Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Player #90A: Leon A. "Goose" Goslin. Left fielder for the Washington Senators in 1921-1930, 1933, and 1938. 2,735 hits and 248 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. 1936 All-Star. 1924 and 1935 World Series champion. 1928 AL batting champion. 1924 AL RBI leader. 1968 inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. He drove in the game-winning, walk-off run to win the 1935 World Series for the Detroit Tigers. With Gehringer and Greenberg, was one of the Detroit "G-Men". In 1936 he had an inside-the-park HR when both outfielders (Joe DiMaggio and Myril Hoag) collided and were knocked unconscious. He had one of his best seasons for the WS-winning Washington Senators in 1924 as he posted a .421 OBP with 100 runs scored and 129 RBIs in 674 plate appearances.

Deveaux continues with the strengthening of the Senators roster: On the lookout for the left-handed slugger the Senators sorely needed, Griffith learned that the Columbia club of the Sally (South Atlantic) League was willing to part with a hard-hitting 20-year-old outfielder who just happened to hit lefty. Griffith sent Joe Engel to scout the outfielder, but nothing came of it.

While playing golf in nearby Baltimore about a month later, Griffith learned from a Baltimore Oriole stockholder that Orioles owner Jack Dunn, who had been the man who signed Babe Ruth to his first professional contract, was about to pay $5,500 for a Sally League outfielder. Griffith knew Dunn would not part with such a huge sum easily so, as the Old Fox enjoyed retelling later on, he remarked to his Baltimore golf partner at the time that "whatsisname" sure seemed to be the answer for Jack Dunn's lineup. Griffith snapped his fingers, feigning frustration at being unable to recall the player's name. He got the name -- Leon Goslin, the same player Joe Engel had scouted earlier.

Engel was on the next train to South Carolina to better Jack Dunn's offer. Goslin was reportedly hit on the head by a fly ball in the one game Engel witnessed, but he also smacked three homers. For Goslin, this would pretty well set the trend for a primarily good-hit-no-field type of career. Nicknamed "Goose" (not so much because of his name as for his frantic arm waving whenever he chased a fly ball), Goslin signed Engel's contract and would become the franchise's greatest slugger.

Here was a line-drive hitter with enough power to frequently drive the ball for home runs, as well as for numerous doubles and triples. Goslin would carve himself a niche in the Baseball Hall of Fame with a .316 career batting average and .500 slugging percentage. He would drive in 100 or more runs 11 times. It would be understating the point to say that the reported $6,000 purchase price for Goose Goslin was money well spent by Clark Griffith. This was quite a notable deal, especially in light of the fact that with Griffith, when there was money involved in a transaction -- and there often was -- it was usually going into his pocket. The Old Fox described his situation best, and he said it frequently: he never knew what morning the sheriff was going to knock on his door and tell him he was taking over. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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