA was 3.14. His best season may have been 1915 with Washington as he posted a record of 17-11 with a 2.29 ERA in 259.2 innings pitched. His final season was 1920 with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Bert Gallia pitched nine years in the majors, mostly in the American League and primarily for the Washington Senators, for whom he won 17 games two years in a row.

Gallia was the first American League pitcher to hit three batters in the same inning, when he plunked batsmen thrice in the first frame of a June 20, 1913 game, while pitching for the Washington Senators.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #79: Harry C. Harper. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1913-1919. 57 wins and 5 saves in 10 MLB seasons. His best season was 1918 with Washington as he posted an 11-10 record with a 2.18 ERA in 244 innings pitched. His final season was 1923 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Harper's SABR biography presents Harper's unusual contract and his eventual transition from Wahington to Boston: In January 1914 a story about Harper ran nationally. He returned his contract because it had omitted a clause on which his mother had insisted, excusing him from playing baseball on Sundays. Semipro ball on Sundays was apparently acceptable; Davis had first discovered Harper playing on a Sunday. The only other ballplayer with a clause excusing him from working on Sundays was Christy Mathewson. . . .

. . . Washington Post sportswriter J.V. Fitz Gerald wrote in late March 1919 that Harper “has never looked better” and that he “appears to be a certainty to have the best year of his career.” Instead, he had the worst, losing 21 games – more than any other pitcher in the league. Walter Johnson was 20-14, but Harper was 6-21, with an ERA of 3.72. He walked 97 batters and struck out only 87.

Three of Harper’s six wins were against the Boston Red Sox, and he lost three times to the Red Sox by scores of 2-0, 4-3, and 2-1. With a little run support, he could well have won at least two of those games. In the 49 innings he worked against Boston, he had a 1.65 ERA. The Red Sox were impressed. Two days before the end of the year, they traded for him. The Red Sox sent Braggo Roth and Red Shannon to Washington for Eddie Foster, Mike Menosky, and Harper. Harper was the main target in the trade. The Boston Globe thought the Red Sox got the better part of the trade and that, in the 24-year-old Harper’s case, “It would appear that he has the best part of his baseball career ahead of him.” For his part, Harper was thinking of quitting, and attending to his growing business in Hackensack. He was a holdout – he wanted a higher salary and he still refused to play on Sundays.

The 1920 Red Sox, now without Babe Ruth, finished fifth. Harper’s 3.04 ERA was one of the best on the staff (the team ERA was 3.82), but his 5-14 record was similar to that of the year before. He won his first two starts, then lost 10 straight decisions – and in those 10 losses his teammates produced a total of 14 runs. It’s hard to win games if there’s little or no offense. One of those games was against the Senators and neither Harper nor Walter Johnson allowed a run through six innings. The Senators scored once in the top of the seventh, but Johnson no-hit the Red Sox for a 1-0 win. Only one man reached base, on an error that marred an otherwise perfect game.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #62C: John P. Henry. Catcher for the Washington Senators in 1910-1917. 397 hits and 55 stolen bases in 9 MLB seasons. He ended his career with the Boston Braves in 1918. His best season was 1916 with the Washington Senators as he posted a .364 OBP with 46 RBIs in 376 plate appearances.

Deveaux explains Henry's role in advocating player rights: An interesting aside to the 1917 season, especially in light of the inevitable emancipation of baseball players still more than a half-century away, were the efforts of Senators catcher John Henry. Henry had become involved in the Baseball Players' Fraternity and tried to convince his reticent teammates to join in a united front which would seek to obtain better wages and playing conditions. League president Ban Johnson promised to crush Henry and all others of his ilk.

Henry, in no way intimidated, proclaimed that Ban Johnson had no power to drive him out of the American League, and that the prexy was obviously trying to make him the "goat" in the midst of an embarrassing situation. If the league president insisted on picking on him because he was a friendly fellow, well-liked by teammates and owners alike, that was okay with Henry. Ban Johnson, Henry declared, was "crazy for power." The rebellion died down, however. After being forced to accept a $1,200 cut on his salary of $4,600, Henry, a .190 hitter in '17, was unceremoniously sold right out of the league to the Boston Braves, where his career ended after just 102 more at-bats. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #56E: George F. "Pinch" McBride. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1908-1920. 1,203 hits, 7 home runs, and 133 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. Has the lowest batting average of any player with 5,000 MLB at-bats. Managed the Washington Senators in 1921 but was struck in the face by a line drive during batting practice and forced to retire.

. . . Although considered relatively even-tempered and easygoing, McBride was a fiery competitor, subject to sudden bursts of temper. The most prominent of these occurred on June 30, 1916. McBride was facing Carl Mays of the Boston Red Sox, a notorious head hunter. Following some verbal jostling between the two, McBride was struck in the arm while protecting himself from a pitch that was tracking perilously close to his head. McBride stepped to the side of the plate, waited a few seconds, then wheeled and fired his bat at the Bosox pitcher, missing him by only a couple of feet. A lively altercation between the two teams ensued, a highlight of which was the Red Sox catcher Sam Agnew‘s sucker punch that landed in the face of Senators skipper Clark Griffith. . . .

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[GeoPoto]

Player #39I: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography picks up Milan's life after his days as a player: That marked the end of his major-league playing career, but he continued to play in the minors in Minneapolis in 1923, while serving as player-manager at New Haven in 1924, and Memphis in 1925 and 1926. After retiring as an active player, Milan coached for Washington in 1928 and 1929 and managed Birmingham from 1930 to 1935 and Chattanooga from 1935 to 1937. He also scouted for Washington in 1937 and served as a coach for the Senators from 1938 through 1952.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #65C: Raymond C. "Ray" Morgan. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1911-1918. 630 hits and 88 stolen bases in 8 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .348. His best season was 1913 as he posted a .369 OBP with 19 stolen bases in 565 plate appearances. He has an odd link to Babe Ruth: in 1917, he led off a game by drawing a 4-pitch walk from Boston starter Ruth, who was then ejected from the game by the home plate umpire. Ruth was replaced by Ernie Shore and Morgan was thrown out attempting to steal on Shore's first pitch. Shore then retired the next 26 batters he faced. Shore's "perfect game" was eventually down-graded to a "combined no-hitter" by subsequent revisions in the MLB criteria.

Morgan's SABR biography: On July 30 (1914) in Detroit, Morgan was at the center of one of the worst riots involving players, spectators, and police at a 20th century major league game. The umpire, Jack Sheridan, was a respected veteran, but his failing eye-sight meant he no longer worked behind the plate. Called out on a close play at first base, Morgan threw dirt at Sheridan’s feet. The umpire immediately ejected Morgan before decking him with a punch. Morgan got up and began swinging at the umpire. Griffith, coaching third, and McBride rushed to try to pull the two apart. As McBride was trying to restrain Sheridan, Eddie Ainsmith, the Nats’ catcher who was coaching first, landed a glancing blow on the umpire. Ainsmith also was ejected.

By this time, members of both teams had come out of their dugouts. As Morgan and Ainsmith headed off the field, spectators began yelling abuse at Ainsmith as he approached the stands. A fan and the player began exchanging blows before the fan picked up a chair and heaved onto the field, hitting one of the Nats. The fans behind the Detroit dugout came out of the stands and began pummeling Morgan. Several players on both teams came to his rescue.

At this point, people from the bleachers were running across the field toward the brawl. The police from a station adjacent to the ballpark arrived in force. With the help of the players, they got the fans back into the grandstands. The Senators demanded that the fan who threw the chair be arrested, but the police declined. Detroit owner Frank Navin showed up and persuaded several belligerent spectators to leave. Despite an appeal from Griffith, no action was taken against Sheridan, who suffered sun stroke during an August game and died that fall. Morgan was suspended for a week and Ainsmith for two.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #74C: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Carroll touches on Rice's 1917 campaign Part 1: Historians pinpoint the period between 1915 and 1920 as the precise time when pitcher workloads had decreased to the point that everyday players, on average, finally became more valuable than top pitchers. Hence, given the choice of where to play multi-skilled players like Ruth, Rice, Sisler, and all the others, managers decided more and more often that they wanted their best players on the field every day.

