Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Great card Val, and quite right about his crucial role in Washington's 1924 World Series success. Without Zachary's heroics in games 2 and 6, it would not have been possible for Walter Johnson to finally don the Hero's mantle in game 7. And with that we have reached 1924:

We begin our coverage of the 1924 season with these excerpts from Smiles: At 2:47 on the morning of August 3, 1923, while visiting in Vermont, Calvin Coolidge received word that he was president. President Warren G. Harding had died of a heart attack in San Francisco. By the light of a kerosene lamp, his father, who was a notary public, administrated the oath of office as Vice President Coolidge placed his hand on the family Bible. . . .

. . . In 1924, as the beneficiary of what was becoming known as the "Coolidge Prosperity," he polled more than 54 percent of the popular vote. His 25.2-point victory margin in the popular vote is one of the largest ever.
Coolidge was nearly as popular as the capital's baseball team, which he went to see on Thursday, June 26, 1924, as the first-place Washington Senators began a 34-game, 29-day homestand that would include 11 double-headers. The stand opened with a double-header against the A's. Griffith Stadium took on a festive atmosphere to rival a World Series opening. Fans lined up at the box office beginning at 7 o'clock that morning. . . .

. . . At 1 P.M. the Navy band led the Senators onto the field to a tremendous ovation. "A bevy of beautiful girls from the Pemberton Dancing school wearing nothing you couldn't write home about on a postcard, but probably wouldn't, glided onto the field strewing garlands in the path of the players. Some of the fathers on the club thought the girls ought to go home and put something on. The younger members thought it was good stuff." . . .

. . . Approximately 20,000 fans turned out for the first game and 3,000 more for the second, including President Coolidge and four secret servicemen. The presidential box behind the Senators' dugout was empty until the First Lady and her children arrived in the seventh inning of the first game. The president arrived just before the second game. The band played the national anthem as he entered the box. . . .

. . . Altrock and Schacht went through their repertoire of comedy acts, dancing with the dance school girls, rowing and fishing in front of the president's box, and performing their famous slow-motion pitching and batting act. Stringer (Washington Post scribe Harry,) seemed to be obsessed with the dancing girls' attire, writing, "First the clowns participated in athletic dancing with the girls, though their uniforms seemed to hamper their movements, while the fair ones were under no such handicap. The president applauded vigorously."

Johnson, who hadn't pitched in five days, won the first game, 5-0. It was the team's 10th straight win. (Bucky Harris by Jack Smiles.)

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