Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Player #44A: Robert "Bob" Groom. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1909-1913. 119 wins and 13 saves in 10 MLB seasons. For the St. Louis Browns in 1917, he pitched a no-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader after pitching 2 innings of no-hit relief in the first game. With Koob, only teammates to pitch no-hitters on consecutive days. His best season was 1912 as he went 24-13 with a 2.62 ERA and Washington finished second in the American League. In 1909, his 7-26 record included 15 consecutive losses, during which his 42-110 Senator teammates mustered a total of 19 runs. Walter Johnson's record that year was 12-25.

Groom's SABR biography covers his transition to the big league: The 1908 (West Coast League) Beavers fared much better (than they did in 1907), in large part because of Groom. Finishing second with a 95-90 record, Portland led the league as late as July 5, and Bobby was the Beavers’ star pitcher, recording a league-leading 29 wins versus 15 losses and 2 ties. After an early July flirtation with Cleveland and nationally-published rumors that Groom would soon join Addie Joss on the Naps’ pitching staff, it never came to pass. Instead, Washington bought him from Portland at the end of the season for $1,750. Walter McCredie, who would develop a reputation for sending important players to the majors, often called Groom “the best pitcher to go East” from the Pacific Coast League.

As a pitcher, Groom was fast and intimidating, and his demeanor generally serious and inscrutable. His ball movement was extraordinary, occasionally so extraordinary that inexperienced backstops had trouble catching him. In recalling Groom, American League umpire Billy Evans noted, “He was plenty fast and inclined to be wild,” but Evans described his curve as “magnificent and sweeping.” Building on a youthful fast ball, Groom developed a repertoire that included the curve Evans admired, a change of pace, and an occasional spitball moistened with tobacco juice. Evans believed that Groom never received full credit for his ability. “He happened to be on the same team as Walter Johnson, who overshadowed the whole staff,” said Evans. “If he had been with some other club, I dare say Groom would have been regarded as a speed marvel.” Evans also recalled Groom as a man with great confidence. “When he walked out to the rubber, you got the idea that he thought he was a pretty good pitcher. I agreed with him.”

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[GeoPoto]

Player #45A: Herman A. "Germany" Schaefer. Infielder for the Washington Senators in 1909-1914. 972 hits, 9 home runs, and 201 stolen bases in 15 MLB seasons. His "steal" of first base prompted rule making it illegal. Popular as a baseball "trickster" and "on-field clown", often in tandem with Charley O'Leary and, later, with Nick Altrock. Altrock eventually perfected the art with Al Schacht.

Big Ed Delahanty's brother Jim had a bad year at the dish (in 1909), following up a .317 season with .232 before being sent to Detroit for Germany Schaefer, a reliable hitter and accomplished baserunner, in an exchange of second baseman. A regular player with the great Tiger teams since 1905, Schaefer, who like Rube Waddell was one of baseball's more renowned zany characters, had once caused a change in baseball's rules. After stealing second with a man on third, he was not able to coax a throw from Cleveland catcher Nig Clarke. So on the next pitch, Schaefer went back to first so that he could try again. He did, this time drawing a throw which allowed the winning run to score. As a result of Scheafer's unexpected maneuver, it would become illegal to run in the wrong direction on the basepaths. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #46A: James C. "Jim" Delahanty. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1907-1909. 1,159 hits, 19 home runs and 151 stolen bases in 13 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Chicago Orphans in 1901. His best season was 1911 as he posted a .411 OBP with 15 stolen bases for the Detroit Tigers in 628 plate appearances. In all he had 5 MLB seasons with more than 500 plate appearances.

Delahanty's SABR biography discusses his baseball career and time in Washington: Remembered mostly for his more famous older brother Ed, Jim Delahanty was a fine player in his own right, and one of the most well-traveled hitters of the Deadball Era. During a professional career that lasted nearly two decades, the free-swinging right-hander played for fifteen different clubs, including eight in the major leagues. Despite his lengthy itinerary as a professional ballplayer, Delahanty bore an excellent reputation within his profession. “Delahanty is looked upon as one of the ‘classy’ boys of the American League,” Alfred Spink wrote in 1910. “He is a most graceful fielder and a congenial sort of a fellow both on and off the field.” Though second base was his primary position, during his career the versatile Irishman filled every position on the diamond except catcher, and finished his career with an excellent .283 batting average in 1,186 career games.