As the start of the 1917 season neared, Clark Griffith had long since decided that Rice would be an everyday position player, especially after his strong performance at the plate during his second-half tryout in 1916. Where exactly Rice would play was still something he was figuring out, however. Joe Judge, who had received most of the playing time at first base the year before, struggled as a rookie, batting just .220. So Griffith contemplated trying Rice at first. Rice understood the mental aspects of the position. And Griffith was pleased with his arm strength and accuracy in case he needed to make throws to other bases on the diamond. There was one problem, though -- Rice couldn't field ground balls. It was an issue that would continue to plague Rice for years in the outfield, but it was much less of a problem for an outfielder than an infielder. Judge stayed at first -- a good decision, in hindsight. . . . (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #74C: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, mother, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Back to Carroll for Part 2: . . . On July 20, the day before the (1917) Senators bottomed out, the "great national lottery" was begun. Blind-folded Secretary of War, Newton Baker drew the first number, 258, from a glass jar. The draft was underway. And although enthusiasm regarding the war swept the United States as a whole, baseball, its product threatened, would eventually attempt -- unsuccessfully -- to battle for the exemption of its players.

For now, they carried on. The Senators rallied to finish with a 74-79 record, good for fifth place and well behind the runaway train that was the Chicago White Sox. Rice had immediately proven his value as an everyday player. He appeared in all of the Senators' games, every one of them in right field, and his .302 batting average made him the only Washington player to top the .300 mark. He also stole thirty-five bases.

"The case of Sam rice is one of the most interesting of the baseball season," a newspaper writer noted. "Rice is a natural hitter and as he is still a youngster there seems no reason, if his baseball career is not interrupted, why he should not in another year rank with the consistent .300 batters. His is but another case of a pitcher who has become a good fielder.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #75C: Howard S. "Howie" Shanks. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1912-1922. 1,440 hits and 185 stolen bases in 14 MLB seasons. His best season was 1921 with Washington as he posted an OBP of .370 with 81 runs scored and 69 RBIs in 647 plate appearances. He finished his career with the New York Yankees in 1925.

We go back to Shanks' SABR biography: Through 1916, Shanks played almost exclusively as an outfielder. But, in 1916, he played six different positions, though primarily left field (71 games) and third base (31 games). Already in September 1916, Griffith started talking about using Shanks regularly at shortstop. He did just that in 1917, and Shanks appeared in 90 games at short against just 26 in the outfield. He also played a couple of games at first base. By the end of his career, the only positions he had never played were pitcher and catcher.

His batting averages fluctuated around .240 for his first eight seasons with Washington, but in 1920 he hit for a .268 average (his best to that date) and hit four homers (matching the four he’d hit in 1914). He topped both figures, by a big margin, in 1921. It was his career year, perhaps also reflecting the livelier baseball. Shanks hit .302, knocked out seven home runs, and led the league with 18 triples. The most triples he’d hit before was also in 1914, with 10. He established career highs with 69 RBIs and 81 runs scored.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #80: Elmer J. Smith. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1916-1917. 881 hits and 70 home runs in 10 MLB seasons. He was a 2-time World Series champion -- 1920 with Cleveland and 1923 with the New York Yankees. In 1920, he hit the first grand slam in World Series history. In 1916, he was the first to hit a fair ball over the wall at Griffith Stadium. He debuted with the Cleveland Naps/Indians in 1914-1916. His best season was 1920 with Cleveland as he posted a .391 OBP with 12 home runs in 527 plate appearances. His last season was with the Cincinnati Reds in 1925.

Smith's time in Washington was relatively uneventful, but his SABR biography talks to his participation in a World Series game that included some important "firsts": It is often said that no matter how many times a person may go to the ballpark, chances are good they might see something occur that they had not seen before. That experience is even more enhanced if the achievement or the play is of the record-setting variety. The 26,884 patrons who pushed through the turnstiles at League Park in Cleveland on October 10, 1920, witnessed a day of “firsts” in World Series history.

With the best-of-nine Series tied at two games apiece, Brooklyn manager Wilbert Robinson selected spitball pitcher Burleigh Grimes to face Cleveland’s Jim Bagby in a rematch of Game Two. In that contest, Grimes had little trouble dispatching the Indians in a 3-0 shutout to even the Series at a win apiece. Now he was being called on again to deliver the victory on enemy soil.

But the drama was short-lived as Cleveland loaded the bases in the first inning on consecutive singles by Charlie Jamieson, Bill Wambsganss, and Tris Speaker. Up stepped right fielder Elmer Smith, who had not fared well in Game Two against Grimes, going hitless in four at-bats. But the left-handed Smith led the Indians with 12 home runs in the regular season, including two grand slams. Grimes threw his money pitch, offering two spitballs that Smith swung at badly and missed. After throwing a pitch for a ball, Grimes fired a fastball down the middle. Smith connected solidly, sending the baseball high over the right-field fence, clearing the attached screen, and across Lexington Avenue. The crowd cheered with delight, as the Tribe took an early 4-0 lead, a lead they would not relinquish. It was the first grand slam in World Series history.

In the fourth inning Bagby connected on a homer, a three-run shot. The home run was the first by a pitcher in the World Series and ended Grimes’s day. In the fifth inning the Robins got consecutive singles from Pete Kilduff and Otto Miller. Clarence Mitchell stepped up to the plate and the relief pitcher hit a liner to second baseman Wambsganss. Wamby moved to his right, leaped, and snared the liner. The runners were moving, and Wamby stepped on second base, turned, and tagged a shocked Miller for the third out. The Robins catcher was not the only one caught off guard. The whole park fell silent, trying to figure out what had just unfolded on the field. Then an eruption of cheers echoed through the autumn air. Almost a century later it remained the only unassisted triple play in a World Series.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #81: Earl H. Yingling. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1918. 25 wins and a 3.22 ERA in 5 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Cleveland Naps in 1911. In 1913 with the Brooklyn Dodgers/Superbas, he posted an 8-8 record with a 2.58 ERA in 146.2 innings pitched.

Yingling's MLB experience was not extensive and his time in Washington was the least of it. He is remembered now, if at all, as an example of a player who's name would have inspired the use of nicknames that would not be considered politically-correct today.

The following is an Author's Note to Yingling's SABR biography. Author's Note by Chris Rainey: Baseball-reference.com mentions that Yingling had the nickname of “Chink”. In my research this nickname was never used in any game stories or articles about him that I read. The Encyclopedia of Minor Leagues uses the nickname in their 1993 edition for the 1915 season. I reached out to SABR member Stew Thornley, who is highly knowledgeable about Minneapolis baseball. He had never seen the name in use and checked the 1915 season without finding any usage. I did find one article poking fun that Yingling and Siglin (Paddy) sounded like a menu item in a Chinese restaurant.

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[GeoPoto]

The 1918 Washington Senators won 72 games, lost 56, and finished in third place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

Deveaux takes us through the 1918 season: Crippling to baseball at this time was the reality of war and the government's refusal to yield to Ban Johnson's pleas for draft deferments for baseball players. On May 23, 1918, baseball was shocked to learn that Secretary of War Newton D. Baker's "Work to Fight" order meant that all able-bodied men of draft age either had to enlist or otherwise engage in work considered essential for the war effort. Washington catcher Eddie Ainsmith, granted a deferment earlier, was now ordered to sign up, and his became the test case on which the fate of the game depended. On July 19, War Secretary Baker announced that baseball was not adjudged to be an essential war activity.

League president Ban Johnson shocked everyone by announcing that the season would end, and suddenly, in just two days. By now, the owners had had enough, and Clark Griffith stepped into the breach. Griffith was friendly with the Secretary of War. Even though the war was dragging on, Griffith was able to convince Newton Baker to allow baseball players, who were in shape anyway, to do military drills prior to games, with baseball bats instead of weapons no less. In Washington, young Assistant Navy Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt led some of these drills.

Griffith obtained assent from War Secretary Baker for baseball to continue until Labor Day, with an extra two weeks allotted for the World Series. No doubt riding a patriotic wave, Griff reciprocated by sponsoring a fundraising drive which netted $100,000 to buy baseball equipment for servicemen in Europe. The first supply of gear reportedly ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic, sunk by a German U-boat. . . .

