Washington DC Baseball

GeoPoto · #1 07-01-2023, 04:20 AM

Player #83H: Stanley R. "Bucky" Harris. 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 points out that Bucky was a member of a dying breed -- player-managers: There was a changing of the guard among baseball managers in 1927. Superstar player-managers were out. Sisler, Speaker, Cobb and Collins all retired as managers after the 1926 season. Jack Hendricks, the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, predicted their retirements meant the beginning of the end for player-managers. In seven seasons as player-manager, Cobb had never finished higher than third and was sixth in 1926. Eddie Collins tried it for three years and finished sixth, fifth and fifth. Sisler also lasted three years. He had one season over .500, in 1925, but dropped all the way to seventh in 1926. Speaker won a pennant and World Series in his first full year as player-manager in 1920, but nothing since.

Rogers Hornsby was the player-manager with the N.L. and World Series champion Cardinals in 1926 but was traded to the Giants for Frankie Frisch and Jimmy Ring after the season. Though Hendricks was right in his prediction, it would take some years for player-managers to fade away. In 1927 there were seven, including Bucky. Dave Bancroft was a player-manager with the Boston Braves but was released in 1927 following a second consecutive seventh-place finish. Ray Schalk was player-manager for the White Sox in 1927 but was fired in July 1928 when he appeared in only two games as a player. Bob O'Farrell took over for Hornsby with the Cardinals in 1927, his only full year as a manager, and was also the backup catcher. Hornsby managed the Giants for the last 33 games, filling in for the ailing McGraw. Stuffy McInnis was officially a player-manager in 1927, his one and only season as a major league manager, but he appeared in just one game with the Phillies, who lost 103 games. In 1928 Bucky and Hornsby, who had moved on to the Boston Braves, were the only active player-managers. (Bucky Harris by Jack Smiles.)

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GeoPoto · #2 07-02-2023, 05:07 AM

Player #54P: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson Part 1. "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.

Carroll summarizes the dismal end to Walter's great pitching career: Continuing where they had left off the season before (a disappointing 1926 campaign), things went sour from the onset of spring training for the Senators in 1927. In Tampa, Florida, before an exhibition game, Johnson was throwing batting practice to Joe Judge. Judge ripped a line drive back through the middle, striking Johnson in the right leg. The Senators had seen this before, Johnson being dusted by a line drive through the middle. Usually, he rose to his feet, brushed himself off, then, like clockwork, turned in three hundred-plus innings and twenty-five victories. In fact, just a few days before, Judge had lined a ball off Johnson's other leg with no damage done. So used to the scene were Johnson's teammates, and desensitized to the sight of Johnson sprawled out after a hot smash off some seemingly indestructible body part, that jokester coach Al Schacht hustled out to the mound and jokingly gave Johnson an animated ten-count.

This time would be different, though. Just two years removed from his twelfth twenty-win season for the 1925 American League pennant-winners, Johnson would battle back onto the field, but posted just a 5-6 record in eighteen appearances, along with an ugly 5.10 ERA. Johnson turned forty about a month after the end of the season. He never pitched again, though that didn't mean his role with the franchise had ended -- far from it. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

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GeoPoto · #3 07-03-2023, 04:18 AM

Player #54P: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson Part 2. "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.

Now for Deveaux's summary of Walter's last pitching season: Very early in 1927, Walter Johnson signed what was to be, he said, his last contract to pitch for the Washington Senators. It called for his same $20,000 salary for the one year. Bucky Harris's plan was to work Walter and Stan Coveleski in spots, and then only when the two graybeards would feel like pitching. When Johnson was hit in the leg by a line drive off the bat of his roommate Joe Judge, during spring training of 1927 at Tampa, coach Al Schacht, the clown, reportedly stood over Johnson and gave him the ten-count. The comedian didn't know he was counting down the days left in the Big Train's career. Johnson's leg was broken (officially a fracture of the fibula, about 3 1/2 inches above the ankle). The Big Train would be sidelined for six weeks, and this injury would precipitate the end of his scintillating career in 1927. . . .

. . . Walter Johnson's final pitching appearance in the big leagues occurred on September 22, 1927, the same day that Gene Tunney took the long count and came back to defend his crown against ex-champion Jack Dempsey in Chicago. Former Nats teammate Frank "Blackie" O'Rourke, the Canadian, was the last big leaguer to get a hit off Walter, and he also was the last man to have been struck out by him. On September 30, Barney played in his final game. He pinch hit for Tom Zachary, his 110th official pinch-hit appearance, in the very same game in which Zachary surrendered Babe Ruth's 60th home run. In Walter Johnson's final appearance in a major-league game, he hit a fly ball to Babe Ruth . . . who else! . . .

. . . There is some sort of irony in the fact that the game's greatest active pitcher made his last appearance as a pinch-hitter (he hit .235 lifetime with 24 home runs), and that the ball was caught by the greatest hitter the game had ever known. (The Washington Senators by Ton Deveaux.)

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Kawika · #4 07-03-2023, 05:12 AM

Quote:

On September 30, Barney played in his final game. He pinch hit for Tom Zachary, his 110th official pinch-hit appearance, in the very same game in which Zachary surrendered Babe Ruth's 60th home run.

