Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

The 1912 Washington Senators won 91 games, lost 61, and finished in second place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played their home games at National Park.

Deveaux addresses the runup to the 1912 season: (When he took over before the 1912 season) Clark Griffith wanted a young team to replace the previous season's 64-90 entry. The regular lineup he was about to assemble would stay together for four years. Only the reliable George McBride at shortstop, a .235 hitter in 1911, and centerfielder Jesse Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan, who had just completed his .315 campaign and was stealing nearly as many bases as the great Cobb, were retained as regular position players.

Griffith got rid of Walter Johnson's catcher, Gabby Street, insisting that the two youngsters the Nats already had, John Henry and Eddie Ainsmith, would fill the bill between them. He cut loose a pair of sidekicks from his Highlander days, infielders Wid Conroy and Kid Elberfeld. All told, Griffith released or sold ten players -- veteran outfielders Jack Lelivelt and Doc Gessler, and pitcher Dixie Walker (whose two sons would one day become stars in the National League), were among those set adrift.

To replace them, Griffith brought in youngsters. Eddie "Kid" Foster, 24, would play third and Ray Morgan, just 20, second. Morgan would supply a dependable brand of second base for this ballclub for seven years, and hit .238 as a rookie and .254 for his career, spent entirely in Washington. At 25, Clyde Milan would anchor an outfield also featuring 22-year old holdover Clarence "Tilly" Walker, 21-year old rookie Howard Shanks, and an older newcomer, Danny Moeller, 27, a fleet outfielder who had last appeared in the big leagues with the Pirates in 1908. The 1912 pitching staff wasn't deep -- the bulk of the work would go to Walter Johnson, Bob Groom, and Tom Hughes. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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