Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Player #54C (Part 2): Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Back to Deveaux: Clark Griffith, showman that he was, had really stirred the pot for this matchup (Johnson versus Wood in Boston). Ironically, Joe Wood at this point was only three wins short of Walter Johnson's all-time record of 16 consecutive victories. The Old Fox gave the word to the press that Red Sox manager Jake Stahl had been holding Wood back for the easiest opponents. Griffith made it clear that when the Nationals came to Boston, Wood would have to face Walter Johnson, and that Johnson would be held back until such time as Wood was ready to pitch. To make sure that there was no mistake about there being a challenge issued, the Old Fox said that Wood was going to be considered to be nothing more than a true coward if he didn't start against the great Walter.

If ever there was a game which fulfilled its promise, this was the one. Wood was in trouble in four different innings and the Big Train got by unfettered until the sixth. Alas, this was the year of the Red Sox, and with two outs, back-to-back doubles courtesy of Tris Speaker and Duffy Lewis brought in the game's only run. Speaker's double into a roped-off area would have been an out had there not been an overflow crowd. Lewis' hit was really a pop fly at the foul line that Danny Moeller got his glove on but couldn't hold.
For the record, Smokey Joe Wood did go on to win two more games to tie the Big Train's record, but he failed to break it. There was indeed not a lot to choose between the outstanding performances rendered by Johnson and Wood in 1912 -- Johnson's ERA (1.39) and strikeouts (303) were better, whereas Wood led in complete games (35) and shutouts (10). Walter held the opposition to the .196 composite average already mentioned; Wood limited batters to .216. Wood won 34 and Johnson, with an inferior offensive alignment backing him, 33. Gracious sportsman that he was, Johnson, covering the World Series for the Boston Herald, predicted that Joe Wood would not lose a game. He did, but won three as the Red Sox took the Series in seven over the New York Giants, making a world champion of ex-Washington boy-manager Jake Stahl. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #63: John W. "Jack" Knight. Infielder with the Washington Senators in 1912. 636 hits and 14 home runs in 8 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1905-1907. His best season was 1910 with the New York Highlanders as he posted a .372 OBP with 58 runs scored and 23 stolen bases in 472 plate appearances. His career ended with the New York Yankees in 1913.

Knight's SABR biography: There was another August deal done; on the 20th (of August, 1908), the New York Highlanders purchased his (Knight's) contract from Baltimore, but let him complete the season with the Orioles. In Buffalo, they called him “the handicap man” because he was a major-league player working in the minors; Sporting Life praised his defense: “While not a great hitter, Knight kills more hits than he makes. He is not a showy fielder, but like Lajoie, he covers a vast amount of ground without apparent effort. On account of his height, Knight gets balls that many of his contemporaries never could reach.”

It was back to the major leagues for three seasons with New York (1909-1911), determined to prove his worth, and he became a distinctly-improved hitter (.236, then .312, and .268, with a career-best 62 RBIs in 1911). . . . He’d long been considered an excellent fielder, adept at any infield position – with even some debate as to which position he played best – but why did he suddenly start to hit? Sporting Life shrugged, “[H]e seems to have suddenly discovered the elixir of swatology.” Two weeks later, the publication somewhat unhelpfully added that he appeared to have changed his style of batting. In his final year with New York, Knight began to show some inconsistency in his fielding, but manager Hal Chase (for whom Knight had filled in at first) thought there wasn’t a better first baseman in the business.

Clark Griffith of the Washington Senators had been inquiring about Knight throughout much of 1911; he finally landed his man and consummated a trade on February 17, 1912, sending Gabby Street to New York and, five days later, including Rip Williams in the deal as well. The Highlanders had a new manager, Harry Wolverton, and he wanted someone who he believed would be more reliable in the field. His contract with Washington was a high $4,000 a year, and he was said to have not reported in good physical condition. He hit .161 in 32 games and on June 28, having not used him that much, he was sold to the International League’s Jersey City Skeeters. He had been “unable to get into his stride. He could not play up to his standard, and caused the loss of games instead of the winning of them. When a man agrees to deliver a ton of coal and then offers a pint of peanuts instead there is not much chance for him to collect the price agreed upon for the coal. Knight should get in shape for next year’s start, and it is to be hoped that he will ‘come back’ if he does so.”