Quite a day in baseball history.

GeoPoto · #5 07-04-2023, 04:26 AM

Player #104B: Frederick "Firpo" Marberry. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1923-1932. 148 wins and 99 saves in 14 MLB seasons. First prominent reliever; used as a closer. Important piece of the Washington team that won back-to-back AL pennants in 1924-1925. 1924 World Series champion. His most productive season was 1929 with Washington as he posted a 19-12 record with a 3.06 ERA in 250.1 innings pitched. He ended his career with Washington in 1936.

Marberry's SABR biography traces his career in Washington and in the evolution of the role and importance of relief pitchers: Fred Marberry, one of the best pitchers in baseball for a decade, was the first great hurler to be used primarily as a relief pitcher. He played a large role in Washington�s only World Series triumph, and set many records for relievers that would not be bested for many years. Almost forgotten today, he has been denied larger fame by splitting his career between starting and relieving �had he done one or the other, he might be in baseball�s Hall of Fame today. . . .

. . . Legendary Washington Senators scout Joe Engel heard enough about Marberry to go to Arkansas to have a look, and he soon signed the big right-hander, bringing him to Washington in early August 1923. For the Senators, Marberry finished 4-0 in 11 games with a 2.80 ERA. He was 24 years old, still having pitched for a only few years.

Early on in Washington, Marberry acquired the nickname Firpo because of his size and facial resemblance to Argentine boxer Luis Firpo. The fighter, dubbed �The Wild Bull of the Pampas,� knocked Jack Dempsey out of the ring in a 1923 title bout before losing in the second round. Marberry never liked the nickname, especially as Luis Firpo�s career fizzled out, but he would be Firpo Marberry for the remainder of his baseball years.

One of the more interesting stories on the 1923 Senators was Allan Russell, previously a pitcher for several years with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, and one of the few pitchers still allowed to throw a spitball. Manager Donie Bush (likely with the urging of Clark Griffith) turned Russell into one of the first full-time relief specialists. He started five games, relieved in 47 (a new record), finished 10-7, and �saved� nine games. (Saves were not recorded in 1923, but were retroactively figured in the 1960s.) Of his 181 innings pitched, 144 came in relief (also a new record), meaning he pitched an average of three innings every time he came in as a reliever. This may have been the best season ever put forth by a relief pitcher up until this time.

Marberry began the 1924 season as an extra starter and as a second reliever to Russell. When the latter hurler struggled to repeat his 1923 success, new Senators manager Bucky Harris turned to Marberry more and more often. He responded sensationally. He pitched in 50 games, 35 in relief, won 11, saved 15 and pitched 195 innings, fourth most on the team. Harris used Marberry as Bush had used Russell the previous year: an average of three innings per appearance and as early as the second inning if needed. Russell finished second in the league with eight saves, and the Senators set an all-time team record with 25. (We will return here when Firpo next surfaces.)

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GeoPoto · #6 07-05-2023, 04:04 AM

Player #95D: Roger T. Peckinpaugh. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1922-1926. 1,876 hits and 205 stolen bases in 17 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. His best season at the plate was probably 1921 as he helped the New York Yankees reach the World Series and posted a .380 OBP with 128 runs scored and 72 RBIs in 694 plate appearances. He debuted with the Cleveland Naps in 1910 and finished his playing career with the Chicago White Sox in 1927. He managed the New York Yankees in 1914 and the Cleveland Indians in 1928-1933 and 1941.

Peck's SABR biography: Peck�s legs were giving out, and he would only play two more years in the big leagues. After retiring from the game following the 1927 season, Peckinpaugh accepted the managerial post for the Cleveland Indians. In five and a half seasons with Cleveland, Roger guided the club to one seventh place finish, one third place finish and three consecutive fourth place finishes before being fired midway into the 1933 season. After stints managing Kansas City and New Orleans in the minor leagues, Peck returned to skipper the Indians again in 1941, finishing in fifth place before moving into the Cleveland front office, where he remained until he retired from organized baseball after the 1946 season.

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GeoPoto · #7 07-06-2023, 04:11 AM

Player #74L: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 1. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Carroll touches on Rice's down-and-up 1927 season: Meanwhile, Rice, one of the Senators actually healthy enough to take the field day after day, struggled with health problems of his own, something he tried to fight through at first. Rice developed headaches, then difficulty with his eyesight, complaining that he was having trouble following anything while he was in motion. . . . a week into June Sam Rice, one of the era's most bankable hitters, was struggling along with a .194 average. . . .

. . . Something was clearly wrong. Even when his team was good, Rice was bad. On May 17, Washington drubbed the Cleveland Indians 12-0. Speaker and Goslin combined to go 7-for-7 -- a sweet afternoon, surely, for Speaker against the team that cut him loose rather than see him through a potentially damaging scandal. Meanwhile Rice, mired in the worst slump of his career, went 0-for-6. All the while, with the exception of a brief spell in the number two hole, Harris kept leading his veteran off. While the powerful Yankees began to run away with the American League, Washington was led off every game by a player who was struggling to bat .200.

In mid-May, an explanation for Rice's plate struggles arose. . . . An exam revealed three infected teeth, which "had poisoned his entire system." He had them extracted. . . .

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