Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Thirty-five-year-old Stan Coveleski got a 13-game winning streak going until losing it to the White Sox in a blowout at the end of July. On August 2, Walter Johnson returned to the mound against the Tigers. His first appearance in over a month fell exactly on the 18th anniversary of his first big-league appearance, which had also involved Detroit. This time, though, unlike the first, Johnson won, allowing the Tigers, one of the league's stronger clubs, a measly two hits in a 5-1 Washington win.

On August 17, the Senators obtained the old Tiger outfield star, Bobby Veach, on the waiver wire from the Yankees. There can be no better indication of how good a team the Yanks were than the fact that Veach rang up a .353 batting average for them before they cut him adrift. Unfortunately, he only hit .243 for the Nats the rest of the way, and his career ended in Washington at age 37 with his career batting average resting ay a cozy .310.

The Senators stayed in second place for a month, but finally, on August 20, Tom Zachary and Firpo Marberry combined for a 12-inning 1-0 shutout of the Indians. That day, the Browns beat Philadelphia, and the Nats, as it would turn out, were on top for good. Washington lost 1-0 in 11 innings the next day, but the A's failed to capitalize, getting trounced 8-2 by Chicago. The Senators demolished Detroit 20-5 on the 22nd with nine extra-base hits, including a mammoth home run by Walter Johnson. They scarcely even gave Philadelphia an opportunity to get back on top over the next six weeks.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1682501041

[Hankphenom]

Gorgeous pin!

[GeoPoto]

By the end of August, Sam Rice had climbed to the top of the league batting race, a lead he would not be able to sustain. Also grabbing headlines in the baseball world was Yankees manager Miller Huggins, who announced that Babe Ruth was being suspended and fined $5,000 because of the Bambino's complete disregard for club rules. Ruth, whose bulk represented nearly twice the manager's, reportedly told Huggins that if he weighed 50 pounds more, he would have gotten a punch in the nose. Huggins shot back that if he had weighed 50 pounds more, it would have been the Babe's nose which would have been endangered.

The A's began what was to be a fatal string of losing games as August wound down. The Nats won every one of five games in a home-and-home series which began September 1 at Washington. In Philadelphia on September 7 for the traditional Labor Day doubleheader, Walter Johnson, who went 3-for-4 at the plate for the second time in a week against the A's, edged Lefty Grove 2-1 in the first game. A 7-6 Nats victory in the afternoon affair made it a horrifying 12 consecutive losses for the Athletics, and a nine-game lead for Washington.

The A's were officially eliminated and the Senators coasted to the pennant, finishing 8 1/2 ahead of the A's, and 15 up on the third-place Browns. Walter Johnson won his 20th before a large Ladies' Day Crowd in Washington on September 11, but hurt his leg sliding six days later. Reinjured while crossing home plate when he returned to play on September 20, he would be kept on the sidelines for the rest of the regular season as the Senators awaited a second successive World Series appearance. On September 23, it was announced that Johnson had a successor as the league's Most Valuable Player -- it was none other than shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh.

The 1924 American League MVP congratulates the 1925 American League MVP:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1682587592

[ValKehl]

As George mentioned, "Peck" was the 1925 AL MVP.

[GeoPoto]

On September 28, the Senators were guests of President Calvin Coolidge at the White House, becoming the first reigning World Series champions to visit the White House.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1682672609

[GeoPoto]

Player #89B: Oswald L. "Ossie" Bluege. Third baseman for the Washington Senators in 1922-1939. 1,751 hits and 43 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. 1935 All-Star. 1924 World Series champion. He played his entire career in Washington. He was best known for his defense, but his best season at the plate was 1928 as he posted a .364 OBP with 78 runs scored and 75 RBIs in 588 plate appearances. He managed the Washington Senators in 1943-1947.

From Bluege's SABR biography, we get Ossie's take on the end of the 1924 season, including his lack of confidence in Muddy Ruel's wheels. Also, that 1924 ball players had no interest in elite indulgences such as champagne.

In Bluege’s mind, the Nats were lucky to win. With one out in the twelfth inning of Game Seven, Ruel lifted a pop foul behind home plate. Giants catcher Hank Gowdy got tangled up with his mask and dropped the baseball. Given renewed life, Ruel laced a double to left field. Johnson stepped up and reached on an error by shortstop Travis Jackson. Ruel held at second, but scored when Earl McNeely sent a bouncer to third base. The tale that has been handed down through the years is that the ball struck a pebble and caromed into left field. “(Irish) Meusel fielded the ball and Muddy’s running like hell,” remembered Bluege. “And that’s when Meusel put the ball in his pocket. He could have thrown Muddy out. We were on top of the bench, pulling like hell. I remember Nemo Leibold standing up alongside of me, pumping, ’C’mon, Muddy. C’mon, Muddy,’ trying to pull him across home plate. When he did, we jumped like hell and we greeted everybody and kissed everybody. But there was no champagne at that point in time. We didn’t believe in champagne.”

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1682759097

[GeoPoto]

Player #111A: Stanley A. "Stan" Coveleski. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1925-1927. 215 wins and 21 saves in 14 MLB seasons. 1920 World Series champion. 1923 and 1925 AL ERA leader. 1920 AL strikeout leader. Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame. 1969 inducted to MLB Hall of Fame. He debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1912. He was one of 17 "grand-fathered" spit-ball pitchers. One of his best seasons was 1918 with Cleveland as he posted a 22-13 record with a 1.82 ERA in 311 innings pitched.

Deveaux explains Stan's emergence as a key Senator's pitcher. Clark Griffith had won the World Series with one of the oldest ballclubs ever to win a championship, and the Nats would do so again in 1925 with a roster that was even older. A couple of weeks before Christmas, 1924, Griffith made two deals, obtaining seasoned pitchers Stan Coveleski and Dutch Ruether. A Pennsylvania coal miner, Coveleski had gotten a late start in baseball and had won 19 as a 28-year-old for the Indians in 1917. He won 22 or more over the next four seasons but was coming off a 15-16, 4.04 season with the Indians, and was nearing his 36th birthday.

The shrewd Old Fox was determined to keep patching up his club, and he'd had to part with very little for the two veteran hurlers. For Coveleski, Griff gave up Speece, of the exaggerated underhand windup, and some cash. . . .
. . . On behalf of the Washington Senators in 1925, Stan Coveleski, future member of the Hall of Fame (inducted 1969), went 20-5, and led the league with a 2.84 ERA, winning 13 in a row at one point. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

Covelski slinging and swinging:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1682845325
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1682845332