Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Player #10: John J. "Egyptian" Healy. "Long John". Healy was born in Cairo, IL, hence the nickname, "Egyptian". Pitcher with the Washington Nationals in 1889. 78 wins and a 3.84 ERA in 8 MLB seasons. He debuted with the St. Louis Maroons in 1885-1886. His best season was 1890 with the Toledo Maumees as he went 22-21 record with a 2.89 ERA in 389 innings pitched. His final season was 1892 with the Louisville Colonels. Healy's career W-L record was 78-136; during the 1880s, his .310 winning percentage (44-98) was the lowest of any Major League pitcher in the decade.

During the 1888-89 off-season he was part of the world tour which Al Spalding organized. Among other places, they went to Egypt. Healy died of consumption in 1899 at age 32.

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[GeoPoto]

The Washington Nationals played their first and only season of professional baseball in 1872 as a member of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. They finished eleventh in the league with a record of 0-11.

The Washington Blue Legs played their first and only season in 1873 as a member of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. They finished seventh in the league with a record of 8-31.

The 1891 Washington Statesmen baseball team finished the season with a 44–91 record in the American Association in their first season. After the season, the AA disbanded and the Washington club, renamed the "Senators," joined the National League.

Player #11: Paul A. Hines. Outfielder with the Washington Nationals in 1886-1887. 2,133 hits and 57 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1884 World Series champion with the Providence Grays. 1878 Triple Crown winner. 2-time (1878 and 1879) batting champion. 1878 NL home run leader and NL RBI leader. Hines debuted with Washington in the National Association in 1972 and played for eight other MLB teams, including the Washington Blue Legs (1873), Washington Nationals (NL) (1886-1887), and, in his final season, the Washington Statesmen (1891). During the first five NL seasons, from 1876 through 1880, Hines had more base hits than any other player, and he retired third to Cap Anson and Jim O'Rourke with 1,884 career hits in the majors.

Hines' total of sixteen seasons as a major league team's primary center fielder was not surpassed until Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb in 1925.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #12: William F. "Bill" Krieg. Catcher/1B/Outfielder with the Washington Nationals in 1886-1887. 127 hits and 4 home runs in 4 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies in 1884.

Krieg started 1887 with Washington. On opening day, he hit a home run, and in the stands, "hats, umbrellas and canes were thrown into the air and the multitude shouted forth their joy in hilarious manner." However, Krieg batted just .253 in 25 games and was released in midseason.

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[Jobu]

Here's a photo of a black team, the 1921 Washington Athletics. I previously posted a thread looking for information and didn't get too far, so if you know about this team I'd love to hear it.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=301569

[GeoPoto]

I like the picture, thanks for posting. Who they are? is a pitch I can't hit.

[GeoPoto]

Player #13: Jeremiah J. "Miah" Murray. Catcher with the Washington Nationals in 1888 and the Washington Statesmen in 1891. 17 hits in 125 plate appearances spread across 4 MLB seasons. Murray debuted with the Providence Grays in 1884.

Murray worked as a full-time National League umpire for the 1895 season.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #14: William S. "Billy" O'Brien. Third baseman with the Washington Nationals in 1987-1989. 364 hits and 32 home runs in 5 MLB seasons. Debuted with the St. Paul Saints in 1884. His best season was 1887 with Washington as he posted a .317 OBP with 19 home runs and 73 RBIs in 479 plate appearances. He finished up with the Brooklyn Gladiators in 1890.

In March 1887, O'Brien was acquired by the NL's Washington Nationals. That season, he played 113 games, batting .278 with 73 runs batted in (RBI) and a 126 OPS+. He led the league in home runs, with 19.

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[FromVAtoLA]

I love the fox - team mascot perhaps?

Originally Posted by Jobu

Here's a photo of a black team, the 1921 Washington Athletics. I previously posted a thread looking for information and didn't get too far, so if you know about this team I'd love to hear it.

[GeoPoto]

Player #128D: Joseph E. "Joe" Cronin. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1928-1934 and the Boston Red Sox in 1935-1945. 2,285 hits and 170 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. He had a career OBP of .390. He was a 7-time All Star. Boston Red Sox #4 retired. Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame. In 1956, he was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. His best season was probably 1930 for Washington as he posted a .422 OBP with 127 runs scored and 127 RBIs on 686 plate appearances. He managed the Washington Senators in 1933-1934 and the Boston Red Sox in 1935-1947. He was General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1948-1958. He was president of the American League in 1959-1973. When he left the Red Sox in 1959, they were the only MLB team without a black player. He and team owner Tom Yawkey are generally viewed as responsible for this injustice which ended six months after Cronin's departure.