. . . Walter Johnson was the one bright spot for the club early in the season, and the Nationals were struggling to stay out of seventh place as late as June. Following a two-week slump in July, the club was hot from then on and finished within four games of the Red Sox and first place, the best showing for the Washington franchise to this point. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #54H: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Deveaux reports on Johnson's 1918 season Part 1: Walter Johnson shaved over a run a game off his earned run average, and with a minuscule 1.27 reclaimed the ERA title he had not won since 1913. At 23-13, he was tops in wins in the big leagues for 1918 and led the majors in strikeouts with 162, his lowest number among the eight league-leading totals he'd had to date. Incredibly, he finished every single game he was in: 29 starts and ten relief appearances. Always a good hitter, he was getting even better, batting .267 in 150 official at-bats and playing four games in the outfield, which he'd also done three years earlier.

On May 7, 1918, Babe Ruth homered off Walter Johnson at League Park, the first of his ten career dingers off the great one, although Barney prevailed in this game, 7-2. The day before, Ruth had appeared in the lineup for the first time at a position other than pitcher or pinch hitter, in a game at New York. He had hit a home run in that game, and Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert had wanted to buy Ruth's contract from the Red Sox right then and there.

On May 9, Walter picked up a win by pitching the tenth inning, and Ruth, the starter that day who'd gone all the way for Boston, was the loser. It was the last official matchup between the two, as Ruth was soon going to be an everyday player exclusively. He hit his last homer of the year against the Senators on September 27, although the Nats swept a doubleheader from the Yankees that day. Almost exactly nine years hence, the Babe would make even bigger headlines versus the Washington Senators. . . . (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[Kawika]

This team RPPC is designated as circa 1915 on the flip. A tip of the Kawika cap to Mark Fimoff for pointing out the presence of Wildfire Schulte (front row, 4th from right) which narrows the year to 1918, his only season with the Senators. I will stand corrected if I am wrong but I believe the player in the front row at far right is Merito Acosta which fine tunes the photo's date to sometime prior to May 25th when he was traded to the Phila Athletics. The absence of Sam Rice can be explained by the fact that he spent part of the season in the US Army in that war year.

[GeoPoto]

David, great 1918 team photograph. Thanks for posting it to complete the introduction to 1918. 1918 did not see the issuance of any cards involving Senators (at least none that I have acquired); nor do I have any photos of the team (or of Walter) that are sourced to that year. But it was a good year for the team (and Walter), so I decided to include a couple of entries for that year in this thread. I am delighted that you were able to deliver an item that ties in to 1918. Today's post completes my input regarding 1918 (with another photograph from a different year, but "what are you gonna do", as Tony S. would say). 1919 will be richer, I believe.

Player #54H: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Deveaux reports on Johnson's 1918 season Part 2: . . . Walter Johnson's durability was being put to the ultimate test in 1918. Two days after defeating Ruth, he shut out Jim Bagley and the Indians (the league's best hitting team in 1918) by a 1-0 score. In his next start on May 15, he pitched the longest shutout in history. It took 18 innings before the Nats finally scored a run courtesy of a wild pitch by Claude "Lefty" Williams, another who would become implicated in the Black Sox scandal. Johnson gave up ten hits and a walk and fanned nine.

There were an extraordinary number of long games for Walter as the season wore on. While teams would play 17 percent fewer games in '18, the Big Train pitched exactly three fewer innings (325) than he did the previous year. On July 25 at St. Louis, he took another 1-0 decision, this one slightly shorter than the one in mid-May, in 15 innings.

Ten days later, on August 4, the Big Train pitched his second-longest game of the season, not to mention ever, going 17.1 innings only to lose 7-6 in a bizarre contest on a scorchingly hot day in Detroit. He faced a career-high 64 batters, giving up 16 hits and eight walks. Eleven innings intervened between the sixth and seventh Detroit runs, both driven in by Ty Cobb. Of Johnson's 88 career extra-inning decisions, an astonishing 15 took place in this season. Barney completed nine of them, including five which went 13 innings or longer. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

The 1919 Washington Senators won 56 games, lost 84, and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

Deveaux looks at the 1919 season: Nineteen nineteen was not so successful. Despite some good elements -- solid bat production from the outfielders, and strong pitching performances from Johnson and Grunting Jim Shaw -- the Senators sank to seventh, their lowest standing in ten years. . . .

. . . Walter Johnson's best years had coincided with the decade now ending. He had led the league in strikeouts nine times during the period, and in shutouts and complete games six times. His 265 wins during the decade represented 35 percent of Washington's victories. Now 32, Johnson was supplanted as staff workhorse by Jim Shaw, who logged more innings and appearances than any pitcher in the league. For all of his superior work, though, Shaw finished with a 16-17 slate. While the Washington pitching staff was third-best in the league, the offense lacked punch and Clark Griffith was determined to get some. Clyde Milan and Eddie Foster had slowed down. In finishing seventh, the Senators together hit fewer home runs (24) than Boston's young Babe Ruth (29). (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #82A: Edward P. "Patsy" Gharrity. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1916-1923 and 1929-1930. 513 hits and 20 home runs in 10 MLB seasons. He also played some first base and outfield. He had a career OBP of .331. His best season was 1921 as posted a .386 OBP with 55 RBIs in 455 plate appearances.

We will follow Gharrity's SABR biography as it traces his time in Washington: Ed Gharrity was a player, manager, umpire, scout, and coach during his professional career. Invited to spring training with the Washington Senators in 1916, he made an immediate positive impression. Catching for the rookies in an intrasquad game against the regulars in Charlottesville, Virginia, he threw out four would-be base stealers in the 1-1 tie. That started an eight-year stretch with the Senators. The highlight came on June 23, 1919, in Boston. In a battle between two second-division teams, Gharrity went 5-for-5 with a single, two doubles, and his first two major-league home runs. His total of 13 bases set an American League record that was broken by Ty Cobb in 1925. . . .

. . . Gharrity returned to the Senators in 1919 and found both Henry and Ainsmith gone. Val Picinich and Sam Agnew now headed the catching corps. Even so, Gharrity saw action in 60 games behind the plate. Judge was healthy, meaning Gharrity played very little first, finding himself in the outfield for 35 games. In 111 games, he batted .271 and launched his first home runs. It should be noted that Baseball-Reference calls him “Patsy.” That nickname did not become prevalent until 1921. He was “Eddie” for the first part of his career. . . .

Which doesn't explain how "Joe" got on his card!?

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[GeoPoto]

Player #28J: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

Deveaux tells us that Griffith's control of the team was under pressure in 1919: In the boardroom, Clark Griffith found out that some of the directors had ideas that were quite different from his own in terms of what steps needed to be taken to improve the ballclub. With the dismal seventh-place showing, there were now calls for the Old Fox's hide. But this baseball team had become too important to Griffith. It occurred to him that if he could somehow gain control of the team, then, quite naturally, he couldn't be fired.

Connie Mack had once introduced Griff to William Richardson, a wealth grain exporter from Philadelphia. With backing Griffith was able to obtain from Richardson, he walked into the Metropolitan National Bank and got a loan for $87,000 that allowed him and Richardson to purchase about 85 percent of the team. They paid $15 a share, a terrific bargain as it would turn out. Taking over as majority owner and president, Griffith was granted the right to speak for Richardson's holdings as if they were his own. To signal his new status as owner, president, and manager of the Washington Senators, League Park, or National Park, was renamed Griffith Stadium and it was at this time that the stands stretching from the infield to the foul poles were made into double-deckers.

Clark Griffith was finally in a position to bring his little ballclub to unprecedented heights during the course of the free-wheeling decade that lay ahead. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #83A: Stanley R. "Bucky" Harris. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1919-1928. 1,297 hits and 167 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. 1924 and 1947 World Series champion. In 1975, inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Named player-manager of the Washington Senators in 1924 at age 27. "The Boy Wonder" led Washington to World Series victory as "rookie" manger. Managed Washington Senators in 1924-1928, 1935-1942, and 1950-1954. Managed the Detroit Tigers in 1929-1933 and 1955-1956. Managed the Boston Red Sox in 1934. Managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943. Managed the New York Yankees in 1947-1948, including winning the 1947 world Series. Served as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1959-1960.

