Washington DC Baseball

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Player #65C: 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: On July 30 (1914) in Detroit, Morgan was at the center of one of the worst riots involving players, spectators, and police at a 20th century major league game. The umpire, Jack Sheridan, was a respected veteran, but his failing eye-sight meant he no longer worked behind the plate. Called out on a close play at first base, Morgan threw dirt at Sheridan’s feet. The umpire immediately ejected Morgan before decking him with a punch. Morgan got up and began swinging at the umpire. Griffith, coaching third, and McBride rushed to try to pull the two apart. As McBride was trying to restrain Sheridan, Eddie Ainsmith, the Nats’ catcher who was coaching first, landed a glancing blow on the umpire. Ainsmith also was ejected.

By this time, members of both teams had come out of their dugouts. As Morgan and Ainsmith headed off the field, spectators began yelling abuse at Ainsmith as he approached the stands. A fan and the player began exchanging blows before the fan picked up a chair and heaved onto the field, hitting one of the Nats. The fans behind the Detroit dugout came out of the stands and began pummeling Morgan. Several players on both teams came to his rescue.

At this point, people from the bleachers were running across the field toward the brawl. The police from a station adjacent to the ballpark arrived in force. With the help of the players, they got the fans back into the grandstands. The Senators demanded that the fan who threw the chair be arrested, but the police declined. Detroit owner Frank Navin showed up and persuaded several belligerent spectators to leave. Despite an appeal from Griffith, no action was taken against Sheridan, who suffered sun stroke during an August game and died that fall. Morgan was suspended for a week and Ainsmith for two.

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Player #74C: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Carroll touches on Rice's 1917 campaign Part 1: Historians pinpoint the period between 1915 and 1920 as the precise time when pitcher workloads had decreased to the point that everyday players, on average, finally became more valuable than top pitchers. Hence, given the choice of where to play multi-skilled players like Ruth, Rice, Sisler, and all the others, managers decided more and more often that they wanted their best players on the field every day.

As the start of the 1917 season neared, Clark Griffith had long since decided that Rice would be an everyday position player, especially after his strong performance at the plate during his second-half tryout in 1916. Where exactly Rice would play was still something he was figuring out, however. Joe Judge, who had received most of the playing time at first base the year before, struggled as a rookie, batting just .220. So Griffith contemplated trying Rice at first. Rice understood the mental aspects of the position. And Griffith was pleased with his arm strength and accuracy in case he needed to make throws to other bases on the diamond. There was one problem, though -- Rice couldn't field ground balls. It was an issue that would continue to plague Rice for years in the outfield, but it was much less of a problem for an outfielder than an infielder. Judge stayed at first -- a good decision, in hindsight. . . . (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

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Player #74C: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, mother, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Back to Carroll for Part 2: . . . On July 20, the day before the (1917) Senators bottomed out, the "great national lottery" was begun. Blind-folded Secretary of War, Newton Baker drew the first number, 258, from a glass jar. The draft was underway. And although enthusiasm regarding the war swept the United States as a whole, baseball, its product threatened, would eventually attempt -- unsuccessfully -- to battle for the exemption of its players.

For now, they carried on. The Senators rallied to finish with a 74-79 record, good for fifth place and well behind the runaway train that was the Chicago White Sox. Rice had immediately proven his value as an everyday player. He appeared in all of the Senators' games, every one of them in right field, and his .302 batting average made him the only Washington player to top the .300 mark. He also stole thirty-five bases.

"The case of Sam rice is one of the most interesting of the baseball season," a newspaper writer noted. "Rice is a natural hitter and as he is still a youngster there seems no reason, if his baseball career is not interrupted, why he should not in another year rank with the consistent .300 batters. His is but another case of a pitcher who has become a good fielder.

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Player #75C: Howard S. "Howie" Shanks. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1912-1922. 1,440 hits and 185 stolen bases in 14 MLB seasons. His best season was 1921 with Washington as he posted an OBP of .370 with 81 runs scored and 69 RBIs in 647 plate appearances. He finished his career with the New York Yankees in 1925.

We go back to Shanks' SABR biography: Through 1916, Shanks played almost exclusively as an outfielder. But, in 1916, he played six different positions, though primarily left field (71 games) and third base (31 games). Already in September 1916, Griffith started talking about using Shanks regularly at shortstop. He did just that in 1917, and Shanks appeared in 90 games at short against just 26 in the outfield. He also played a couple of games at first base. By the end of his career, the only positions he had never played were pitcher and catcher.

His batting averages fluctuated around .240 for his first eight seasons with Washington, but in 1920 he hit for a .268 average (his best to that date) and hit four homers (matching the four he’d hit in 1914). He topped both figures, by a big margin, in 1921. It was his career year, perhaps also reflecting the livelier baseball. Shanks hit .302, knocked out seven home runs, and led the league with 18 triples. The most triples he’d hit before was also in 1914, with 10. He established career highs with 69 RBIs and 81 runs scored.

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Player #80: Elmer J. Smith. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1916-1917. 881 hits and 70 home runs in 10 MLB seasons. He was a 2-time World Series champion -- 1920 with Cleveland and 1923 with the New York Yankees. In 1920, he hit the first grand slam in World Series history. In 1916, he was the first to hit a fair ball over the wall at Griffith Stadium. He debuted with the Cleveland Naps/Indians in 1914-1916. His best season was 1920 with Cleveland as he posted a .391 OBP with 12 home runs in 527 plate appearances. His last season was with the Cincinnati Reds in 1925.

