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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