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[GeoPoto]

Player #64: Frank B. LaPorte. Infielder with the Washington Senators in 1912-1913. 1,185 hits and 16 home runs in 11 MLB seasons. He debuted with the New York Highlanders in 1905-1907 and 1908-1910. His best season was 1911 with the St. Louis Browns as he posted a .361 OBP with 82 RBIs in 565 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Federal League's Indianapolis Hoosiers/Newark Peppers in 1914-1915, including the Federal League pennant in 1914. He was the 1914 Federal League RBI champion. He was the first player to play for both the New York and Boston rival teams from the American League.

LaPorte's SABR biography: In the annals of the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry, there aren’t too many players who started with New York, then played for Boston, and then played for New York again. Frank LaPorte wasn’t the only one, but he was the first. . . .

. . . The year 1911 was the first time in LaPorte’s career that he had the opportunity to play consistently at his preferred position, second base. He appeared in 136 games (with the St. Louis Browns), 133 of them at second, and he hit .314 (almost 50 points higher than anyone else on the team) and drove in 82 runs, 20 more than any other Brown. The team itself fared poorly (45-107, in last place in the American League and 56½ games out of first place.

LaPorte was on the same pace in 1912, and things were proceeding well enough through his first 80 games. The Browns were an improved ballclub on offense, and LaPorte was hanging right in there, hitting .312 and having knocked in 38 – when he was suddenly sold to the Senators on August 6. George Stovall had taken over as manager 39 games into the St. Louis season, but why would the Browns dump a player who’d been doing so well? Sporting Life had an answer, if a bit of a brusque one: “It didn’t take George long to realize that LaPorte was a drone. And, as a natural result, he lost his job. LaPorte didn’t fit into Stovall’s scheme of play. Neither does any other man who isn’t a fighter and a hustler.”

Clark Griffith was now the manager in Washington and sought LaPorte, whom he knew from when he was managing in New York. He acquired him as a utility player, however, not to use him as a regular. “It is not intended to play LaPorte regularly unless someone is hurt,” stated Washington Post columnist Joe S. Jackson the morning after the trade. As it turned out, work was found and LaPorte got into 40 more games, hitting .309. While with the Senators, he was one of several players who saved many men and women during a hotel fire in Detroit on September 15.

It was a disappointing year for LaPorte in 1913; he appeared in just 79 games and batted only .252, but the Senators’ starting infielders each played fairly full seasons and Griffith wasn’t about to mess with matters, given that the team was in the pennant hunt all year long, finishing second – though LaPorte’s bat might have helped give them a boost in the middle months when things weren’t looking quite as good. About a week before the end of the season – on September 27 – Griffith sold LaPorte’s contract to the Kansas City Blues of the American Association.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #56C: George F. "Pinch" McBride. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1908-1920. 1,203 hits, 7 home runs, and 133 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. Has the lowest batting average of any player with 5,000 MLB at-bats. Managed the Washington Senators in 1921 but was struck in the face by a line drive during batting practice and forced to retire.

McBride's SABR biography follows his time in Washington: McBride’s nomadic baseball wanderings ended following the 1907 season, when he was purchased by the Washington Senators of the American League. Beginning in 1908, McBride played 13 seasons with the Nats, holding down the regular shortstop position for the first nine of those years. He was considered an iron man for his time. From 1908 to 1914, he played at least 150 games a season, including every Senators game during the 1908, 1909, and 1911 seasons. He was the AL leader in fielding percentage in 1909 and in each of the four seasons between 1912 and 1915, and always among the league leaders in putouts, and assists. His defense was such that he received votes for the Chalmers Award in 1913 and 1914 despite batting .214 and .203 in those respective years. In addition to his superior glove work, McBride was also noted for the good head he had for the game, and was named field captain of the Nats in 1909, a title he held throughout the remainder of his playing days. . . .

