Washington DC Baseball

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Player #73A: Joseph I. "Joe" Judge. First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1915-1932. 2,352 hits and 71 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. In 1924, as Washington won the AL pennant and the World Series, he had one of his better years as he posted a .393 OBP with 71 runs scored and 79 RBIs in 593 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1933-1934. He may have been the basis for the character of Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, whose author dated Judge's daughter in the 1940's.

We pick up Deveaux's account prior to the 1915 season: . . . Griffith thought Judge could hit, and that he was obviously a great fielder -- a natural ballplayer. A son of Irish immigrants and raised in one of the roughest sections of New York City, Judge would be a regular in the Washington lineup for 15 years. Nineteen fifteen was quite a remarkable year for players breaking into the major leagues --most noteworthy were Rogers Hornsby, George Sisler, Joe Judge, and another Washington player who would become another piece of a championship puzzle for the Nationals.

An industrious businessman, Clark Griffith had cultivated friendships with baseball men everywhere, and he kept an eye on developing minor-leaguers. He formed allegiances with owners, and in the spring of 1915, he loaned some money to the Petersburg club of the Virginia League. That loop folded, and in lieu of cash, Griffith was persuaded to take a promising young pitcher instead. (Again, we will return to this account very shortly.) (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #39G: 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.

Milan's SABR biography takes us back to his earliest days in baseball: In 1905 Clyde traveled several days to join a semipro team in Blossom, Texas, after reading an advertisement that the manager of the club was looking for players. There was a great rivalry that year between Blossom and the neighboring town of Clarksville. “Dode Criss, now with St. Louis, was the star pitcher and batter of the Clarksville team, and he surely was some hitter,” Milan told a reporter in 1910. “Well, we played Clarksville and I not only hit Criss hard, but in the ninth inning, with the bases full, I guess I made the most remarkable catch off of his bat that I have ever made in my life. I don’t know today how I ever got near the ball, but I nailed it and was a hero in Blossom thereafter.” Milan ended up joining Blossom’s rivals, but he wasn’t with the Clarksville team very long before the North Texas League disbanded in mid-July due to an epidemic of yellow fever. Milan then finished up the season in the Missouri Valley League, with the South McAlester Miners in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). . . .

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Player #74A: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, mother, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

We again pick up Deveaux's account prior to the 1915 season: . . . The pitcher, Edgar Charles (Sam) Rice, would be converted into an outfielder without much power, but who could place the ball and who had the speed and instinct to steal bases and cover an enormous amount of real estate. Sam Rice would be good enough to make the Hall of Fame. He and Joe Judge would be teammates for 18 years, a record which would stand until broken in 1996 by Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker of the Detroit Tigers.

Sam Rice was already 25 1/2 years old by the time he first appeared in a game for the Nats on August 7, 1915. (He relieved in a 6-2 loss to Chicago, one of his nine appearances before the idea of his pitching was abandoned the following year. The right fielder behind him in his debut was Walter Johnson, subbing for the injured Danny Moeller.) The reason for Rice's late start in baseball remained a secret for 70 years. The truth was that he had shown up for a tryout three years earlier at Galesburg, Illinois, leaving a wife and two children behind in Indiana. A number of days later, while Rice's wife and children were visiting his parents in Morocco, Indiana, a tornado struck their farm. His wife, children, parents, and sisters were all killed.

Rice drifted for about a year after that, and then joined the navy. He became a star pitcher and, after seeing actual combat in Mexico, returned to pitch for Petersburg of the Virginia League during furloughs. He did so well that Clark Griffith thought it fit to accept his contract from the Petersburg owner as repayment of the old debt. Edgar Rice got a new name right then. Clark Griffith forgot Rice's given name and told a newspaper reporter that he thought it was Sam, and the name stuck. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.) (Note: This account of Rice acquiring his nickname is not universally accepted. There is evidence that the nickname existed prior to Rice joining Washington.)

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Player #75A: Howard S. "Howie" Shanks. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1912-1922. 1,440 hits and 185 stolen bases in 14 MLB seasons. His best season was 1921 with Washington as he posted an OBP of .370 with 81 runs scored and 69 RBIs in 647 plate appearances. He finished his career with the New York Yankees in 1925.

Shanks' SABR biography details his time with Washington: The Washington Senators drafted him in the September 1 Rule 5 draft. Mike Kahoe is credited with the actual signing; he worked as Washington’s main scout at the time. The Senators anticipated using Shanks in a utility role–or maybe not to use him at all. McAleer hailed from Youngstown and (it was written nearly a year later) he drafted Shanks to keep him from going to another team and then return him to Youngstown in the spring–in other words, to “cover him up.” But McAleer became a part-owner of the Boston Red Sox and Clark Griffith bought into the Senators. “When Griff looked over his youngsters this spring, he could not see anything the matter with Shanks except inexperience, so decided to keep him.”