Jack Smiles explains how Harris was recruited: (outfielder Frank "Wildfire") Schulte and (first baseman Joe) Judge were still under contract with the Senators (despite being teammates with Bucky on the Baltimore Dry Docks in the fall of 1918). They had manager/owner Clark Griffith's ear and urged him to buy Bucky from (the) Buffalo (Bisons of the International League) for $5,000 but Griffith wasn't interested. . . .

. . . The Bisons were in Binghamton for a series in early August of 1919. Joe Casey, a 31-year-old catcher who had caught eight games for the Senators at the end of the 1918 season, leaned into Bucky on the field before the game. Nodding toward a box alongside the Bison dugout, he said, "(Washington scout, who was actually there to look at pitcher Pat Martin) Joe Engel's here to look you over." . . .

. . . Watching the game that day in Binghamton, Engel saw Bucky get in a fight with a much bigger player after a play at second base. Engel was impressed by the tough little second baseman and in his report to Griffith recommended he consider buying Bucky. Griffith knew of Bucky from Joe Judge and the Dry Docks but didn't consider him a major league-caliber batter. Engel persisted and convinced Griffith to take a look at Bucky for himself.

By the time Griffith got away, the Bisons were back in Buffalo. He left the Senators in Chicago on August 22, probably in the care of Nick Altrock, and caught a train to Buffalo. In the interim Bucky had taken a line drive to his right hand and injured his middle finger, though it wasn't known at the time just how bad the injury was. Bucky just taped the swollen digit to the next one and kept playing. A busted finger was a badge of honor to a mine boy. The day Griffith got to Buffalo, catcher Casey talked to Bucky on the field as he had when Engel was in Binghamton, saying, "there's the Old Fox himself."

Bucky stole a glance at Griffith. Though he was told Griffith was looking him over, he had a hard time buying it. Whether through luck or determination, or both, Bucky had the best day of his minor league career. He went 6-for-6 with a walk, was hit by a pitch, and handled 14 chances without an error in a double-header. After the game Griffith and Engel approached Bucky in the dugout just as he was unwrapping his fingers. Griffith complemented Bucky on his play that day and left.

That night (Buffalo manager George "Hooks") Wiltse called Bucky to his room and told him Griffith offered to buy Bucky for $4,500. Although (Bisons owner Joseph) Lannin (Side note: Lannin brought Babe Ruth to Boston as owner of the Red Sox before selling the team to Harry Frazee in 1917) had $5,000 on Bucky's head, Wiltse expected Lannin to make the deal. Later Engel said playing with that injured finger didn't hurt Bucky in Griffith's eyes. The Old Fox liked such gameness. The 6-for-6 day that raised his season average to .282, an all-time high for Bucky, couldn't have hurt. But there was a hitch. (New York Giants manager John) McGraw had an option on a Bison player due him. For a second time he (McGraw) passed on Bucky and chose pitcher Pat "Rosy" Ryan. The sale went through. (Bucky Harris by Jack Smiles.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #54H: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Deveaux summarizes Johnson's 1919 season: Johnson, who began the season with a 1-0 13-inning white-washing of the A's, his record fifth opening-day shutout, won 20 for the tenth straight year. It was an even 20, against 14 defeats. His dwarflike 1.49 ERA led the majors for the second year in a row, and is particularly remarkable considering 1919 was a year of much-increased hitting, with the league ERA shooting up nearly half a run per game to 3.21. Five of Barney's seven shutouts were by 1-0 scores, and he led the league in strikeouts for the eighth year in a row. On July 24, at Washington against the A's, he had his best inning ever, striking out the side on nine pitches.

In another of the many memorable games of his career, Johnson hooked up with spitballer Jack Quinn on May 11, the first ever legal Sunday baseball game in New York. Walter labored for 12 scoreless innings, retiring 28 consecutive batters and allowing only two hits, pitching to just one batter over the minimum. The game was called off prematurely at 6 P.M., due to New York owner Jacob Ruppert's misinterpretation of the new Sunday law, with the score still 0-0.

Of note is that in this particular game, rookie George Halas was fanned twice by the Big Train. Halas, later to become owner and longtime coach of the Chicago Bears football team, went 0-for-5 in this game, and 2-for-22 for his entire big-league career. These 12-inning shutouts on the part of both Johnson and Jack Quinn were not, however, the biggest story in baseball on May 11, 1919. Over in the other league, Hod Eller of the Cincinnati Reds spun a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[ValKehl]

George, I can't resist showing another 1919 WaJo card in recognition of his leading the majors in ERA and the A.L. in strike outs for 1919.
Best,
Val

[GeoPoto]

Val, no reason to hesitate -- thanks for adding the beautiful Coupon. Speaking of Val's:

Player #84A: Valentine J. "Val" Picinich. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1918-1922. 743 hits and 26 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1916-1917. His most productive season was 1928 with the Cincinnati Reds as he posted a .343 OBP with 35 RBIs in 357 plate appearances. His last season was 1933 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Picinich's SABR biography tracks his time in Washington: For most of five seasons, Val Picinich was Walter Johnson’s personal catcher. He saw action during 18 major-league seasons, never playing in more than the 96 games he played for Cincinnati in 1928 – almost certainly his best year – and only playing as many as half his team’s games in six of the seasons. He caught three no-hitters in his big-league career. He was relatively compact – 5-feet-9 and 165 pounds, right-handed, and hit for a lifetime .258 batting average, quite good for catchers of his time, in 1,037 games in the majors. His career on-base percentage was .334. In April 1918, the Washington Evening Star dubbed him “a chunky chap of only average height, but is as strong as an ox and is a willing worker.” . . .

. . . Clark Griffith of the Washington Senators had been impressed with what he’d seen of Picinich’s work, and – knowing that catcher Ed Gharrity might have to join the service at any time – arranged with Atlanta (the Crackers of the Southern Association) at the end of April 1918 to deliver Picinich on demand. On May 26 he was traded to Washington for three players, intended to serve as backup to Eddie Ainsmith. He arrived just in time to get into the final inning of the second game on May 29. In the July 5 game, he picked one of the Yankees off third base and then singled in the winning run in the ninth inning for a 2-1 win.

Picinich played in 47 games for the 1918 Senators, batting .230 with 12 RBIs. The 1918 season ended early because of the World War; on August 1 Picinich reported to the Navy. He’d enlisted in mid-July. He was back on the Senators’ bench on August 24, on leave from the Navy, and joined the team for eight remaining games, while on furlough. He caught both games on August 25 – one of them Walter Johnson’s 22nd victory of the season – and figured in scoring three runs.

Yeoman third class Picinich was stationed in New York, and with the end of the war, he was told to expect an early discharge. Griffith believed in Picinich; the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that he regarded Picinich as “one of the coming star maskmen of the game” and might make him Walter Johnson’s battery partner. From the time he joined the Washington team for spring training in Augusta – still only 22 years old – Picinich was slated to become first-string catcher (though he faced some competition from Sam Agnew).

For the next four seasons, Picinich caught for the Senators. He enjoyed a very good season in 1919, batting .274, hitting his first three homers, and driving in 22 runs in 80 games. Much was expected of him for 1920, but Gharrity returned and Picinich played in only 48 games, not helping his cause by hitting .203. He did, however, catch the July 1, 1920, game when Walter Johnson no-hit the Boston Red Sox, 1-0. The third no-hitter he caught was for the Red Sox, in 1923.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #74D: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Smiles provides an example of how attitudes were evolving in 1919: As the 1919 season opened, Rice showed little rust from his summer away from the game. Batting cleanup and back in his customary right field spot to start the season, Rice had his first three-hit game just five games into the season, in a 4-2 victory over the Red Sox. In late May, he made three spectacular catches in a row against the Yankees, in a game that saw him also smack three base hits. By mid-summer, Sam had really found his groove, putting together a seventeen-game hitting streak in July.

Rice was beginning to come into his own as a hitter and an outfielder, but was doing so in an odd transition year for major league baseball.