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Player #39D: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography picks up his career story: Milan’s peak was from 1911 to 1913 when he played in every game but one, batted over .300 each season, and averaged almost 74 stolen bases per season. In 1912 he finished fourth in the Chalmers Award voting, and his American League record-breaking total of 88 steals would have been 91 if Washington’s game against St. Louis on August 9th hadn’t been rained out in the third inning. Running into Milan on a train that summer, Billy Evans, who had umpired Milan’s first game back in 1907, remarked on his wonderful improvement in every department of the game, base running in particular. “When I broke in, I thought all a man with speed had to do was get on in some way and then throw in the speed clutch,” Milan told the umpire. “I watched with disgust while other players much slower than me stole with ease on the same catcher who had thrown me out. It finally got through my cranium that a fellow had to do a lot of things besides run wild to be a good base runner. I used to have a habit of going down on the second pitch, but the catchers soon got wise to it and never failed to waste that second ball, much to my disadvantage. Now I try to fool the catcher by going down any old time. Changing my style of slide has also helped me steal many a base that would have otherwise resulted in an out. I used to go into the bag too straight, making it an easy matter for the fielder to put the ball on me, but I soon realized the value of the hook slide.”

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Player #65A: Raymond C. "Ray" Morgan. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1911-1918. 630 hits and 88 stolen bases in 8 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .348. His best season was 1913 as he posted a .369 OBP with 19 stolen bases in 565 plate appearances. He has an odd link to Babe Ruth: in 1917, he led off a game by drawing a 4-pitch walk from Boston starter Ruth, who was then ejected from the game by the home plate umpire. Ruth was replaced by Ernie Shore and Morgan was thrown out attempting to steal on Shore's first pitch. Shore then retired the next 26 batters he faced. Shore's "perfect game" was eventually down-graded to a "combined no-hitter" by subsequent revisions in the MLB criteria.

Morgan's SABR biography: Morgan played second base for the Washington Senators in the final decade of the Deadball Era alongside slick-fielding shortstop George McBride. Morgan often was sidelined by injuries but played mostly on a regular basis from 1912–17. He was used less in 1918, his final season, having lost favor with Griffith, who was still the field manager at the time.

On June 23, 1917, in Boston, Morgan played a pivotal role in one of baseball’s most famous games. He led off the game by drawing a walk from Ruth, the Red Sox starter. Ruth was so incensed by the calls, he punched the umpire and was ejected. Shore took over on the mound, and Morgan was immediately thrown out trying to steal. Shore famously retired the next 26 batters in a row, a feat that until 1991 was deemed a perfect game.

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Player #33E: Charles E. "Gabby" Street. "The Old Sarge". Catcher for the Washington Senators in 1908-1911. 312 hits and 2 home runs in 8 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Cincinnati Reds in 1904. Caught ball dropped from top of Washington Monument. Holds MLB record for longest gap between MLB games at 19 years -- 1912-1931. Managed the St. Louis Cardinals in 1929 and 1930-1933, including the 1931 World Series championship. Managed the St. Louis Browns in 1938.

Street's SABR biography introduces "the old Sarge": Gabby Street became known as Sergeant Street when he enlisted in the Army in March 1918. As Street put it, he was going off to fight in the “real” World Series.

“I was sent to Fort Slocum, N.Y., and everybody interested in baseball thought it was great that I should be on hand to catch the army team. I finally convinced my lieutenant that I joined the army to fight, pointing out that I could have continued playing baseball for a salary. I was one of the first 50,000 to get over and took part in three major engagements: Chateau Thierry, St. Mihiel and the Argonne. That St. Louis regiment, the 138th, was as fine as an outfit as I ever saw, and I was proud to be attached to it,” said Sergeant Street. The Sporting News, October 2, 1930.

Street was assigned to the 1st Gas Regiment, Chemical Warfare Division. He and his men joined the 138th in the Battle of the Argonne. Street’s men held down a smoke screen for the 138th Infantry on September 26, 1918. A machine-gun bullet from a German airplane punctured his right leg on October 2, 1918. He was awarded the Purple Heart, and his fighting days were at an end.

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