Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Player #78: Melvin A. "Bert" Gallia. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1912-1917. 66 wins and 10 saves in 9 MLB seasons. His career ERA was 3.14. His best season may have been 1915 with Washington as he posted a record of 17-11 with a 2.29 ERA in 259.2 innings pitched. His final season was 1920 with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Bert Gallia pitched nine years in the majors, mostly in the American League and primarily for the Washington Senators, for whom he won 17 games two years in a row.

Gallia was the first American League pitcher to hit three batters in the same inning, when he plunked batsmen thrice in the first frame of a June 20, 1913 game, while pitching for the Washington Senators.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #79: Harry C. Harper. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1913-1919. 57 wins and 5 saves in 10 MLB seasons. His best season was 1918 with Washington as he posted an 11-10 record with a 2.18 ERA in 244 innings pitched. His final season was 1923 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Harper's SABR biography presents Harper's unusual contract and his eventual transition from Wahington to Boston: In January 1914 a story about Harper ran nationally. He returned his contract because it had omitted a clause on which his mother had insisted, excusing him from playing baseball on Sundays. Semipro ball on Sundays was apparently acceptable; Davis had first discovered Harper playing on a Sunday. The only other ballplayer with a clause excusing him from working on Sundays was Christy Mathewson. . . .

. . . Washington Post sportswriter J.V. Fitz Gerald wrote in late March 1919 that Harper “has never looked better” and that he “appears to be a certainty to have the best year of his career.” Instead, he had the worst, losing 21 games – more than any other pitcher in the league. Walter Johnson was 20-14, but Harper was 6-21, with an ERA of 3.72. He walked 97 batters and struck out only 87.

Three of Harper’s six wins were against the Boston Red Sox, and he lost three times to the Red Sox by scores of 2-0, 4-3, and 2-1. With a little run support, he could well have won at least two of those games. In the 49 innings he worked against Boston, he had a 1.65 ERA. The Red Sox were impressed. Two days before the end of the year, they traded for him. The Red Sox sent Braggo Roth and Red Shannon to Washington for Eddie Foster, Mike Menosky, and Harper. Harper was the main target in the trade. The Boston Globe thought the Red Sox got the better part of the trade and that, in the 24-year-old Harper’s case, “It would appear that he has the best part of his baseball career ahead of him.” For his part, Harper was thinking of quitting, and attending to his growing business in Hackensack. He was a holdout – he wanted a higher salary and he still refused to play on Sundays.

The 1920 Red Sox, now without Babe Ruth, finished fifth. Harper’s 3.04 ERA was one of the best on the staff (the team ERA was 3.82), but his 5-14 record was similar to that of the year before. He won his first two starts, then lost 10 straight decisions – and in those 10 losses his teammates produced a total of 14 runs. It’s hard to win games if there’s little or no offense. One of those games was against the Senators and neither Harper nor Walter Johnson allowed a run through six innings. The Senators scored once in the top of the seventh, but Johnson no-hit the Red Sox for a 1-0 win. Only one man reached base, on an error that marred an otherwise perfect game.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #62C: John P. Henry. Catcher for the Washington Senators in 1910-1917. 397 hits and 55 stolen bases in 9 MLB seasons. He ended his career with the Boston Braves in 1918. His best season was 1916 with the Washington Senators as he posted a .364 OBP with 46 RBIs in 376 plate appearances.

Deveaux explains Henry's role in advocating player rights: An interesting aside to the 1917 season, especially in light of the inevitable emancipation of baseball players still more than a half-century away, were the efforts of Senators catcher John Henry. Henry had become involved in the Baseball Players' Fraternity and tried to convince his reticent teammates to join in a united front which would seek to obtain better wages and playing conditions. League president Ban Johnson promised to crush Henry and all others of his ilk.

Henry, in no way intimidated, proclaimed that Ban Johnson had no power to drive him out of the American League, and that the prexy was obviously trying to make him the "goat" in the midst of an embarrassing situation. If the league president insisted on picking on him because he was a friendly fellow, well-liked by teammates and owners alike, that was okay with Henry. Ban Johnson, Henry declared, was "crazy for power." The rebellion died down, however. After being forced to accept a $1,200 cut on his salary of $4,600, Henry, a .190 hitter in '17, was unceremoniously sold right out of the league to the Boston Braves, where his career ended after just 102 more at-bats. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #56E: George F. "Pinch" McBride. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1908-1920. 1,203 hits, 7 home runs, and 133 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. Has the lowest batting average of any player with 5,000 MLB at-bats. Managed the Washington Senators in 1921 but was struck in the face by a line drive during batting practice and forced to retire.

