Washington DC Baseball

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by GeoPoto

. . . . . . . In the Senators' outfield only Goose Goslin had numbers to compare (with the offensive production of the Pittsburgh Pirates' outfield of Barnhart, Carey, and Cuyler). (In 1925,) He (Goslin) batted .334, scored 116, batted in 113, hit 18 home runs, and led the league with 20 triples. (Bucky Harris by Jack Smiles.)

George, it appears to me that Jack Smiles was not a fan of Sam Rice. Yes, HOFers Cuyler (second in the NL MVP voting) and Carey had had great years, and Clyde Barnhart had his best MLB season with 175 hits and a .325 batting average. However, Senators' HOFer outfielder Rice had 227 hits and a .350 batting average (the best of his career) in 1925. Amazingly, Rice struck out only 10 times in 710 plate appearances!

Lucas, that is a great photo of Senators' players with their kids! Thanks for showing it.

[GeoPoto]

Great photo Lucas. Val: you make a fair point, particularly with respect to Barnhart. OPS+ (for 1925) rates Goslin (139), Cuyler (152) and Carey (126) ahead of Rice (112), but with Barnhart (109) trailing slightly.

Player #112A: Joseph "Joe" Harris. "Moon". First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1925-1926. 963 hits and 47 home runs in 10 MLB seasons. He had a career OBP of .404. His best season was 1923 with the Boston Red Sox as he posted a .406 OBP with 82 runs scored and 76 RBIs in 562 plate appearances. He debuted with the New York Yankees in 1914. In 1925, he joined Washington mid-season and posted a .430 OBP with 60 runs scored and 59 RBIs in 390 plate appearances as the Senators won the AL pennant. His final season was with the Brooklyn Robins in 1928. He was involved in a trucking accident while serving in WW 1. He suffered 2 broken legs, 3 broken ribs, and a fractured skull, thus creating the 'lump' under his eye. He was the first player in MLB history to homer in his first appearance in the World Series (1925). He played in the 1925 World Series for Washington and the 1927 World Series with Pittsburgh.

Harris' SABR biography sums up his 1925 campaign: Harris began the 1925 season with the Red Sox, but with Phil Todt set for first base, he wasn’t expected to get quite as much work. On April 29 the Sox traded him to the Washington Senators for Roy Carlyle and Paul Zahniser. He’d assembled only 26 plate appearances for Boston and was batting .158. Sox fans were nonetheless disappointed to lose him, and the Boston Globe wrote, “He always has been a player who has given his club all he has, and, in these days, that is something unique.”

He reverted to form with Washington, despite a scare of an elbow injury in June, and was able to step in when longtime first baseman Joe Judge had to bow out due to nagging injury. Harris played in an even 100 games and batted .323 – third on the team in batting average, but first in OBP and SLG. And the Senators won the pennant. The World Series ran to seven games, Washington winning three of the first four, but then the Pittsburgh Pirates winning the final three to become world champions.

Harris played in all seven games and led all batters, hitting .440 with three home runs and six RBIs. It was his single in Game Three that provided the winning hit in that game.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #83F: Stanley R. "Bucky" Harris Part 1. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1919-1928. 1,297 hits and 167 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. 1924 and 1947 World Series champion. In 1975, inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Named player-manager of the Washington Senators in 1924 at age 27. "The Boy Wonder" led Washington to World Series victory as "rookie" manger. Managed Washington Senators in 1924-1928, 1935-1942, and 1950-1954. Managed the Detroit Tigers in 1929-1933 and 1955-1956. Managed the Boston Red Sox in 1934. Managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943. Managed the New York Yankees in 1947-1948, including winning the 1947 world Series. Served as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1959-1960.

Smiles reports on how well-known Bucky had become and how the Senators/Giants rivalry continued into the spring of 1925: Bucky had a good time with his celebrity in the aftermath of the 1924 world Series. He made public appearances, received exotic gifts and came in high in a straw poll for president. Two days after the Series ended, Bucky, the players and their families were honored guests at a dinner dance at the Congressional Country Club. The club president, Representative Joseph Himes of Ohio presented Bucky with an honorary membership. He was only the third person so honored. . . .

The day after the seventh game Bucky went to a college football game at American League Park and saw Georgetown University beat King College of Tennessee, 21-7. He sat with the Georgetown fans and signed hundreds of programs. During halftime he went on the field and posed for photographs with Georgetown captain Fred Sheehan. It was reported that Mrs. Glen Stewart, the wife of the wealthiest man on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the top dog breeder in the country, was going to give Bucky a $5,000 Irish wolfhound, Billy Shamrock. Billy was registered with the London and American Kennel clubs.

Bucky agreed to play in an exhibition game in western New York. On the way he stopped in the Polo Grounds where he was one of 60,000 fans to watch Notre Dame beat Army, 13-7, in football. On October 29 he went home, arriving by train in Wilkes-Barre. An automobile parade escorted him back to Pittston about five miles away. Thousands of miners, who were off for a union holiday, lined the route while cheering, waving American flags and setting off Roman candles. In Pittston he was met by his mother, brother Merle, old basketball buddy Gary Schmeelk, an entire troop of state police, the Pittston police force, and fire engines from all of the surrounding towns. The parade stopped at Gilmartin Park in Pittston where 2,000 kids who were let out of school waited for him. That night there was a banquet in his honor at the state armory where he had played basketball with the Pittston Pitts. He didn't play any basketball that fall or winter though he did have offers, which, he said, could have netted him $10,000.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #83F: Stanley R. "Bucky" Harris Part 2. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1919-1928. 1,297 hits and 167 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. 1924 and 1947 World Series champion. In 1975, inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Named player-manager of the Washington Senators in 1924 at age 27. "The Boy Wonder" led Washington to World Series victory as "rookie" manger. Managed Washington Senators in 1924-1928, 1935-1942, and 1950-1954. Managed the Detroit Tigers in 1929-1933 and 1955-1956. Managed the Boston Red Sox in 1934. Managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943. Managed the New York Yankees in 1947-1948, including winning the 1947 world Series. Served as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1959-1960.