Deveaux on Cronin's 1934 season and his eventual departure: All of these tribulations (injuries to many of Washington's front-line players) had to weigh heaviest on Joe Cronin, who was hard-pressed to pencil in a decent starting lineup every day, let alone fulfill his duties as a shortstop. Cronin's average dipped to .284, but he led the club once again with 101 RBIs. For the fifth straight year, he was selected the top player at his position in all of baseball. Cronin did, unlike his subordinates, manage to stay healthy, at least until early September, when he broke his wrist in a baserunning mishap. His season was over, his hand in a cast for the duration. . .

. . . All added up, it is little wonder that the Washington Senators, the proud defending champions of the American League, finished 34 games out of first place in 1934. They'd gone from 99 wins to 66 in one year. How bad had things gotten? Bad enough that Allen Benson, a member of the House of David baseball team, was signed by Griffith in an effort to boost fan interest in his sagging franchise. The House of David team consisted of good amateur players who toured the country, playing teams of local all-stars wherever they went. Their gimmick, apart from playing good baseball, was that every member of the club wore a long beard.

Griffith thought that might work well at Griffith Stadium, and Benson, known as "Bullet Ben", attracted a large Sunday crowd on August 19, 1934. He was battered about by the league-leading Tigers, but apparently not so badly that Griffith wouldn't give him another shot. Slated to next appear against the St. Louis Browns, Benson begged the owner to let him shave his beard so that he wouldn't feel like he was making such a spectacle of himself. Griffith insisted that if the beard went, Bullet Bob would have to go too. So, the pitcher relented and was trounced by the Browns as well.

So ended an ill-advised career in the major leagues, with Allen Benson having allowed 19 hits in 9.2 innings, for a 12.10 ERA that lives on in infamy. These same words could be used to describe the '34 season for the Washington Senators. The injured Joe Cronin turned over his managing chores toward the end of the season to Al (the Clown Prince of Baseball) Schacht. This somehow seemed fitting -- Schacht had already made his mark in baseball as a comedian. . . .

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[GeoPoto]

Player #128D: Joseph E. "Joe" Cronin. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1928-1934 and the Boston Red Sox in 1935-1945. 2,285 hits and 170 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. He had a career OBP of .390. He was a 7-time All Star. Boston Red Sox #4 retired. Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame. In 1956, he was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. His best season was probably 1930 for Washington as he posted a .422 OBP with 127 runs scored and 127 RBIs on 686 plate appearances. He managed the Washington Senators in 1933-1934 and the Boston Red Sox in 1935-1947. He was General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1948-1958. He was president of the American League in 1959-1973. When he left the Red Sox in 1959, they were the only MLB team without a black player. He and team owner Tom Yawkey are generally viewed as responsible for this injustice which ended six months after Cronin's departure.

. . . If the season had been nothing but disappointing for Senator fans, the greatest calamity was yet to befall them. The bombshell came 2 1/2 weeks after the conclusion of the World Series, which the Tigers of Goslin and Crowder lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals. Clark Griffith had always maintained that his reputation as a flesh trader aside, he had never sold a player outright for a large sum of cash. Sure, he had sold bit players at times, but never anyone who could, by his absence, have drastically impaired the ballclub's fortunes.

All of this changed on October 26, 1934, when Griffith stole some headlines from Hoover's G-men. Just four days earlier, federal agents had gunned down Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, the bank robber and murderer who'd been dubbed the "most dangerous man alive," when he attempted to flee from them in Ohio. With his news, Clark Griffith was to get a lot of attention not only in the baseball world, but with Americans in all walks of life.

Joe Cronin, already Griffith's best player and manager, had become part of the family a month earlier, in late September 1934. Three weeks after he'd broken his wrist, he had married Mildred Robertson, who was not only Griffith's secretary, but also his niece. The Cronins had met shortly after Joe was first assigned to the Senators on Friday the 13th of July 1928.

Joe Cronin had come to Washington highly recommended not only as a shortstop, but as a prospective beau for Mildred, who'd received a note from scout Joe Engel that he was bringing her "a real sweetie." When Cronin walked into Griffith's office on July 16th, there was Mildred, the girl of his dreams, something Joe said he immediately recognized. She, apparently, didn't recognize the boy of her dreams right away, and in fact it would be a number of years before she would even pay any attention to him, according to Cronin. Mildred Robertson was a font of baseball knowledge -- Cronin once said he would have put her up against anyone in terms of the wealth of baseball information her brain contained.

It is not difficult to imagine, then, Clark Griffith's dilemma when he got a phone call from Tom Yawkey of Boston during the 1934 World Series. Yawkey said that he had a check made out in Griffith's name in the amount of $250,000, and that he would part with it in exchange for Joe Cronin. To provide some idea of what this sum meant, Babe Ruth, already a superstar when he was sold by the Red Sox in 1920, had fetched only half that amount. Nothing of the kind had been seen since. Now, in much harder times, here was an offer of a quarter of a million dollars!

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