The 1927 Washington Senators won 85 games, lost 69, and finished in third place in the American League. They were managed by Bucky Harris and played home games at Griffith Stadium.
Walter Johnson made his first appearance of the 1927 season on Memorial Day. He was pleased to find that he still had good speed, and upon his return, like on so many of his first starts of previous years, he was superb, allowing just three hits, walking no one, and blanking Boston 3-0 at Griffith Stadium. This was the 11th and final time that fewer than 30 batters (29 in this instance) came up to the plate to face him in a complete game.
More significant than all of the above, however, may have been the fact that Barney struck out just one batter. He fanned six in his next start, a 5-3 loss to the Browns, but was then bombed 7-1 by Cleveland in a outing where no speed was evident. Johnson was held back from a couple of turns in mid-June, and when he did come back, he was the victim of an 8-2 drubbing at the hands of the Athletics.
Walter Johnson had been in the major leagues for 20 years, and August 2, 1927, was the precise anniversary date of his big-league debut. Coincidentally, he would be facing the Tigers on this day as well. Tributes were delivered by both clubs at Griffith Stadium -- Walter was handed the day's receipts of $14,476.05, and gifts from fans included over $1,500 in cash. Secretary of State Frank Kellogg spoke before the crowd of 20,000 and declared that the name Walter Johnson exemplified what was best about sports. The man stood as a shining beacon whose example the youth of America could follow.
Unfortunately, on this day, the Big Train surrendered four runs in the fifth on the way to a 7-6, incomplete-game loss. The defeat was debited from reliever Garland Braxton, although under modern rules Walter would have been the pitcher of record. This was poetic justice in the sense that his first loss, 20 years earlier, would not have been charged to him under the revised rules. The end came quickly for Walter Johnson in 1927, given his 31 decisions the previous year. His ERA ballooned to a surreal 5.10, and as a result his workload diminished to just 107.2 innings. That was it.
Tris Speaker, five months younger than Johnson, whose career was very nearly over, did earn his 30 grand, upping his average to .327 in 1927. It was to be his only year in Washington -- Spoke's final year in the majors would be spent in the company of Ty Cobb with the Philadelphia A's in 1928. Goose Goslin, still only 26, hit .334 in '27, as he had in the Nats last pennant-winning year, and tied for third in ribbies behind the Yankees' fearsome Ruth-Gehrig tandem. These were the highlights for a club, not far removed from a position at the top of the baseball world, which won 85 games. Regrettably, these Senators were at the same point in the continuum of time and space as were the 1927 New York Yankees.
The '27 Yankees are considered by many to have been the best team ever. They won 110 games and left the Nats in third place, but groveling in the dust, a full 25 games out of a pennant position. On July 4, 74,000 had turned up at Yankee Stadium for a doubleheader which the Yankees swept from the Nats by embarrassing 12-1 and 21-1 scores. Babe Ruth went 5-for-7 and Lou Gehrig hit two homers on the day, enabling him to pass Ruth momentarily in the home-run derby. The previous day, back in Washington, Ruth had hit what came to be considered for years as the longest drive ever seen at Griffith Stadium. The Babe had, quite naturally, tipped his cap for the fans while rounding the bases with the little steps he took.
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