Maybe the culture was ripe in 1919 for a scandal like the one that was to soon devastate the game. In the aftermath of the World War, some Americans were still attempting to sort through their feelings about fierce competition. In the post-victory glow, brotherhood among Americans seemed to be preferred over cutthroat competitiveness, even on the field of play. That was illustrated by the reaction to Rice's actions at the plate in a mid-August game against the Red Sox.

In the seventh inning of a tight game, Rice came to the plate. Senators base runners stood on first and second, and the customs of the game in those last throes of the "dead-ball era" dictated that he sacrifice both teammates up a base. Boston third baseman Joe "Moon" Harris, a future teammate of Rice's, accordingly crept up onto the grass.

Like Rice, Harris was a veteran of the war in Europe. He had missed the entire 1918 campaign in service to the cause.

"Did Rice bunt?" reported the Washington Post. "He did not. Instead, he crossed Harris by whistling a line drive past him at a rate of ten miles a minute."

Because both men were veterans of the same war, it was felt that Rice had a gentleman's obligation to take care of Harris in the situation. Instead, he had embarrassed the Boston third baseman by slamming the ball past him.

Or so the newspaper felt.

"Sam Rice ought to be ashamed of himself," the Post said, "to take advantage of a fellow overseas veteran like Joe Harris as he did in the seventh."

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[ValKehl]

George, your W514 of Sam Rice is gorgeous - by far the nicest I've ever seen!

Here are 3 off-condition, but scarce, back variations of this card that I'm thrilled to have in the master set of Rice's cards that I'm working on:

[GeoPoto]

Wow, Val. Very impressive. Thanks for sharing your rare examples. Makes you wonder how many different backs there once was. I'm curious whether you have seen other W514 backs with printed messages (as opposed to stamped)?

Player #85: Frank M. "Wildfire" Schulte. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1918. 1,766 hits and 92 home runs in 15 MLB seasons. 1907 and 1908 World Series champion. 1911 NL MVP. 1910 and 1911 NL home run leader. 1911 NL RBI leader. He debuted with the Chicago Cubs in 1904-1916. His best season was 1911 with Chicago as he posted a .384 OBP with 107 RBI's and 105 runs scored in 690 plate appearances. He played on four pennant winners in Chicago and hit .321 in the four World Series. His last season was with Washington in 1918.

Schulte's SABR biography hits some of the highlights of his career: Frank M. Schulte was the slugging right fielder for the great Chicago Cubs teams of 1906-10. After his first start on September 21, 1904, “Wildfire” remained with the Windy City club until 1916, and outlasted the likes of Mordecai Brown, Frank Chance, Johnny Evers, and Joe Tinker, who by the end of Schulte’s days in Chicago, was managing the club. . . .

. . . While performing solidly during regular seasons, Wildfire hit full stride during his four World Series appearances. He owns a .309 lifetime average in the Fall Classic, hitting safely in all ten contests in the 1907 and 1908 championships and in all but one game in both the 1906 and 1910 season cappers. Wedged in his four Series appearances is Schulte’s thirteen game hitting streak, a record mark in his day that remains good enough to place him in a tie for fifth (with Harry Hooper) all-time in that category as of 2018.

No look at Schulte’s career is complete without mentioning his blockbuster 1911 campaign. Though the Cubs dropped to second in the final standings that season, Wildfire’s individual exploits earned him a new automobile, the prize for being voted the National League winner of the Chalmer’s Award, a short-lived honor that is roughly equivalent to today’s MVP award. On his way to establishing ownership of the “tin lizzy” (which ironically caught on fire near his plantation sometime later) Schulte mounted one of the era’s great assaults on National League pitching.

He had led the Cubs in homers in 1910 with ten, but, perhaps aided by a somewhat livelier “bulb” in 1911, the Cub right fielder clubbed twenty-one round trippers while driving home 121, both tops in the league. His league bests that year also included 308 total bases and a .534 slugging percentage. He was fourth in hits (173), fifth in runs (105), and became the first player ever to top the twenty mark in the categories of home runs, triples (21), doubles (30), and stolen bases (23). This feat was not duplicated until 1957 when Willie Mays similarly scorched the National League. For good measure, Schulte became the first player ever to clout four grand slams in one season, hit for the cycle on July 20, smashed a homer and a double in the same inning on August 15, and, perhaps surprisingly to modern fans weaned on sluggers who can’t and don’t bunt, was second in the league with thirty-one sacrifices. Finally, despite playing all 154 Cubs games that season, Wildfire even found time to get hitched; he married Mabel Kirby on June 26 in Chicago.

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[ValKehl]

George, I am aware of there being a couple of known W514 cards with a printed ad on the back for Robinson Caruso Salted Peanuts that were issued by a Lynchburg, VA, company, but I've never seen one of these cards in person. Here's the link to info re these cards: http://boblemke.blogspot.com/2015/11/legitimacy-confirmed-of-w514-ha.html

[Kawika]

Here are a few Wildfire Schulte cards for the heck of it. Nothing in Senators flannels however.

[GeoPoto]

Thanks again to Val and David for contributing.

The 1920 Washington Senators won 68 games, lost 84, and finished in sixth place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at Griffith Stadium.

Deveaux tells us about Washington's struggles in 1920: The Washington Nats, in the middle of the pack offensively, featured the worst pitching staff in the league and finished sixth in 1920, 29 games behind the Indians. Clark Griffith's skills in recognizing talent were beginning to show results all the same. The previous year, Griff had nearly signed Pie Traynor, a future Hall of Famer then at third base for the Pirates. The management of the Portsmouth club of the Virginia League had apparently doubled the price on Traynor despite an earlier agreement.

In the fall of 1919, Griffith was more fortunate. Both he and Joe Engel went to Buffalo to scout an infielder who played for a shipyard team in Baltimore and who had been highly recommended to them by Joe Judge. In the doubleheader they witnessed, this player, Stanley "Bucky" Harris, had an outstanding day at the plate, and did so with two fingers taped together because one was broken -- Harris wasn't going to miss a chance to show what he could do. Needless to say, Bucky Harris was signed, and as a rookie in the big leagues in 1920 he hit an even .300 and fielded reliably.

There is no telling what 32-year-old Walter Johnson might have accomplished in 1920 had he been at the top of his game. The Senators provided plenty of runs, but the Big Train responded with the worst campaign of his career. Afflicted with a sore arm after more than two weeks of rail travel while training in the South, he missed a season-opening assignment for the first time since 1911. He would wind up a disappointing 8-10. On May 14, he did register the 300th win of his career, a 9-8 decision over the Tigers, but kept alternating good performances with bad throughout the season. Not one Washington starter had better than a .500 record -- Tom Zachary logged the most innings and charted the best mark on the staff, 15-16. A Quaker who farmed tobacco in his native North Carolina, Zachary's smooth delivery would bring 15 or more wins to the Nats in three of the next four years. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[ValKehl]

Not many cards of WaJo were issued in 1920, but there was this D327 Type 1:

[GeoPoto]

Thanks Val.

Player #86: Elmer W. Bowman. First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1920. He had two MLB pinch-hit plate appearances with one walk and one run scored. He never took the field.

Elmer Bowman is in the finals for who got the smallest drop of coffee. He got two pinch hitting opportunities and though he made an out and walked once for a career OBP of .500, he was replaced at first base following his walk by a pinch runner. He never played the field. And still . . . He faced the 1920 Indians, who would win that year's World Series, two weeks before Ray Chapman was killed by a pitched ball. He stepped in against Cleveland's ace Jim Bagby, on his way to a league-leading 31 wins that season, and flew out to Tris Speaker. He faced Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Chicago White Sox as rumors swirled regarding the previous year's World Series that would ultimately paint the team black. Time would reveal that he stepped in against one of the prominent Black Sox culprits, Lefty Williams and drew a walk.

He is also a member of the University of Vermont Hall of fame.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #82B: Edward P. "Patsy" Gharrity. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1916-1923 and 1929-1930. 513 hits and 20 home runs in 10 MLB seasons. He also played some first base and outfield. He had a career OBP of .331. His best season was 1921 as posted a .386 OBP with 55 RBIs in 455 plate appearances.

