Washington DC Baseball

[Kawika]

Here are a few Wildfire Schulte cards for the heck of it. Nothing in Senators flannels however.

[GeoPoto]

Thanks again to Val and David for contributing.

The 1920 Washington Senators won 68 games, lost 84, and finished in sixth place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at Griffith Stadium.

Deveaux tells us about Washington's struggles in 1920: The Washington Nats, in the middle of the pack offensively, featured the worst pitching staff in the league and finished sixth in 1920, 29 games behind the Indians. Clark Griffith's skills in recognizing talent were beginning to show results all the same. The previous year, Griff had nearly signed Pie Traynor, a future Hall of Famer then at third base for the Pirates. The management of the Portsmouth club of the Virginia League had apparently doubled the price on Traynor despite an earlier agreement.

In the fall of 1919, Griffith was more fortunate. Both he and Joe Engel went to Buffalo to scout an infielder who played for a shipyard team in Baltimore and who had been highly recommended to them by Joe Judge. In the doubleheader they witnessed, this player, Stanley "Bucky" Harris, had an outstanding day at the plate, and did so with two fingers taped together because one was broken -- Harris wasn't going to miss a chance to show what he could do. Needless to say, Bucky Harris was signed, and as a rookie in the big leagues in 1920 he hit an even .300 and fielded reliably.

There is no telling what 32-year-old Walter Johnson might have accomplished in 1920 had he been at the top of his game. The Senators provided plenty of runs, but the Big Train responded with the worst campaign of his career. Afflicted with a sore arm after more than two weeks of rail travel while training in the South, he missed a season-opening assignment for the first time since 1911. He would wind up a disappointing 8-10. On May 14, he did register the 300th win of his career, a 9-8 decision over the Tigers, but kept alternating good performances with bad throughout the season. Not one Washington starter had better than a .500 record -- Tom Zachary logged the most innings and charted the best mark on the staff, 15-16. A Quaker who farmed tobacco in his native North Carolina, Zachary's smooth delivery would bring 15 or more wins to the Nats in three of the next four years. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[ValKehl]

Not many cards of WaJo were issued in 1920, but there was this D327 Type 1:

[GeoPoto]

Thanks Val.

Player #86: Elmer W. Bowman. First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1920. He had two MLB pinch-hit plate appearances with one walk and one run scored. He never took the field.

Elmer Bowman is in the finals for who got the smallest drop of coffee. He got two pinch hitting opportunities and though he made an out and walked once for a career OBP of .500, he was replaced at first base following his walk by a pinch runner. He never played the field. And still . . . He faced the 1920 Indians, who would win that year's World Series, two weeks before Ray Chapman was killed by a pitched ball. He stepped in against Cleveland's ace Jim Bagby, on his way to a league-leading 31 wins that season, and flew out to Tris Speaker. He faced Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Chicago White Sox as rumors swirled regarding the previous year's World Series that would ultimately paint the team black. Time would reveal that he stepped in against one of the prominent Black Sox culprits, Lefty Williams and drew a walk.

He is also a member of the University of Vermont Hall of fame.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #82B: Edward P. "Patsy" Gharrity. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1916-1923 and 1929-1930. 513 hits and 20 home runs in 10 MLB seasons. He also played some first base and outfield. He had a career OBP of .331. His best season was 1921 as posted a .386 OBP with 55 RBIs in 455 plate appearances.

Gharrity's SABR biography: . . . Gharrity and Griffith had discussed salary before Eddie returned to Beloit. Griffith, thinking they were in agreement, had sent Gharrity home with a contract to sign and a $250 bonus in his pocket. Gharrity decided not to sign and held out for an additional $500. He even announced that he would play independent ball in Beloit. Griffith responded by asking all the teams under the National Commission to boycott Beloit and not play there. Finally, on March 12, Gharrity accepted Griffith’s terms and headed to camp. . . .

The Senators opened the 1920 season with Picinich and Gharrity the main catchers. Cuban utilityman Ricardo Torres was the third catcher if needed. Gharrity won the Opening Day spot and played 121 games at catcher. He hit three home runs, all on the road. Eddie would have had a fourth on September 12 in Chicago except for a baserunning gaffe by Frank Ellerbe. Ellerbe was on base when Gharrity drove one to deep left. When a roar went up, Ellerbe assumed the ball had been caught and went to shortstop instead of rounding the bases. Gharrity batted .245 in 428 at-bats, his career high. . . .

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[GeoPoto]

Player #54I: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Deveaux covers Johnson's 1920 season: In apparent defiance of all logic, it was during this troubled season (Johnson's career worst) that Walter Johnson threw the only no-hitter of his entire career. It was July 1, at Fenway Park in Boston, on his son Walter, Jr.'s fifth birthday. Johnson Sr., had in fact been detained that day because the young lad was feeling ill. The 13-year vet struck out ten and only five balls were hit beyond the infield. There were no walks, but it was not a perfect game. In the seventh, Bucky Harris missed what was by all accounts a soft grounder off the bat of future Hall of Famer Harry Hooper, who led off the inning for the Red Sox. Had that not happened, Johnson would have pitched the third perfect game in modern baseball history (since 1901) up to that time. The others had been authored by Cy Young, in 1904, and Addie Joss, in 1908.

The Big Train's best game of the year until then had been his previous start, a three-hit, no walk masterpiece in a 7-0 pasting of their Athletics, who thereby lost their 18th straight game. Johnson required only 72 pitches, and it was all over in just one hour and 18 minutes -- the most efficient game of his career. The win was the seventh in a row for the Nats and moved them past the Red Sox and into fourth place. But following the no hitter in his next start, there were no more heroics in store for Walter, who was plagued by a sore arm for the rest of the year.

In a way, Bucky Harris was heroic in Johnson's no-hit game as well, as it was he who drove in the game's only run, and Joe Judge saved the day in the ninth when, after Johnson had struck out two pinch hitters, the dangerous Hooper pulled a liner that Judge leaped for and caught cleanly off the ground. In no position to get to get to first in time to outrace Hooper, Judge had to relay to Johnson. The Big Train came in all right, and caught Judge's relay to nip Hooper. For extra theatrics, Johnson caught the ball with his bare hand. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.) (Note: Deveaux's use of "Hooper pulled a liner that Judge leaped for and caught cleanly off the ground" seems odd to me. Presumably, he describes a ball that bounced at least once before it got to Judge.)

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[GeoPoto]

As near as I can tell, the fourth card shown is mislabeled by PSA as a W516 2-2: It appears (to me at least) as though it is actually a W516 2-1. The fifth card shown appears to be labeled correctly as a W516 2-2. Alas, I do not have a W516 2-3 to complete the quintet.