Smith's time in Washington was relatively uneventful, but his SABR biography talks to his participation in a World Series game that included some important "firsts": It is often said that no matter how many times a person may go to the ballpark, chances are good they might see something occur that they had not seen before. That experience is even more enhanced if the achievement or the play is of the record-setting variety. The 26,884 patrons who pushed through the turnstiles at League Park in Cleveland on October 10, 1920, witnessed a day of “firsts” in World Series history.

With the best-of-nine Series tied at two games apiece, Brooklyn manager Wilbert Robinson selected spitball pitcher Burleigh Grimes to face Cleveland’s Jim Bagby in a rematch of Game Two. In that contest, Grimes had little trouble dispatching the Indians in a 3-0 shutout to even the Series at a win apiece. Now he was being called on again to deliver the victory on enemy soil.

But the drama was short-lived as Cleveland loaded the bases in the first inning on consecutive singles by Charlie Jamieson, Bill Wambsganss, and Tris Speaker. Up stepped right fielder Elmer Smith, who had not fared well in Game Two against Grimes, going hitless in four at-bats. But the left-handed Smith led the Indians with 12 home runs in the regular season, including two grand slams. Grimes threw his money pitch, offering two spitballs that Smith swung at badly and missed. After throwing a pitch for a ball, Grimes fired a fastball down the middle. Smith connected solidly, sending the baseball high over the right-field fence, clearing the attached screen, and across Lexington Avenue. The crowd cheered with delight, as the Tribe took an early 4-0 lead, a lead they would not relinquish. It was the first grand slam in World Series history.

In the fourth inning Bagby connected on a homer, a three-run shot. The home run was the first by a pitcher in the World Series and ended Grimes’s day. In the fifth inning the Robins got consecutive singles from Pete Kilduff and Otto Miller. Clarence Mitchell stepped up to the plate and the relief pitcher hit a liner to second baseman Wambsganss. Wamby moved to his right, leaped, and snared the liner. The runners were moving, and Wamby stepped on second base, turned, and tagged a shocked Miller for the third out. The Robins catcher was not the only one caught off guard. The whole park fell silent, trying to figure out what had just unfolded on the field. Then an eruption of cheers echoed through the autumn air. Almost a century later it remained the only unassisted triple play in a World Series.

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Player #81: Earl H. Yingling. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1918. 25 wins and a 3.22 ERA in 5 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Cleveland Naps in 1911. In 1913 with the Brooklyn Dodgers/Superbas, he posted an 8-8 record with a 2.58 ERA in 146.2 innings pitched.

Yingling's MLB experience was not extensive and his time in Washington was the least of it. He is remembered now, if at all, as an example of a player who's name would have inspired the use of nicknames that would not be considered politically-correct today.

The following is an Author's Note to Yingling's SABR biography. Author's Note by Chris Rainey: Baseball-reference.com mentions that Yingling had the nickname of “Chink”. In my research this nickname was never used in any game stories or articles about him that I read. The Encyclopedia of Minor Leagues uses the nickname in their 1993 edition for the 1915 season. I reached out to SABR member Stew Thornley, who is highly knowledgeable about Minneapolis baseball. He had never seen the name in use and checked the 1915 season without finding any usage. I did find one article poking fun that Yingling and Siglin (Paddy) sounded like a menu item in a Chinese restaurant.

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The 1918 Washington Senators won 72 games, lost 56, and finished in third place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

Deveaux takes us through the 1918 season: Crippling to baseball at this time was the reality of war and the government's refusal to yield to Ban Johnson's pleas for draft deferments for baseball players. On May 23, 1918, baseball was shocked to learn that Secretary of War Newton D. Baker's "Work to Fight" order meant that all able-bodied men of draft age either had to enlist or otherwise engage in work considered essential for the war effort. Washington catcher Eddie Ainsmith, granted a deferment earlier, was now ordered to sign up, and his became the test case on which the fate of the game depended. On July 19, War Secretary Baker announced that baseball was not adjudged to be an essential war activity.

League president Ban Johnson shocked everyone by announcing that the season would end, and suddenly, in just two days. By now, the owners had had enough, and Clark Griffith stepped into the breach. Griffith was friendly with the Secretary of War. Even though the war was dragging on, Griffith was able to convince Newton Baker to allow baseball players, who were in shape anyway, to do military drills prior to games, with baseball bats instead of weapons no less. In Washington, young Assistant Navy Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt led some of these drills.

Griffith obtained assent from War Secretary Baker for baseball to continue until Labor Day, with an extra two weeks allotted for the World Series. No doubt riding a patriotic wave, Griff reciprocated by sponsoring a fundraising drive which netted $100,000 to buy baseball equipment for servicemen in Europe. The first supply of gear reportedly ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic, sunk by a German U-boat. . . .

. . . Walter Johnson was the one bright spot for the club early in the season, and the Nationals were struggling to stay out of seventh place as late as June. Following a two-week slump in July, the club was hot from then on and finished within four games of the Red Sox and first place, the best showing for the Washington franchise to this point. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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