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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