Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Player #91A: George E. "Duffy" Lewis. Left fielder with the Washington Senators in 1921. 1,518 hits and 38 home runs in 11 MLB seasons. 3-time World Series champion. Member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame. He debuted with Boston in 1910-1917. He teamed with Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper to comprise Boston's "Million-Dollar Outfield". During his tenure, the Red Sox won three World Series championships. He was so admired for his defense playing in front of the Green Monster, that the incline leading up to the wall in left field became known as "Duffy's Cliff". The incline was reduced in 1934 and eliminated in 2005. His most productive season was 1912 as he posted a .346 OBP with 109 RBIs in 664 plate appearances.

Lewis' SABR biography summarizes his time in Boston: For decades after they last played together, the Boston Red Sox’ outfield of Duffy Lewis, Tris Speaker, and Harry Hooper, who toiled next to each other for six years in the Deadball Era, was often considered the greatest in baseball history. Although all three, especially Speaker, were fine hitters, their reputation was due largely to their exceptional defensive play. Lewis, the left fielder and the only one of the three not in baseball’s Hall of Fame, was long remembered for the way he played the incline at the base of Fenway Park’s left-field wall, a slope of grass that bore the name “Duffy’s Cliff.” Hooper thought Lewis was the best of the three “at making the backhand running catch at balls hit over his head.” A powerful left-handed batter, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound Lewis typically batted behind Speaker in the cleanup position, and often ranked among American League leaders in home runs and runs batted in.

When Boston’s Fenway Park was built in 1912, the ten-foot embankment in deep left field was one of its most interesting trademarks. Lewis covered this ground for six years, and became its master. “I’d go out to the ballpark mornings,” he told a sportswriter, “and have somebody hit the ball again and again out to the wall. I experimented with every angle of approach up the cliff until I learned to play the slope correctly. Sometimes it would be tougher coming back down the slope than going up. With runners on base, you had to come off the cliff throwing.” The slope remained until 1933, when Fenway Park was thoroughly renovated.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #92: Robert E. "Bobby" LaMotte. Shortstop with the Washington Senators in 1920-1922. 175 hits and 3 home runs in 5 MLB seasons. His final years were with the St. Louis Browns in 1925-1926.

Bobby LaMotte was an infielder for 21 years from 1916 to 1936, five in the Major Leagues and 19 in the minors. He served in Europe for the U.S. Army during World War I.

From 1920 through 1922 he played for the Washington Senators and from 1925 through 1926 with the St. Louis Browns. His major league career was ended by an eye injury when he was hit by a ball.

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[doug.goodman]

Signed photo with a fan of Cookie Lavagetto as a Senators coach in March 1955

[GeoPoto]

Doug: Thanks for posting. Is that LaMotte standing next to Cookie?

Player #56G: 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 appointment as manager was popular throughout the baseball world, but ill fortune scarred the ex-shortstop’s first and only season as the club’s manager. On July 27, 99 games into the 1921 season, McBride was struck above the temple by a ball thrown by outfielder Earl Smith during practice prior to a scheduled contest with the Chicago White Sox. He reportedly suffered a slight concussion and partial paralysis of the face. He was confined to his bed for almost a week and returned to the club on August 4, but continued dizziness and fainting spells hampered his efforts to lead his squad. Nevertheless, McBride guided the 1921 Senators to a fourth-place finish, with an 80-73 record, the best winning percentage achieved by the club during the 1919-1923 period. McBride continued to feel the ill effects of his injury during the off-season, and, on December 6 resigned his post as manager. Griffith offered him a job with the club as a scout, but he did not feel his health was good enough to accept the offer.

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[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by GeoPoto

Doug: Thanks for posting. Is that LaMotte standing next to Cookie?

No, it's a gentleman named Jim Armstrong. I have a bunch of signed pictures of him with players that I picked up from H&S a few years ago. He was an early autograph collector.

[GeoPoto]

Player #39J: 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.

Deveaux takes us through Milan's time as Washington manager: After McBride's terrible accident (manager McBride was struck in the face and partially paralyzed by a thrown ball while hitting infield practice) in August (1921), 34-year-old Clyde Milan, who batted .288 in 112 games in his player's role, took over. Milan now in his 15th year with Washington, guided the club to its 80-73 finish. . . .

(Aside to loyal readers: You may have noticed that yesterday saw an unplanned failure to post on my part. Because there is no excuse, I will simply explain that a series of entanglements with rabbit holes and confusions involved in preparing for an early morning departure conspired to distract me until I was beyond the conveniences of desk-top computing. I believe the medical term for what happened is "I forgot all about it." Oh, well . . .)

. . . They (the Nationals) fell to 69-85 (in 1922) and, after just one year at the helm, Deerfoot Milan gave up his managing job, having found the work decidedly unsatisfying. He'd been beset by stomach problems all year, brought on by nonstop worry about his sixth-place charges. In Walter Johnson's opinion, his best friend was too nice a guy, and some of the players had taken advantage of him. Milan's batting average, as an occasional insert in the lineup, had plunged from .288 to .230. He would never play again in the big leagues, although he would hit over .300 in the following two years as a player-manager in the minors. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #93A: George A. Mogridge. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1921-1925. 132 wins and 21 saves in 15 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. He debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 1911-1912. His most productive season was 1921 with Washington as posted a 18-14 record with a 3.00 ERA in 288 innings pitched. He finished his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1926-1927. In 1917 he threw the first no-hitter in New York Yankee history. It was also the first no-hitter thrown in Fenway Park.

Deveaux points at Mogridge's importance to Washington: Clark Griffith was taking more measures (in 1921) towards building a championship-class ballclub out of his Senators. He had solid offense and defense particularly at first base with Joe Judge, at second with Bucky Harris, and in right field, where San Rice had taken over. The pitching was probably as good as the Nats had ever had, with Tom Zachary and George Mogridge complementing Walter Johnson as starters. Mogridge was a tall, friendly lefty whose past history had not foretold the consistency he would bring to Washington's pitching staff. Obtained from the Yankees in a deal involving outfielder Braggo Roth, who'd hit .291 in his one year with the Nationals, Mogridge would average 16 wins a season over the next four years. . . .

. . . Top man on the Senators' 1921 pitching staff was not Walter Johnson, but George Mogridge, who made good use of a befuddling mixture of off-speed offerings. Mogridge was the workhorse and top winner at 18-14, and Walter Johnson went 17-14 with an inflated 3.51 ERA, up considerably from 1.49 just two years earlier. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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