His debut came on May 9, 1912, pinch-hitting for Dixie Walker, but made an out. Shanks got more work than initially expected (he ultimately played in 116 games) and by early August was said by the Washington Post to be “playing the best left field in the league.” He was a gamer, for sure. In the springtime he’d been beaned in batting practice and been out for a week or two. When he was hit again–hard–in the head on August 1, by a George Mullin fastball, “he fought the players of the two clubs who ran to the plate and tried to carry him. It required the services of about four athletes to hold Shanks’ legs and arms, while four others did the actual lugging.” He was dizzy in the dressing room, but recovered later in the day.

The Red Sox won the pennant, by 14 games over the Senators, who beat out the third-place Athletics by two games. Shanks drove in 48 runs and scored 25; he hit for a .231 average (.305 on-base percentage). He was a very good fielder who earned his keep with defense. Griffith later said that “the greatest play I ever saw was pulled off by one of my own boys–young Howard Shanks. That kid actually came in from the outfield, gathered up an error, carried it into the infield and converted it into a double play. I might add in passing that the stunt retired the side, and saved the game for us.” Shanks was playing left field that day against the White Sox, but he recorded a putout at second base, tagging baserunner Harry Lord and then threw to home plate in time to get Morrie Rath trying to score. (We will return to this account when Shanks next surfaces in our progression.)

(Aside: For those golfers among us, you have to love this guy's name!)

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The 1916 Washington Senators won 76 games, lost 77, and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

Deveaux takes on the 1916 season: The presence of Joe Judge precipitated the departure of Chick Gandil, who was sold to the Indians in February 1916. Later in the season, Danny Moeller and pitcher Joe Boehling were traded to the Indians for outfielder Elmer Smith and third baseman Joe Leonard, neither of whom was to make a big splash in Washington. Smith would be sold back to the Indians less than a year later and would enjoy a fine 10-year career.

Walter Johnson beat the Yankees 3-2 in 11 innings on Opening Day, April 12, the third opening-day win over the Yankees for Johnson. (The Yanks would beat the jinx two years later with a 6-3 decision at National Park.) After a good start, the Senators tailed off and finished 76-77, good enough for only seventh place in a very tight field, 14 1/2 games behind the champions, the Red Sox.

Clark Griffith's own standpat stance was starting to impact on his team's performance. This was not as serious as what was happening in Philadelphia, however, where Connie Mack, after winning the World Championship in 1913 and reaching the World Series again in 1914, had sold off his stars. In '16, the A's sank to an incredible 54 1/2 games behind the pennant-winning Red Sox; they won just 36 games and lost a whopping 117. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #61B: Edward W. "Dorf" Ainsmith was born Edward Anshmedt. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1910-1918. 707 hits and 22 home runs in 15 MLB seasons. His best season was 1919 with the Detroit Tigers as he posted a .354 OBP with 42 runs scored and 35 RBIs in 419 plate appearances. He finished his MLB career with the New York Giants in 1924. He later managed the Rockford Peaches in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Back to Ainsmith's SABR biographical info for an account of his post-playing days: After the 1924 season, he organized a tour of ballplayers to Japan where they played a number of successful exhibition games. Buoyed by that success, he decided to organize a tour of women players to the Far East next, partnering with Mary O'Gara, manager of the Philadelphia Bobbies, one of the most prominent female teams of the period, adding a few players to her core team. Eddie and his wife, Loretta, accompanied the team to Japan, as did former big league pitcher Earl Hamilton and his wife. However, there was dissension on the team, as both O'Gara and Ainsmith wanted to be the manager, and players split into factions. Once in Japan, the ladies could not hold their own against the teams of Japanese men they faced, even with Ainsmith and Hamilton helping them on the field, and the trip turned into a financial disaster as crowds stayed away. The initial promoters bailed out and the team moved on to Korea, where it split in half. Ainsmith and Hamilton convinced three of the better female players to stay with them and recruited four locals to complete the team, hoping to raise some money by arranging their own fixtures, as they did not have any money left to pay their return fare to the States. For her part, O'Gara went back to Kobe with the rest of the squad and unsuccessfully asked the local U.S. Consulate to bring them home; she eventually convinced a couple of local expatriate businessmen to give them the money to return, but Ainsmith's group was left stranded. He found enough money to get himself and his wife home, but left behind the three young female players. When the girls' families in the States were finally able to raise the money, one of the players, Leona Kearns, a 17-year-old left-handed pitcher, was washed overboard and died when the Empress of Asia was hit by a huge wave when she was on the deck.

