Washington DC Baseball

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Player #35A: William E. "Wid" Conroy. Utility player for the Washington Senators in 1909-1911. 1,257 hits, 22 home runs, and 262 stolen bases in 11 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. He had at least 384 plate appearances in each of his 11 MLB seasons. He was the first-string SS on the NL champion Pittsburgh Pirates in 1902. He moved to 3B in 1903 with the New York Highlanders, twice leading AL third basemen in total chances per game. He was an opening day starter for the Highlanders for the first five years of the team's existence. In 1907 he swiped 41 bases second only to Ty Cobb. He finished his career with Washington and in one of his last games set an AL record with 13 total chances at 3B.

Conroy's SABR biography covers his heyday in New York and his demise in Washington: Wid spent the next six seasons (1903-8) with New York, never batting higher than .273, but finishing among the league’s top ten in home runs twice, triples four times, slugging percentage once, and stolen bases four times. In 1907, Conroy’s 41 steals tied for second, behind only Ty Cobb‘s league-leading 49. Consistently praised for his deft handling of the bat (like many players of the era, Conroy choked up on the bat several inches and found his base hits by punching the ball to all fields), Conroy was also known as a smart, speedy base runner, routinely taking “the biggest leads off base of any player in the big show.”

Following the 1908 season, in which he batted just .237 with a .296 slugging percentage, Conroy was sold to the Washington Senators for $5,000. Reflecting his solid standing within the game, Conroy’s acquisition was greeted with delight by Washington fans, who took it as a sign that “the local owners are sincere in their efforts to build up a winner.” Now 32 years old, Conroy failed to live up to the high hopes that had been set for him and finished the year with a .244 batting average and career-low .293 slugging percentage. He spent the following offseason “boiling out” in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and his offensive production improved slightly in 1910, but the following year he finished with a .232 batting average, the lowest of his career, while stealing just 12 bases.

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Player #36: Frank E. "Jerry" Freeman. "Buck". First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1908-1909. 142 hits in 2 MLB seasons.

Jerry Freeman was nicknamed "Buck", presumably after the major league star Buck Freeman, whose eleven-year major league career ended with 4 games in 1907. Buck then played most of the 1907 season with the Minneapolis Millers, hitting .335, while Jerry Freeman played for the same team and hit .362 (in his fourth season with Minneapolis). The next year Jerry was a regular in the majors. Buck stayed with Minneapolis in 1908 but hit over 100 points lower.

Jerry played almost all of the 1908 Washington Senators games at first base, making 41 errors, a total which led the league by a comfortable margin. His hitting was above average - his .253 batting average was second highest among the regulars, and his 15 doubles were also second highest. In addition, his 45 RBI led the team. The next year, however, he started slowly with the bat and the glove, and was gone after 19 games.

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How Walter Johnson became a National Hero (Part 3): Only three pitchers had made the road trip for the Senators, as the mound corps was beset by injuries, and Joe Cantillon had asked Walter prior to the first game of the four-game set in New York whether he could start three times in a row. The big Train would later confide that Cantillon had been able to placate him time and again in the same way -- Walter would ask the manager for an extra seating pass to a game for a friend, and Pongo Joe would surprise him with a half a dozen. When the manager unexpectedly asked him to pitch, Walter couldn't turn him down because, he explained, his friends were always after passes.

Going the route for a second straight day, Johnson gave up just four hits and shut out the Highlanders again, 6-0. Now there was talk that Walter might not only start three games in a row, but get a shutout in all of them. The Washington Post reported that manager Cantillon had joked that maybe Johnson would pitch again Monday. The city was mad about Walter and the sports pages were jammed with stories about him. There was no chance that he would get three shutouts on consecutive days, however, since the third day was the Sabbath day. It would be another ten years before baseball could be played in New York on Sundays. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

We will get back to this account again soon, but in the meantime, here's a pin featuring Walter from the 1924 season.

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Player #37: Robert S. "Bob" Ganley. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1909. 540 hits and 112 stolen bases in 5 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1905. His best season was 1907 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .337 OBP with 40 stolen bases and 73 runs scored.