In his column on November 2, which he called the "Illiterate Digest," Will Rogers listed the country's straw poll preferences for president. "At last the American people are aroused. They have found a medium through which to express their individual preferences for President of the United States. Will Rogers Illiterate Digest is the only fair and honest test of the merits of the candidates' popularity.

"The vote so far proves that if the people had anything to do with the nominations personally instead of it being done by a half-dozen men in the back room of some hotel, why America would be a democracy."
The leaders in the Rogers poll were: Walter Johnson, Red Grange, Knute Rockne, the Prince of Wales (all in feminine handwriting), Rudolph Valentino, Henry Ford, Kermit Roosevelt, and Bucky Harris. . . .

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[ValKehl]

At age 13, Bucky Harris' father abandoned the family. Bucky quit school and began working at a coal mining operation to help support the family. His HOF career in MLB is like a Horatio Alger "rags to riches" story.

[GeoPoto]

Player #83F: Stanley R. "Bucky" Harris Part 3. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1919-1928. 1,297 hits and 167 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. 1924 and 1947 World Series champion. In 1975, inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Named player-manager of the Washington Senators in 1924 at age 27. "The Boy Wonder" led Washington to World Series victory as "rookie" manger. Managed Washington Senators in 1924-1928, 1935-1942, and 1950-1954. Managed the Detroit Tigers in 1929-1933 and 1955-1956. Managed the Boston Red Sox in 1934. Managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943. Managed the New York Yankees in 1947-1948, including winning the 1947 world Series. Served as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1959-1960.

. . . (Note that Smiles' accounting regarding the wins and losses in this description is confusing!?.): Bucky's old mentor, Hughie Jennings, was managing the Giants when the spring series between the 1924 World Series opponents began on March 9 (1925). McGraw was in Cuba. The Giants won the first two games, 8-7 and 2-1 in 12 innings. On March 15, the first appearance of the now-famous infield of Judge, Harris, Peckinpaugh, and Bluege drew cheers from the surprisingly large crowd. On March 14 Commissioner Landis appeared at the Senators' home, Plant Field, and presented the players with World Series championship medals before a game against the Boston Braves. The Senators led the game, 9-3, but lost, 12-10, prompting Frank Young, who was covering the spring games, to write, "After having been reminded before the hostilities started by Commissioner Landis that they are the champions of baseball and given medals to prove it, the Harrismen proceeded to show just how the national game should not be played." . . .

. . . Walter Johnson was a big ticket in Dixie that spring. Wherever the Senators played, the fans clamored to see him pitch. This worried Bucky, but Griffith insisted he make appearances. On April 3 he pitched five innings in New Orleans. On the 5th he pitched two in Mobile and then four the next day against the Giants in Birmingham.

The Senators and Giants gave the fans a good show with a series of tight games. The Giants led the series 5-1, but by the time the teams reached Washington where they were supposed to play two games, the Senators had won the last four to even the series at 5-5. The Giants won the first game in D.C. 11-2, the only game that hadn't been close. The second game was rained out. Forty-five minutes after the game was called the teams were on a train to New York, where they would play the last two games of their series before the regular season began. With the Giants leading 6 games to 4, Bucky was so serious about winning and evening the series, even with the season opener only two days away across town at Yankee Stadium, he brought Johnson (in) to close the first of the two games and got ejected from the second one after one pitch. Bucky and umpire Will Walker, who had been traveling with the teams, had a running feud going back to a game on March 11 in West Palm Beach. When McNeely claimed he was hit with the first pitch in the second game in New York, Walker said no and Bucky came out of the dugout to argue. Walker wouldn't argue with him, saying, "Get out and stay out. I'm tired of arguing with you."

The Senators won the game without Bucky, 11-5, before 15,000 fans to even the series at 6-6. (Bucky Harris by Jack Smiles.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #54N: 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 touches on Walter's 1925: As for Walter Johnson, he had felt at first, following the World Series conquest, that the time to retire had come, that this was the high note he wanted to go out on. He had considered buying the Vernon franchise of the Pacific Coast League. The deal had fallen through, however, and the asking price of the Oakland club, which Johnson had also looked at, had gone through the roof. Joe Engel was dispatched to the West coast by Clark Griffith with two contracts in hand. One was for one year and the other for two, just in case Walter Johnson could be persuaded to change his mind.

When the price for the Oakland ballclub turned out to be higher than what had recently been paid for the major-league St. Louis Cardinals, Walter decided he would pitch again. Now an affluent man due to holdings in oil, real estate, and mining concerns, the Big Train was still a hard bargainer, and he negotiated with Griffith by phone from his home in Reno, Nevada, and from Hot Springs, Arkansas. Finally, the two came to terms face-to-face at the spring training site in Tampa: a two-year contract, at $20,000 per. When Walter asked to bow out of a barn-storming tour of some southern locales so he could continue to train in Tampa, Griff refused. The boss pointed out that the Washington Senators were the South's representative in the big leagues, and that everyone wanted to see Walter Johnson in the flesh.

Barney went on to have quite a year, joining Coveleski in the 20-game winners' circle. His record was 20-7, 3.07, while allowing the fewest hits per game, registering the most strikeouts per game, and placing third in the league in ERA. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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