Washington DC Baseball

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by GeoPoto

Later in the month, on June 26, the Nationals, never lower than second in the standings, pulled into a tie with the A's for the American League lead when Goslin unloaded on rookie Lefty Grove with a three-run seventh-inning homer in a 5-3 win. Walter Johnson had shut the A's out after the third inning, in the first of three career matches between the two Hall of Famers (Johnson would win all three). Four days later, Barney spun a 7-0 two-hitter, with no walks, at Griffith Stadium against the same dangerous Athletics. Johnson had now blanked the A's, a team which would hit .307 for the season, for 15 consecutive innings.

The Big Train also equaled the A's in hits on this day. In fact, Walter would hit .433 this season, his first time over .300. On one occasion, on April 24, a Johnson pinch-hit appearance resulted in a rule change. The Big Train was in the clubhouse in the ninth inning when Bucky Harris, who'd used up all of his righthanded bats, summoned him back. The game was delayed ten minutes before Walter laced Herb Pennock's first pitch for a two-run single to win the game. In June, league president Ban Johnson announced that only players on the bench or on the sidelines could be deployed in a ballgame. Johnson's two-hitter was the fourth win in five games against the Athletics and put the Nats in first place for the first time since early May. Dutch Ruether and Stan Coveleski were both winning nearly every time out, but the Senators were barely keeping up with the A's. The Nats lost their RBI champion, Goslin, who was suspended for the better part of a week. The Goose had lost his temper with Cleveland pitcher Bert Cole, who he thought had been throwing at him. Much more detrimental was the fact that Walter Johnson had been hit with the flu bug and wasn't getting better. He was out the entire month of July.

Such a great photo, George!

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Such a great photo, George!

I agree, and with that form Walter looks like a position player batting, not a pitcher batting. Take away his first four years, and his career batting average would have been .250, instead of .235.


Brian

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

I agree, and with that form Walter looks like a position player batting, not a pitcher batting. Take away his first four years, and his career batting average would have been .250, instead of .235.
Brian

Walter could hit, no doubt about it!

[GeoPoto]

Thirty-five-year-old Stan Coveleski got a 13-game winning streak going until losing it to the White Sox in a blowout at the end of July. On August 2, Walter Johnson returned to the mound against the Tigers. His first appearance in over a month fell exactly on the 18th anniversary of his first big-league appearance, which had also involved Detroit. This time, though, unlike the first, Johnson won, allowing the Tigers, one of the league's stronger clubs, a measly two hits in a 5-1 Washington win.

On August 17, the Senators obtained the old Tiger outfield star, Bobby Veach, on the waiver wire from the Yankees. There can be no better indication of how good a team the Yanks were than the fact that Veach rang up a .353 batting average for them before they cut him adrift. Unfortunately, he only hit .243 for the Nats the rest of the way, and his career ended in Washington at age 37 with his career batting average resting ay a cozy .310.

The Senators stayed in second place for a month, but finally, on August 20, Tom Zachary and Firpo Marberry combined for a 12-inning 1-0 shutout of the Indians. That day, the Browns beat Philadelphia, and the Nats, as it would turn out, were on top for good. Washington lost 1-0 in 11 innings the next day, but the A's failed to capitalize, getting trounced 8-2 by Chicago. The Senators demolished Detroit 20-5 on the 22nd with nine extra-base hits, including a mammoth home run by Walter Johnson. They scarcely even gave Philadelphia an opportunity to get back on top over the next six weeks.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1682501041

[Hankphenom]

Gorgeous pin!

[GeoPoto]

By the end of August, Sam Rice had climbed to the top of the league batting race, a lead he would not be able to sustain. Also grabbing headlines in the baseball world was Yankees manager Miller Huggins, who announced that Babe Ruth was being suspended and fined $5,000 because of the Bambino's complete disregard for club rules. Ruth, whose bulk represented nearly twice the manager's, reportedly told Huggins that if he weighed 50 pounds more, he would have gotten a punch in the nose. Huggins shot back that if he had weighed 50 pounds more, it would have been the Babe's nose which would have been endangered.

The A's began what was to be a fatal string of losing games as August wound down. The Nats won every one of five games in a home-and-home series which began September 1 at Washington. In Philadelphia on September 7 for the traditional Labor Day doubleheader, Walter Johnson, who went 3-for-4 at the plate for the second time in a week against the A's, edged Lefty Grove 2-1 in the first game. A 7-6 Nats victory in the afternoon affair made it a horrifying 12 consecutive losses for the Athletics, and a nine-game lead for Washington.

The A's were officially eliminated and the Senators coasted to the pennant, finishing 8 1/2 ahead of the A's, and 15 up on the third-place Browns. Walter Johnson won his 20th before a large Ladies' Day Crowd in Washington on September 11, but hurt his leg sliding six days later. Reinjured while crossing home plate when he returned to play on September 20, he would be kept on the sidelines for the rest of the regular season as the Senators awaited a second successive World Series appearance. On September 23, it was announced that Johnson had a successor as the league's Most Valuable Player -- it was none other than shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh.

The 1924 American League MVP congratulates the 1925 American League MVP:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1682587592

[ValKehl]

As George mentioned, "Peck" was the 1925 AL MVP.