Gharrity's SABR biography: . . . Gharrity and Griffith had discussed salary before Eddie returned to Beloit. Griffith, thinking they were in agreement, had sent Gharrity home with a contract to sign and a $250 bonus in his pocket. Gharrity decided not to sign and held out for an additional $500. He even announced that he would play independent ball in Beloit. Griffith responded by asking all the teams under the National Commission to boycott Beloit and not play there. Finally, on March 12, Gharrity accepted Griffith’s terms and headed to camp. . . .

The Senators opened the 1920 season with Picinich and Gharrity the main catchers. Cuban utilityman Ricardo Torres was the third catcher if needed. Gharrity won the Opening Day spot and played 121 games at catcher. He hit three home runs, all on the road. Eddie would have had a fourth on September 12 in Chicago except for a baserunning gaffe by Frank Ellerbe. Ellerbe was on base when Gharrity drove one to deep left. When a roar went up, Ellerbe assumed the ball had been caught and went to shortstop instead of rounding the bases. Gharrity batted .245 in 428 at-bats, his career high. . . .

https://www.net54baseball.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=548209&stc=1&d=1671530791

[GeoPoto]

Player #54I: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Deveaux covers Johnson's 1920 season: In apparent defiance of all logic, it was during this troubled season (Johnson's career worst) that Walter Johnson threw the only no-hitter of his entire career. It was July 1, at Fenway Park in Boston, on his son Walter, Jr.'s fifth birthday. Johnson Sr., had in fact been detained that day because the young lad was feeling ill. The 13-year vet struck out ten and only five balls were hit beyond the infield. There were no walks, but it was not a perfect game. In the seventh, Bucky Harris missed what was by all accounts a soft grounder off the bat of future Hall of Famer Harry Hooper, who led off the inning for the Red Sox. Had that not happened, Johnson would have pitched the third perfect game in modern baseball history (since 1901) up to that time. The others had been authored by Cy Young, in 1904, and Addie Joss, in 1908.

The Big Train's best game of the year until then had been his previous start, a three-hit, no walk masterpiece in a 7-0 pasting of their Athletics, who thereby lost their 18th straight game. Johnson required only 72 pitches, and it was all over in just one hour and 18 minutes -- the most efficient game of his career. The win was the seventh in a row for the Nats and moved them past the Red Sox and into fourth place. But following the no hitter in his next start, there were no more heroics in store for Walter, who was plagued by a sore arm for the rest of the year.

In a way, Bucky Harris was heroic in Johnson's no-hit game as well, as it was he who drove in the game's only run, and Joe Judge saved the day in the ninth when, after Johnson had struck out two pinch hitters, the dangerous Hooper pulled a liner that Judge leaped for and caught cleanly off the ground. In no position to get to get to first in time to outrace Hooper, Judge had to relay to Johnson. The Big Train came in all right, and caught Judge's relay to nip Hooper. For extra theatrics, Johnson caught the ball with his bare hand. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.) (Note: Deveaux's use of "Hooper pulled a liner that Judge leaped for and caught cleanly off the ground" seems odd to me. Presumably, he describes a ball that bounced at least once before it got to Judge.)

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[GeoPoto]

As near as I can tell, the fourth card shown is mislabeled by PSA as a W516 2-2: It appears (to me at least) as though it is actually a W516 2-1. The fifth card shown appears to be labeled correctly as a W516 2-2. Alas, I do not have a W516 2-3 to complete the quintet.

[ValKehl]

As near as I can tell, the fourth card shown is mislabeled by PSA as a W516 2-2: It appears (to me at least) as though it is actually a W516 2-1. The fifth card shown appears to be labeled correctly as a W516 2-2. Alas, I do not have a W516 2-3 to complete the quintet.

George, you are correct. The fourth card is a W516-2-1. Here is a W516-2-3 to complete the quintet:

[GeoPoto]

Thanks go to Val for completing the strange 5-card run of W516 Walter Johnson's from 1920-21.

Player #56F: George F. "Pinch" McBride. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1908-1920. 1,203 hits, 7 home runs, and 133 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. Has the lowest batting average of any player with 5,000 MLB at-bats. Managed the Washington Senators in 1921 but was struck in the face by a line drive during batting practice and forced to retire.

. . . Fittingly, as the Deadball Era wound down, so did McBride’s playing career. He was replaced as the Senators’ regular shortstop in 1917 by Howard Shanks, reducing his playing time to 50 games that season. He remained on the roster through 1920, but saw his playing time further curtailed, never again playing in more than 18 games in a season. However, his primary role with the Senators during these final seasons was not as a player, but as a “manager in training” under the watchful eye of Clark Griffith. During this time he served as an instructor to the team’s younger infielders, as a base coach, and as a fill-in as manager when Griffith was away from the team scouting or tending to other front office duties. Prior to the 1921 season, Griffith stepped away from his on-field duties and appointed McBride the new team manager, the first in a long line of ex-Washington players to take the reins for Griffith. . . .

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[GeoPoto]

Today's entry is made possible by the generous contribution of Val Kehl who provides images of today's card, a D327-1 Holsum Bread Sam Rice from 1920:

Player #74E: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Carroll highlights Rice's 1920 season: Though Rice had shown promise in his previous two full seasons, the 1920 campaign was a breakthrough for him. Rice turned 30 years old two months before the season began, but played like a man entering the physical prime of his mid-twenties. He had 211 hits, the first of six times he'd reach the magic two hundred-hit mark during his career. Not that Rice was any kind of free swinger before, but he was getting the bat on the ball even more in 1920, striking out just twenty-six times in 624 at-bats. And he was durable, leading the team with 153 games played. In all of Rice's full seasons as an outfielder, in fact, he had led Washington in games played.

He also, once again, managed to finish among the top ten in the American League in hitting. Curiously, Rice's .338 final mark put him eighth in the league -- in 1917, he had finished eighth, as well, but batted just .302. It seemed that Rice wasn't the only American Leaguer in 1920 who was improving his hitting, however. (Lagging a little behind, the National League saw Brooklyn's Ed Konetchy finished eighth in that league with a much more modest .308 mark.) In a year and a league in which offense increased so dramatically, Rice managed to stay in the top five of the American League in batting for most of the summer. Well into August, the newspaper listings of the American League top five in hitting read the same almost every day -- Tris Speaker, followed by George Sisler, then Joe Jackson, Babe Ruth, and Rice. The first four spent a lot of the season flirting with the .400 mark. Rice couldn't seem to surpass his high-water mark of .370, a mark he actually reached as late as August 1 after a 4-for-5 game at Cleveland. . . .

. . . There were other memorable personal moments for Rice throughout the season. On June 26, Rice collected the 500th hit of his career. The fact was noted by the local press, curiously so since years later, fatefully, no one would seem to notice when he moved to the brink of 3,000 career hits. And his fielding prowess in the outfield was beginning to draw some attention, as well. A newspaper account of the team's July 25 game against the Philadelphia Athletics, a 4-3 Washington victory, noted "another one of his brilliant catches." In late August, he made a breath-taking one-handed catch in the deepest part of center field in Washington to rob Chicago's Eddie Collins of an extra-base hit. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #87A: Herold D. "Muddy" Ruel. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1923-1930. 1,242 hits and 61 stolen bases in 19 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. He debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1915. He was the Yankees catcher in 1920 when Ray Chapman was hit and killed by a Carl Mays fastball. He scored the tying run in regulation and then the winning run in the 12th inning of game seven in the 1924 WS. His best season was 1923 with Washington as he posted a .394 OBP with 54 RBI's and 63 runs scored in 528 plate appearances. His final season as a player was 1934 with the Chicago White Sox. He was manager of the St. Louis Browns in 1947. He was GM of the Detroit Tigers in 1954-1956.

Ruel's SABR biography: Ruel spent the remainder of the 1918 season and all of 1919 and 1920 with the New York Yankees. The Yankees were not yet the powerhouse they would later become. Babe Ruth was still with Boston and the Yankees had yet to appear in a World Series.

On August 16, 1920, Ruel was a witness to one of the most tragic events in baseball history. Ruel was behind the plate when Carl Mays’ fateful pitch struck and killed Ray Chapman.