In spite of his role and less than honorable conduct in the tragedy, Ainsmith continued to work around baseball for many years. When (Walter) Johnson became the Senators' manager in the late 1920s, he brought him in as a coach, although it is not clear if he ever officially was listed as such. He also worked as an umpire, although again, it is not clear where exactly. He later managed the Rockford Peaches and Fort Wayne Daisies in the AAGPBL, a rather sadly ironic turn of events.

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Player #76A: John "Needles" Bentley. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1913-1916. 46 wins and 8 saves in 9 MLB seasons. His most productive season was 1924 with the New York Giants as he posted a 16-5 record with a 3.78 ERA in 188 innings pitched. Was a good hitter with a career OBP of .316 in 616 plate appearances. Gave up World Series winning-ground ball single to McNeely in the 1924 "pebble" game.

Bentley's SABR biography sums up his role in one of Washington's greatest moments and the apex of his career as the "Babe Ruth of the Minors": The “Pebble” game. After 85 years it remains one of the most memorable games in the history of the World Series. On October 10, 1924, at Washington’s Griffith Stadium, in the seventh game of the World Series between the New York Giants and Washington Senators, the Senators’ Earl McNeely came to bat in the bottom of the 12th inning with the score tied, 3-3, runners on first and second, and one out. Moments later, his routine grounder fortuitously struck a pebble and bounced high over the head of Giants’ third baseman Freddie Lindstrom, and the Senators scored the winning run for their only World Series victory. Fittingly, the winning pitcher that day, in what would also be his only World Series victory that year, was the universally beloved Big Train, Walter Johnson. For New York, the losing pitcher was a 29-year-old left-hander named John Needles Bentley. Everybody called him Jack.

Jack Bentley remembered that game for the rest of his life; yet surprisingly, he recalled it with fondness, not regret. In October 1955, when he was 60 years old, Bentley told a reporter, “There I was, pitted against Walter Johnson, my boyhood idol. The whole country wanted him to win a Series. When we lost, I felt lower than a snake’s belly in a rut. But as I walked off the field and heard all those people hollering, I was a little bit pleased that I had brought so much happiness to so many people … by losing! My own family was rooting for Washington.” . . .

. . . On January 27, 1917, Jack Dunn, owner and manager of the International League’s Baltimore Orioles, had not yet finished assembling the core group of players who would soon make his team legendary. Two and a half years earlier, in July 1914, with the Orioles in first place by 5½ games but in desperate financial straits because of competition from the Federal League’s Baltimore Terrapins, Dunn had sold pitchers Babe Ruth and Ernie Shore and catcher Ben Egan to the Boston Red Sox for $20,000. After the subtractions from the roster, the Orioles had collapsed, finishing 21 games behind. Now Dunn was rebuilding, and on January 27 he announced that he had traded shortstop Sam Crane, in Dunn’s estimation “easily the best shortstop in the minor leagues last season,” to the Senators for catcher Alva Williams, outfielder Turner Barber, and Bentley. As it turned out, Dunn didn’t want Bentley to pitch; instead, having witnessed Bentley’s batting prowess in Minneapolis, Dunn installed him as the Baltimore Orioles’ starting first baseman.

It proved a very prescient move. Beginning in 1919, the Orioles won seven consecutive International League pennants, and for three of those years Bentley, who by then considered himself a hitter who occasionally pitched, put on one of the most dazzling offensive demonstrations the league had ever seen. In his first two seasons, 1917 and 1919 (he was in the US Army in 1918), with the exception of a lone pitching appearance in his first year, Bentley played exclusively at first base and in the outfield: In 185 games, he posted averages of .333 batting and .510 slugging. Then he really caught fire. From 1920 to 1922, Bentley’s numbers were staggering, as he batted .378 in 439 games, scored 340 runs, drove in 399, and had a slugging average of an astounding .590. In both 1920 (161) and 1921 (120), Bentley led the league in RBIs; in 1921, he won the league Triple Crown, batting .412 (the league’s highest season average in the 20th century), with 24 home runs and 120 RBIs. His 246 hits that season remain the league’s single-season record.

Yet Bentley continued to pitch when needed, and those results, too, were staggering. From 1920 through 1922, Bentley pitched in 56 games and produced a 41-6 record, a winning percentage of .872: in both 1921 (.923) and 1922 (.867), he led the league in that category. In 1920 (2.10) and 1922 (1.73), Bentley also led the league in ERA, and over three seasons his ERA was an astounding 2.07. During those years, by virtue of his performance both at the plate and on the mound, the press bestowed on Bentley the moniker Babe Ruth of the Minors.

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