Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Player #54J: 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 sums up Johnson's 1921 season: Erratic throughout this season, Johnson settled down and won five of his last six starts. One of those victories was a 1-0 whitewashing of the Browns in which he faced the minimum 27 batters for only the second time in his career. While the great pitcher's era of sheer dominance had come to an end, his career was by no means over. He still led the majors in strikeouts, and there were two 20-win seasons three years off in the future. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

We will now pause briefly: expected restart -- 1 January 2023.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #73B: 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.

Judge's SABR biography begins with his role in one of Walter Johnson's great moments: On July 1, 1920, Walter Johnson was attempting to complete a feat that had thus far eluded him in his thirteen-year career. The Washington Senator hurler was one out away from pitching his first no-hitter. Johnson was pitching a great game, striking out 10 Red Sox hitters and getting six others to foul out. He was clinging to a 1-0 lead in front of a small crowd of 3,000 at Fenway Park.

Standing in his way was Boston’s right fielder, Harry Hooper. Hooper was the only Red Sox to reach base, courtesy of a fielding error by second baseman Bucky Harris. He had also struck out in a previous confrontation between the future residents of Cooperstown. But Hooper was not caught up in the moment, and ripped Johnson’s second offering down the first base line that crossed the bag and was hooking into foul territory. First baseman Joe Judge quickly moved to his left, speared the ball, stopped and made a perfect toss to Johnson covering the base. The Big Train snagged the toss bare-handed. Judge was so excited, he went into a war-dance and congratulated Johnson, who could only say “Goodness, gracious, sakes alive, wasn’t I lucky?”

Joe Judge created that kind of “luck” for pitchers his whole career with his superb defense. He was a great fielder, leading American League first baseman six times and finishing second five other years. He was not the prototypical first sacker, standing 5’8 ½”, but he was one of the game’s best. He retired with a .993 fielding percentage, a mark that stood for 30 years, but his defense was only part of the tale. The left-handed swinging Judge brought a lethal stick to the Washington lineup, hitting over .290 for 11 straight seasons beginning in 1920. Yes, Joe Judge was the complete ballplayer, and one of the best first baseman of his era, or any other.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #91A: George E. "Duffy" Lewis. Left fielder with the Washington Senators in 1921. 1,518 hits and 38 home runs in 11 MLB seasons. 3-time World Series champion. Member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame. He debuted with Boston in 1910-1917. He teamed with Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper to comprise Boston's "Million-Dollar Outfield". During his tenure, the Red Sox won three World Series championships. He was so admired for his defense playing in front of the Green Monster, that the incline leading up to the wall in left field became known as "Duffy's Cliff". The incline was reduced in 1934 and eliminated in 2005. His most productive season was 1912 as he posted a .346 OBP with 109 RBIs in 664 plate appearances.

Lewis' SABR biography summarizes his time in Boston: For decades after they last played together, the Boston Red Sox’ outfield of Duffy Lewis, Tris Speaker, and Harry Hooper, who toiled next to each other for six years in the Deadball Era, was often considered the greatest in baseball history. Although all three, especially Speaker, were fine hitters, their reputation was due largely to their exceptional defensive play. Lewis, the left fielder and the only one of the three not in baseball’s Hall of Fame, was long remembered for the way he played the incline at the base of Fenway Park’s left-field wall, a slope of grass that bore the name “Duffy’s Cliff.” Hooper thought Lewis was the best of the three “at making the backhand running catch at balls hit over his head.” A powerful left-handed batter, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound Lewis typically batted behind Speaker in the cleanup position, and often ranked among American League leaders in home runs and runs batted in.

When Boston’s Fenway Park was built in 1912, the ten-foot embankment in deep left field was one of its most interesting trademarks. Lewis covered this ground for six years, and became its master. “I’d go out to the ballpark mornings,” he told a sportswriter, “and have somebody hit the ball again and again out to the wall. I experimented with every angle of approach up the cliff until I learned to play the slope correctly. Sometimes it would be tougher coming back down the slope than going up. With runners on base, you had to come off the cliff throwing.” The slope remained until 1933, when Fenway Park was thoroughly renovated.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #92: Robert E. "Bobby" LaMotte. Shortstop with the Washington Senators in 1920-1922. 175 hits and 3 home runs in 5 MLB seasons. His final years were with the St. Louis Browns in 1925-1926.

Bobby LaMotte was an infielder for 21 years from 1916 to 1936, five in the Major Leagues and 19 in the minors. He served in Europe for the U.S. Army during World War I.

From 1920 through 1922 he played for the Washington Senators and from 1925 through 1926 with the St. Louis Browns. His major league career was ended by an eye injury when he was hit by a ball.

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[doug.goodman]

Signed photo with a fan of Cookie Lavagetto as a Senators coach in March 1955

[GeoPoto]

Doug: Thanks for posting. Is that LaMotte standing next to Cookie?

Player #56G: 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.

. . . McBride’s appointment as manager was popular throughout the baseball world, but ill fortune scarred the ex-shortstop’s first and only season as the club’s manager. On July 27, 99 games into the 1921 season, McBride was struck above the temple by a ball thrown by outfielder Earl Smith during practice prior to a scheduled contest with the Chicago White Sox. He reportedly suffered a slight concussion and partial paralysis of the face. He was confined to his bed for almost a week and returned to the club on August 4, but continued dizziness and fainting spells hampered his efforts to lead his squad. Nevertheless, McBride guided the 1921 Senators to a fourth-place finish, with an 80-73 record, the best winning percentage achieved by the club during the 1919-1923 period. McBride continued to feel the ill effects of his injury during the off-season, and, on December 6 resigned his post as manager. Griffith offered him a job with the club as a scout, but he did not feel his health was good enough to accept the offer.

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[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by GeoPoto

Doug: Thanks for posting. Is that LaMotte standing next to Cookie?

No, it's a gentleman named Jim Armstrong. I have a bunch of signed pictures of him with players that I picked up from H&S a few years ago. He was an early autograph collector.