Delahanty lasted only 33 games with the Browns, contributing a disappointing .221 batting average with only three extra base hits before St. Louis sold him to the Washington Senators on June 11, 1907. Shifted to second base full time, Delahanty found his new environs to his liking, batting .292 in 108 games for Washington. The following year, Delahanty put in another fine season, batting .317 in 83 games, though his campaign was marred by nagging injuries and an ugly incident in his hometown of Cleveland on August 4. In a game which Washington lost 7-5, Delahanty and teammate Otis Clymer were ejected for arguing with umpire Silk O’Loughlin. According to reports, Delahanty responded to the ejection by unleashing a torrent of profanity that could be heard throughout the park. American League president Ban Johnson responded to the incident by suspending Delahanty, fining him $50, and banning him from the Cleveland park for one year. Not surprisingly, Delahanty considered the ruling unfair and excessive. “O’Loughlin’s decisions were way off and I told him so, and when he put me out of the game I grew sore and said things to him, but I did it quietly and no one in the stands heard it,” Delahanty insisted. In order to be fair to the other contenders in that year’s hotly contested pennant race, Washington manager Joe Cantillon decided that if Delahanty could not play in Cleveland, he also wouldn’t play him in Detroit, Chicago, or St. Louis, a decision which resulted in Delahanty missing 14 games in addition to the 13 Johnson had suspended him for. At the start of the next season, Johnson lifted the Cleveland ban.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #47A: Norman A. "Kid" Elberfeld. "The Tabasco Kid". Shortstop for the Washington Senators 1910-1911. 1,235 hits, 10 home runs, and 213 stolen bases in 14 MLB seasons. Fiery temper involved him in numerous ferocious arguments and assaults on umpires. Managed the New York Highlanders in 1908. Debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1898. Had a career OBP of .355 and 7 MLB seasons with at least 500 plate appearances.

Elberfeld's SABR biography summarizes his career and early MLB experience: Kid Elberfeld, called “the dirtiest, scrappiest, most pestiferous, most rantankerous [sic], most rambunctious ball player that ever stood on spikes” for his vicious arguments on the diamond, patterned his combative style after that of his favorite team, the Baltimore Orioles of the mid-1890s. He believed, like those Oriole players, that an umpire should be kept in his place, and that what happened behind an arbiter’s back was none of his business. But, when Elberfeld kept his volatile temper in check, he was also an “ideal infielder–full of ginger.” Called by George Stallings one of the two best shortstops in baseball, his throwing arm was “cyclonic,” and, though only 5’7,” 158 lbs., he was fearless in turning the double play. Not surprisingly, he was frequently spiked, and by 1907 wore a whalebone shin guard on his right leg for protection. He was also one of the best hitting shortstops of his day, with a career .271 average, and a master at getting hit by close pitches. He perfected the art of angling his body in toward the plate, holding his arms in such as way as to take only a glancing blow while simultaneously appearing to make an honest attempt to avoid the pitch, and then, for effect, shouting and gesticulating at the pitcher. He became so adept at this that he still ranks 13th on the career hit by pitch list, with 165.

He jumped back to Detroit the Tigers of the Western League) in 1900 (after a brief stint with Cincinnati), where, as the “most aggressive” player on the “most aggressive and scrappiest” team in the newly renamed American League, he was ejected from three games during one eight-game stretch in June. Though he batted only .263, he led all shortstops with an astonishing average of over seven successful chances per game.