. . . Although considered relatively even-tempered and easygoing, McBride was a fiery competitor, subject to sudden bursts of temper. The most prominent of these occurred on June 30, 1916. McBride was facing Carl Mays of the Boston Red Sox, a notorious head hunter. Following some verbal jostling between the two, McBride was struck in the arm while protecting himself from a pitch that was tracking perilously close to his head. McBride stepped to the side of the plate, waited a few seconds, then wheeled and fired his bat at the Bosox pitcher, missing him by only a couple of feet. A lively altercation between the two teams ensued, a highlight of which was the Red Sox catcher Sam Agnew‘s sucker punch that landed in the face of Senators skipper Clark Griffith. . . .

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[GeoPoto]

Player #39I: 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 picks up Milan's life after his days as a player: That marked the end of his major-league playing career, but he continued to play in the minors in Minneapolis in 1923, while serving as player-manager at New Haven in 1924, and Memphis in 1925 and 1926. After retiring as an active player, Milan coached for Washington in 1928 and 1929 and managed Birmingham from 1930 to 1935 and Chattanooga from 1935 to 1937. He also scouted for Washington in 1937 and served as a coach for the Senators from 1938 through 1952.

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Player #65C: Raymond C. "Ray" Morgan. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1911-1918. 630 hits and 88 stolen bases in 8 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .348. His best season was 1913 as he posted a .369 OBP with 19 stolen bases in 565 plate appearances. He has an odd link to Babe Ruth: in 1917, he led off a game by drawing a 4-pitch walk from Boston starter Ruth, who was then ejected from the game by the home plate umpire. Ruth was replaced by Ernie Shore and Morgan was thrown out attempting to steal on Shore's first pitch. Shore then retired the next 26 batters he faced. Shore's "perfect game" was eventually down-graded to a "combined no-hitter" by subsequent revisions in the MLB criteria.

Morgan's SABR biography: On July 30 (1914) in Detroit, Morgan was at the center of one of the worst riots involving players, spectators, and police at a 20th century major league game. The umpire, Jack Sheridan, was a respected veteran, but his failing eye-sight meant he no longer worked behind the plate. Called out on a close play at first base, Morgan threw dirt at Sheridan’s feet. The umpire immediately ejected Morgan before decking him with a punch. Morgan got up and began swinging at the umpire. Griffith, coaching third, and McBride rushed to try to pull the two apart. As McBride was trying to restrain Sheridan, Eddie Ainsmith, the Nats’ catcher who was coaching first, landed a glancing blow on the umpire. Ainsmith also was ejected.

By this time, members of both teams had come out of their dugouts. As Morgan and Ainsmith headed off the field, spectators began yelling abuse at Ainsmith as he approached the stands. A fan and the player began exchanging blows before the fan picked up a chair and heaved onto the field, hitting one of the Nats. The fans behind the Detroit dugout came out of the stands and began pummeling Morgan. Several players on both teams came to his rescue.

At this point, people from the bleachers were running across the field toward the brawl. The police from a station adjacent to the ballpark arrived in force. With the help of the players, they got the fans back into the grandstands. The Senators demanded that the fan who threw the chair be arrested, but the police declined. Detroit owner Frank Navin showed up and persuaded several belligerent spectators to leave. Despite an appeal from Griffith, no action was taken against Sheridan, who suffered sun stroke during an August game and died that fall. Morgan was suspended for a week and Ainsmith for two.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #74C: 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, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Carroll touches on Rice's 1917 campaign Part 1: Historians pinpoint the period between 1915 and 1920 as the precise time when pitcher workloads had decreased to the point that everyday players, on average, finally became more valuable than top pitchers. Hence, given the choice of where to play multi-skilled players like Ruth, Rice, Sisler, and all the others, managers decided more and more often that they wanted their best players on the field every day.

As the start of the 1917 season neared, Clark Griffith had long since decided that Rice would be an everyday position player, especially after his strong performance at the plate during his second-half tryout in 1916. Where exactly Rice would play was still something he was figuring out, however. Joe Judge, who had received most of the playing time at first base the year before, struggled as a rookie, batting just .220. So Griffith contemplated trying Rice at first. Rice understood the mental aspects of the position. And Griffith was pleased with his arm strength and accuracy in case he needed to make throws to other bases on the diamond. There was one problem, though -- Rice couldn't field ground balls. It was an issue that would continue to plague Rice for years in the outfield, but it was much less of a problem for an outfielder than an infielder. Judge stayed at first -- a good decision, in hindsight. . . . (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

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