Later in the season, Ruel described the tragic event in detail to his old friend John B. Sheridan, who used Ruel’s insights for his column in The Sporting News. He made it clear in his eye-witness account that Carl Mays was not guilty of trying to kill Chapman. Ruel’s assessment was that it was a tragic accident.

(Aside: My grandson's surname is Chapman, which has given impetus to a small portion of my collecting. As a result, I wound up with this photo, despite it violating my well defined, but somewhat flexible, collection boundaries. I am including it here out of respect for the 1920 tragedy and Ruel's eventual role in Washington baseball history. This photograph served as the source image for Ruel's 1922 E120 American Caramel card.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #88A: Alexander "Al" Schacht. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1919-1921. 14 wins and 3 saves in 3 MLB seasons. Was highly-regarded as a third base coach in Washington (1924-1934) and Boston (1935-1936). Performed player mimicry and comedy routines with fellow Washington coach Nick Altrock earning the nickname of "The Clown Prince of Baseball". After leaving coaching he continued comedy but settled in as a restauranteur.

Deveaux tells about one of Schacht's debut moments: Walter's (Johnson) arm hurt so much after this game (the game in which he no-hit the Red Sox) that he was not able to make his next start, the second game of a doubleheader, which was to follow a morning game against the Yankees at Griffith Stadium. Clark Griffith had advertised that Walter would be pitching, and he was hard up for someone to put out there as an emergency replacement. Asking for conscripts, he chose among the volunteers a grass-green rookie named Al Schacht. A New Yorker, Schacht would later write that he had sent Clark Griffith several letters in the past, in the manner effectively employed by Ty Cobb about fifteen years earlier. Schacht, who had simply signed the letters, "A. Fan," had begged Griff to scout a young phenom named Al Schacht.

We wouldn't be telling this story, naturally, if Schacht hadn't beaten the league's best offensive team that day. Babe Ruth, who would lead the league with his unbelievable total of 54 home runs, was the first to get a hit off Schacht -- in the fourth inning. Schacht came away with a seven-hitter and a 9-3 win, and needless to say, his pitching skills and penmanship earned him a tidy contract from Griffith for 1921. In this way began a playing career cut short by a sore arm, but followed by his very long run as a baseball comedian.

Widely recognized as the "Clown Prince of Baseball," Schacht became a full-time baseball comic in 1921, teaming up with Nick Altrock, coach and resident clown. The two revived some of the routines Altrock had first performed with Germany Schaefer. Eventually, Schacht would strike out on his own, touring major- and minor-league ballparks across America. His act, part pantomime and part anecdotes, got him bookings at 25 World Series and 18 All-Star games. During World War II, he would tour Europe, Africa and the Pacific theater with the USO. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[sb1]

Read thru this entire thread. A very in depth collection of cards and player history.

I will add a few more images from the W600 Series.

[Kawika]

Great show, Scott.

[ValKehl]

Read thru this entire thread. A very in depth collection of cards and player history.

I will add a few more images from the W600 Series.

Scott, I was aware that you had a very nice collection of W600s, but WOWZERS!!

While not nearly as gorgeous as any of Scott's W600s, but just as scarce, is this rough 1925 W504 Universal Toy & Novelty card of Al Schacht & Nick Altrock.

This National Photo of Schacht & Altrock appears in the Senators' 1924 WS Program.

[GeoPoto]

Scott, I am delighted to see your fantastic run of W600 cards featuring Nationals players. Is that just the Washington entries in a much larger collection of W600's, or do you have a focus on Washington cards in the set? Either way it is an amazing collection of high-quality cards. Thank you for showing them here.

You too, Val, I am continually amazed by the things you come up with. Thanks for helping. Meanwhile:

The 1921 Washington Senators won 80 games, lost 73, and finished in fourth place in the American League. They were managed by George McBride and played home games at Griffith Stadium.

Deveaux addresses the 1921 season which favored the Yankees and their new slugger over the Nats: McBride had an improving squad on his hands, and was able to guide the Nats to an 11.5-game improvement in the standings. They finished fourth, only a half game behind the Browns, but a full 18 games back of the Yankees. Babe Ruth arguably had the best season of his entire career in 1921, and that's saying something. Ruth had the kind of season only he has ever had in baseball history: 59 home runs, 171 RBIs, a .378 batting average, and an awesome .846 slugging percentage in 540 at-bats. It would remain his career best (Babe also had 540 at-bats in 1927, when he produced 60 homers, 164 ribbies, a .356 average, and slugged at .772.)

By contrast, the Senators in 1921 hit only 42 homers as a team. In fact, the Babe on his own hit more homers than any entire team except the Browns and the last-place A's. On May 7 of this season, Ruth slammed a drive toward center field off Walter Johnson; it was believed to be the longest ever in Washington up to that point. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[sb1]

These were the Washington players that had not yet been shown in the thread, I did not post the others that had previously been shown by others nor a very low grade Milan.

I am not a Washington collector, these are just part of my W600's.

[sb1]

While I am posting here's another Washington HOFer, I don't think I saw a T204 Johnson in the posts.

[GeoPoto]

Scott: Thanks for the input, your W600 collection must be out of this world. And yes, I do not own a T204 of Walter (or a CJ), which are annoying holes in my collection that have been getting harder to fill of late, so thanks for adding yours to this thread. I'm editing this to add a Wow regarding Scott's T204. What a beautiful card!

Also, thank you for giving me an opening to show a Walter card I did add recently and (I don't think) has been shown yet -- from 1910 a well-loved E-91C (a side benefit of introducing Walter's E91-C is it gives Brian another opportunity to point out that Walter is a dead-ringer for one of the Pittsburgh players):

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[brianp-beme]

Also, thank you for giving me an opening to show a Walter card I did add recently and (I don't think) has been shown yet -- from 1910 a well-loved E-91C (a side benefit of introducing Walter's E91-C is it gives Brian another opportunity to point out that Walter is a dead-ringer for one of the Pittsburgh players):


Hi George, the A's, not Pittsburgh, but Rube always wanted to play for Washington, I just know it!

Brian

[GeoPoto]

Player #89A: Oswald L. "Ossie" Bluege. Third baseman for the Washington Senators in 1922-1939. 1,751 hits and 43 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. 1935 All-Star. 1924 World Series champion. He played his entire career in Washington. He was best known for his defense, but his best season at the plate was 1928 as he posted a .364 OBP with 78 runs scored and 75 RBIs in 588 plate appearances. He managed the Washington Senators in 1943-1947.

Deveaux explains how the Senators made another key addition in 1921: Later on in the 1921 season, with Blackie O'Rourke not hitting or fielding adequately, the eagle-eyed scout Engel went on a hunt for a shortstop. In Peoria, Illinois, he was impressed with the talents of a young 20-year-old named Ossie Bluege. But Bluege had been noticed before, and the Philadelphia Athletics had decided not to sign him after he had injured his knee while still in negotiations with them. Joe Engel's approach was a novel one -- he challenged Bluege to a race. When Bluege beat him handily, the deal was closed the very same night. Bluege, a serious type and an outstanding gloveman, would last 18 years in a Washington Senators uniform. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #90A: Leon A. "Goose" Goslin. Left fielder for the Washington Senators in 1921-1930, 1933, and 1938. 2,735 hits and 248 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. 1936 All-Star. 1924 and 1935 World Series champion. 1928 AL batting champion. 1924 AL RBI leader. 1968 inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. He drove in the game-winning, walk-off run to win the 1935 World Series for the Detroit Tigers. With Gehringer and Greenberg, was one of the Detroit "G-Men". In 1936 he had an inside-the-park HR when both outfielders (Joe DiMaggio and Myril Hoag) collided and were knocked unconscious. He had one of his best seasons for the WS-winning Washington Senators in 1924 as he posted a .421 OBP with 100 runs scored and 129 RBIs in 674 plate appearances.

Deveaux continues with the strengthening of the Senators roster: On the lookout for the left-handed slugger the Senators sorely needed, Griffith learned that the Columbia club of the Sally (South Atlantic) League was willing to part with a hard-hitting 20-year-old outfielder who just happened to hit lefty. Griffith sent Joe Engel to scout the outfielder, but nothing came of it.