Elberfeld remained with Detroit for the next 2½ years. In 1901, as the Tigers staked their claim to major league status, he batted .308 with 11 triples and three home runs, all of which would remain his major league career highs. Near the end of the 1902 season, New York Giants’ owner John T. Brush and manager John McGraw attempted to beef up their last place team by signing several Detroit players, and reportedly signed Elberfeld to a two-year contract for $4500 per year. But the 1903 peace agreement returned Elberfeld to Detroit, and, when Edward Barrow was suddenly named to replace suicide-victim Win Mercer as new Detroit manager, Barrow inherited an unhappy shortstop. Though Elberfeld started fast, batting .431 after the first three weeks of the season, his hitting soon tailed off and his fielding was shoddy. On June 2, Barrow fined and suspended him for “loaferish conduct,” suspecting Elberfeld of playing poorly to force a trade to the St. Louis Browns. Eight days later, Barrow did trade him, not to St. Louis, but to the New York Highlanders.

We will pick the Kid's career up with the Highlanders the next time he surfaces in our progression.

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[Den*nis O*Brien]

I thank the OP for starting this thread. I have nothing to add but really liked all of the "Good stuff" shown by all. I hope it keeps going !!!

[GeoPoto]

You are welcome, Dennis. Thank you for the feedback.

The 1910 Washington Senators won 66 games, lost 85 (with 6 ties), and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Jimmy McAleer and played home games at National Park.

Throughout this (the 1910) season, if for no other reason, Washington fans would have something to cheer about. The 22-year-old Big Train lived up to every expectation that he had produced with his incredible performances in September 1908. On the seventh-place 1910 Senators, Johnson's record was 25-17, with a pair of one-hitters and a pair of two-hitters. He was the league's dominant pitcher, leading in strikeouts, innings pitched, and complete games.

Johnson's 25-17 record, marking the only time in history a pitcher has gone from 25 losses to 25 wins in one year, would certainly have been enhanced if he had had better backup. Only the quick Clyde Milan and the defensive wiz at shortstop, George McBride, excelled. Milan established himself as a base-stealing menace by swiping 44 bases and hitting .279 in a league that, as a whole, hit just .243 in 1910. McBride, however, was consistently a weak hitter, finishing at .230. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

William Howard Taft threw out the first pitch during Opening Day ceremonies preceding the Washington Nationals–Philadelphia Athletics game on April 14, 1910. The National Park where the first-ever presidential ceremonial first pitch was thrown burned down in March 1911, and a new stadium, also called National Park at first, was built in its place. It would be renamed Griffith Stadium in 1923. 1n 1913, Vice President James S. Sherman threw out the first pitch at Washington's home opener. Taft did not attend the 1913 game because of the death of his friend Archibald Butt in the Titanic disaster. (I can't help but wonder if poor Mr. Butt, and his interesting name, were made the, ahem, point of many playground jokes during his younger days.)

Deveaux picks up the story of the first presidential opener: On April 14, 1910, Walter Johnson took the mound for the season opener for the Senators. This was the first of 14 times he would do so in his 21-year career. The opening game was also historically significant because William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States, threw out the first ball and became the first President to inaugurate a baseball season. In April of the previous year, President Taft and Vice-President James Sherman had made an appearance at a Nationals game, the first time a U.S. President had shown up at a ballgame in the city since Benjamin Harrison had back in 1892. The tradition of the ceremonial first pitch is one that would be followed from 1910 onward.

Prior to the ceremonial toss, new manager Jimmy McAleer had urged a shy Walter Johnson to volunteer to catch the ball. Walter had responded that he was sure the President had not come to the ballgame just to play catch. Gabby Street was enlisted as the official receiver, but then for some reason apparently known only to President Taft, the President turned and threw the ball to Walter Johnson. A member of the presidential party who had overheard Johnson's remark to McAleer had interpreted it for President Taft in such a way that the President understood that Walter had backed out of the ceremony because he was too bashful. For Johnson, the baseball became the first in a collection signed by various presidents which he would accumulate and treasure.

The initial excitement was somewhat tempered when Secretary of State Charles Bennett, sitting in the presidential box with Taft and Vice-President Sherman, was skulled by a line drive fouled off the bat of Frank "Home Run" Baker of the A's. There was general confusion until Bennett waved to attendants to indicate that he was not in need of first aid. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

In the 1960's, Sports Pics Photo Premiums showcased Presidential First Pitches. The first in the series features President Taft.

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