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Old 10-03-2022, 01:50 AM
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Default 1913 Washington Senators

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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