While playing golf in nearby Baltimore about a month later, Griffith learned from a Baltimore Oriole stockholder that Orioles owner Jack Dunn, who had been the man who signed Babe Ruth to his first professional contract, was about to pay $5,500 for a Sally League outfielder. Griffith knew Dunn would not part with such a huge sum easily so, as the Old Fox enjoyed retelling later on, he remarked to his Baltimore golf partner at the time that "whatsisname" sure seemed to be the answer for Jack Dunn's lineup. Griffith snapped his fingers, feigning frustration at being unable to recall the player's name. He got the name -- Leon Goslin, the same player Joe Engel had scouted earlier.

Engel was on the next train to South Carolina to better Jack Dunn's offer. Goslin was reportedly hit on the head by a fly ball in the one game Engel witnessed, but he also smacked three homers. For Goslin, this would pretty well set the trend for a primarily good-hit-no-field type of career. Nicknamed "Goose" (not so much because of his name as for his frantic arm waving whenever he chased a fly ball), Goslin signed Engel's contract and would become the franchise's greatest slugger.

Here was a line-drive hitter with enough power to frequently drive the ball for home runs, as well as for numerous doubles and triples. Goslin would carve himself a niche in the Baseball Hall of Fame with a .316 career batting average and .500 slugging percentage. He would drive in 100 or more runs 11 times. It would be understating the point to say that the reported $6,000 purchase price for Goose Goslin was money well spent by Clark Griffith. This was quite a notable deal, especially in light of the fact that with Griffith, when there was money involved in a transaction -- and there often was -- it was usually going into his pocket. The Old Fox described his situation best, and he said it frequently: he never knew what morning the sheriff was going to knock on his door and tell him he was taking over. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #83B: Stanley R. "Bucky" Harris. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1919-1928. 1,297 hits and 167 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. 1924 and 1947 World Series champion. In 1975, inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Named player-manager of the Washington Senators in 1924 at age 27. "The Boy Wonder" led Washington to World Series victory as "rookie" manger. Managed Washington Senators in 1924-1928, 1935-1942, and 1950-1954. Managed the Detroit Tigers in 1929-1933 and 1955-1956. Managed the Boston Red Sox in 1934. Managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943. Managed the New York Yankees in 1947-1948, including winning the 1947 world Series. Served as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1959-1960.

Smiles presents Harris' 1921 season: Bucky stayed hot in the early going (of the 1921 season) and the scribes noticed: "Bucky Harris is being groomed as the successor to Eddie Collins as the premier second sacker in the American League. The lightning-like stride of Harris in engineering double plays has given him a new first choice among sportswriters as the new Collins. Stan is a phenom and soon may be classed with Eddie Collins and Ross Barnes as the super second basemen of all time. Leading the league in stolen bases, batting around .500, and never failing to come through with a hit or near hits when men are on and contributing sensational plays in every game, his work is astonishing the most jaded." (The Sporting News, April 28, 1921.)

An example of Bucky's Collins-like playing made it into the New York Times: "Harris dropped a drenched blanket on the crowd's hopes in the eighth inning of the game at the Polo Grounds when he made a glistening stop of Baker's hot shot off his right hand. His throw to first was wide and high, for he had no time to get set for it; but Judge came to the rescue with a neat one-handed nab. Spectacular, but very unjust." . . .

. . . Bucky didn't miss a game in '21. He led the American League in double plays by second basemen and was second in putouts and assists to the A's J1mmy Dykes. He batted .289 with a .367 on-base average, led the league in being hit by pitches again, was second in stolen bases, and scored 82 runs. Bucky started the season batting fifth. By August he was batting second regularly. (Bucky Harris by Jack Smiles.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #54J: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Deveaux sums up Johnson's 1921 season: Erratic throughout this season, Johnson settled down and won five of his last six starts. One of those victories was a 1-0 whitewashing of the Browns in which he faced the minimum 27 batters for only the second time in his career. While the great pitcher's era of sheer dominance had come to an end, his career was by no means over. He still led the majors in strikeouts, and there were two 20-win seasons three years off in the future. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

We will now pause briefly: expected restart -- 1 January 2023.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #73B: Joseph I. "Joe" Judge. First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1915-1932. 2,352 hits and 71 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. In 1924, as Washington won the AL pennant and the World Series, he had one of his better years as he posted a .393 OBP with 71 runs scored and 79 RBIs in 593 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1933-1934. He may have been the basis for the character of Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, whose author dated Judge's daughter in the 1940's.

Judge's SABR biography begins with his role in one of Walter Johnson's great moments: On July 1, 1920, Walter Johnson was attempting to complete a feat that had thus far eluded him in his thirteen-year career. The Washington Senator hurler was one out away from pitching his first no-hitter. Johnson was pitching a great game, striking out 10 Red Sox hitters and getting six others to foul out. He was clinging to a 1-0 lead in front of a small crowd of 3,000 at Fenway Park.

Standing in his way was Boston’s right fielder, Harry Hooper. Hooper was the only Red Sox to reach base, courtesy of a fielding error by second baseman Bucky Harris. He had also struck out in a previous confrontation between the future residents of Cooperstown. But Hooper was not caught up in the moment, and ripped Johnson’s second offering down the first base line that crossed the bag and was hooking into foul territory. First baseman Joe Judge quickly moved to his left, speared the ball, stopped and made a perfect toss to Johnson covering the base. The Big Train snagged the toss bare-handed. Judge was so excited, he went into a war-dance and congratulated Johnson, who could only say “Goodness, gracious, sakes alive, wasn’t I lucky?”

Joe Judge created that kind of “luck” for pitchers his whole career with his superb defense. He was a great fielder, leading American League first baseman six times and finishing second five other years. He was not the prototypical first sacker, standing 5’8 ½”, but he was one of the game’s best. He retired with a .993 fielding percentage, a mark that stood for 30 years, but his defense was only part of the tale. The left-handed swinging Judge brought a lethal stick to the Washington lineup, hitting over .290 for 11 straight seasons beginning in 1920. Yes, Joe Judge was the complete ballplayer, and one of the best first baseman of his era, or any other.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #91A: George E. "Duffy" Lewis. Left fielder with the Washington Senators in 1921. 1,518 hits and 38 home runs in 11 MLB seasons. 3-time World Series champion. Member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame. He debuted with Boston in 1910-1917. He teamed with Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper to comprise Boston's "Million-Dollar Outfield". During his tenure, the Red Sox won three World Series championships. He was so admired for his defense playing in front of the Green Monster, that the incline leading up to the wall in left field became known as "Duffy's Cliff". The incline was reduced in 1934 and eliminated in 2005. His most productive season was 1912 as he posted a .346 OBP with 109 RBIs in 664 plate appearances.

Lewis' SABR biography summarizes his time in Boston: For decades after they last played together, the Boston Red Sox’ outfield of Duffy Lewis, Tris Speaker, and Harry Hooper, who toiled next to each other for six years in the Deadball Era, was often considered the greatest in baseball history. Although all three, especially Speaker, were fine hitters, their reputation was due largely to their exceptional defensive play. Lewis, the left fielder and the only one of the three not in baseball’s Hall of Fame, was long remembered for the way he played the incline at the base of Fenway Park’s left-field wall, a slope of grass that bore the name “Duffy’s Cliff.” Hooper thought Lewis was the best of the three “at making the backhand running catch at balls hit over his head.” A powerful left-handed batter, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound Lewis typically batted behind Speaker in the cleanup position, and often ranked among American League leaders in home runs and runs batted in.

When Boston’s Fenway Park was built in 1912, the ten-foot embankment in deep left field was one of its most interesting trademarks. Lewis covered this ground for six years, and became its master. “I’d go out to the ballpark mornings,” he told a sportswriter, “and have somebody hit the ball again and again out to the wall. I experimented with every angle of approach up the cliff until I learned to play the slope correctly. Sometimes it would be tougher coming back down the slope than going up. With runners on base, you had to come off the cliff throwing.” The slope remained until 1933, when Fenway Park was thoroughly renovated.

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