Ganley played a lot of all three outfield positions during his five years in the majors, appearing with three teams. He went from playing for excellent Pittsburgh Pirates teams in 1905-06 to poor Washington Senators teams in 1907-08 and part of 1909 to an excellent Philadelphia Athletics team for most of 1909. Ganley was in the top ten in the league in stolen bases twice while with the Senators, and was fourth in the league in hits in 1907. Bob came to the majors at age 30, after a long career in the minors. After his major league days, he again played in the minors. He moved around so much that he was called "the globetrotter of organized baseball". He played for New Haven, Albany, Brockton, Columbus, Toledo, Marion, Schenectady, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Oakland, Johnstown, Des Moines and Newark, and that was just in the minors. He managed the Fredericton Pets in 1913 and the Perth Amboy Pacers in 1914.

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Player #28B: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

Griffith's SABR biography takes us through the developments that followed his resignation (during the 1908 season) as manager of the New York Highlanders: Over the next few months Griff was deluged by offers to manage other clubs. He made no secret of his desire to assume an ownership role, even in the minor leagues, and for several months he carefully considered all of his options. Finally, in December, in something of a surprise move, he signed a contract to manage the Cincinnati Reds and was back in the National League.

Under Griffith, Cincinnati finished fourth in 1909, just nosing into the first division, distantly behind perennial leaders Pittsburgh, Chicago and New York. After three straight losing seasons, the campaign had to be considered a success, but it would mark the high point of Clark’s brief stay in the Queen City, as the Reds dropped a notch in the standings each of the next two years. Although managerial success eluded him, Clark managed the NL’s first Cuban ball players, Armando Marsáns and Rafael Almeida. He still longed to be an owner, however, and when the opportunity arose in 1911, he was ready to do whatever was necessary to avail himself of it.

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Player #38: Michael J. "Mike" Kahoe. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1907-1909. 278 hits and 4 home runs in 11 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Cincinnati Reds in 1895 and 1899-1901. He may have been one of the first catchers to wear shin guards.

Kahoe's SABR biography touches on some of his career highlights: Mike Kahoe appeared on major league rosters mostly as a catcher for eleven seasons. In that time he played in an unremarkable 410 games and batted a mere .212. Yet his career is forever joined with some of baseball history’s most celebrated individuals, unique events, and folklore. Kahoe’s acquisition by the Chicago Nationals in 1901 allowed that team to move Frank Chance from catcher to the outfield and eventually to first base where he was immortalized in “Tinker to Evers to Chance.” In 1907 Washington was hit with the injury bug at catcher and in August acquired the veteran Kahoe from Chicago. Mike was immediately put to work as the personal catcher of a rookie from Idaho, Walter Johnson. Later Kahoe would scout and sign dozens of players for the Senators and Braves.

His Sporting News obituary also called attention to his claim that he used shin guards (possibly in 1902 to protect an injury) before Roger Bresnahan ever did. An extensive search of newspapers did not turn up any mention of Kahoe’s use of protection until the 1908 season. In fact, in a Washington Post article from June 17, 1907, Mike was interviewed about Bresnahan’s use of shin guards. He discussed their use saying; “I believe there are more low fouls hit nowadays than there were two or three years ago and ones shins are likely to get it any minute. Also they are a good protection when a man is sliding into the plate…” There is no mention in the article that Mike had ever used shin protection.

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How Walter Johnson became a National Hero (Part 4): On the Monday, September 7, 1908, there was to be a doubleheader in New York. It must have occurred to Johnson that he might start, but if so, likely not in the first game. While warming up with Gabby Street, it became apparent there was no one else getting ready. Johnson reportedly looked at Joe Cantillon, received a nod from the manager, and when he got back to the dugout after just a few easy tosses, told Cantillon, "It's all right with me if it's all right with you."

Barney then went out and tossed a third shutout at the Highlanders in just four days. He showed no sign of tiring during the course of the game. In fact, he yielded just two hits, having improved each game as he'd gone along. (He had given up six hits on Friday and four on Saturday.) He walked no one and struck out five, beating Jack Chesbro again despite taking one of Chesbro's spitballs in the ribs in the third inning. Furthermore, from Monday to Monday, the Big Train had made four mound appearances, having pitched 4.2 innings against Boston on the previous Monday.

Following the third shutout in a row, W.W. Aulick wrote in the New York Times of September 8, 1908: "We are grievously disappointed in this man Johnson of Washington. He and his team had four games to play with the champion (sic) Yankees. Johnson pitched the first game and shut us out. Johnson pitched the second game and shut us out. Johnson pitched the third game and shut us out. Did Johnson pitch the fourth game and shut us out? He did not. Oh, you quitter!" (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

We will get back to this account soon, but in the meantime, another pin commemorating the 1924 American League Pennant eventually won by Walter and his Washington Senators on their way to a World Series victory.

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