Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Player #90E: Leon A. "Goose" Goslin Part 2. 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.

Goslin’s .379 (in 1928) average ultimately beat a .378 mark posted by the St. Louis Browns’ Heinie Manush. In The Glory of Their Times, Goslin provided author Lawrence Ritter insight into his quest for the title – right down to his last at-bat. Goose realized that if he got a hit, he won; if he was out, he lost. Confronted with this dilemma, Goslin thought seriously about sitting it out, but teammates insisted he’d hear accusations of “being yellow if you win the title on the bench.”

Goslin decided to take his licks, and quickly looked at two strikes. He decided to try to get thrown out of the game. Umpire Bill Guthrie read through the ruse and told Goslin: “You’re not going to get thrown out of this ballgame no matter what you do.” The ump added that a walk was out of the question too. Back in the box, Goslin got what he termed a “lucky hit” and won the title fair and square.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #83I: 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 relates Bucky's demise as Washington's manager: The Day of the final (1928 season) game, after a meeting in Griffith's office, he (Bucky) walked down the clubhouse steps with a grim smile and said, "Well boys, I'm through."

On October 2, he was relieved of his managerial duties. He was not released. Griffith still held his rights as a player. To the extent that the criticisms (that he was too soft) of Bucky were true, he was a victim of his own success. He was one of the youngest players on the team when he took over as manager in 1924. He didn't feel it was his place to discipline them and there was little need for discipline. The veterans played hard for him in 1924 and 1925. Subsequent teams were not like that.

Post columnist Shirley Povich opined on the Harris-Griffith relationship.

"Bucky Harris was one of Griffith's greatest disappointments. Griffith will not admit it in so many words but when he talks about Bucky you get a drift of blighted hopes and sad reminisce. For Griffith had plans for Bucky. When the contract for $100,000 was handed to Bucky, Clark Griffith was ready to step down and let younger hands relieve him of the responsibility of president of the club. On Bucky Harris he had built his hopes of a successor. Bucky was no mere manager. He was an officer of the club. A new clubhouse was being built and Bucky's office was already receiving its appointments. But the Bucky Harris of 1926 was not the Harris of '24. Baseball was no longer an obsession with Bucky. He had made new friends and moved in new circles. He was no longer the first man on the field and the last to leave. Bucky was growing older, less ambitious. (We will return to Smiles' account and this Povich quote tomorrow.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #83I: 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.

Povich continues: He (Bucky) spent less time in his office. During 1926 and '27 Bucky managed the ball team and that was all, Griffith was back in the clubhouse running the business affairs as he had run them since 1912 when he bought the team."

If Griffith and Bucky had such a relationship, where Bucky was expected to take over as club president, it was news to a lot of people. Griffith had always been something of a control freak, and it's doubtful he was going to make Bucky his successor. Griffith remained club president into his 80s. And it was not fair to say Bucky did nothing but manage the team on the field. He engineered a lot of the deals that made the 1924 and 1925 teams winners and had some of the failed deals forced on him by Griffith, notably for fading stars Sisler and Speaker. But it was true that Bucky had changed. He was no longer the "mine boy" or the "boy wonder," and he did "move in new circles," as Povich put it. At the end of his first tenure in Washington, though, it was his personality that did him in and that did not change as he aged. When not on the field playing, Bucky was soft-spoken and easy going. He didn't like imposing strict rules off the field. He trusted men to act like men, not boys. Curfews were for children. (Bucky Harris by Jack Smiles.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #54Q: 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.

Walter's SABR biography: After 1927, his final season, Walter Johnson managed for a year at Newark in the International League, then returned to Washington, where he served as manager for four seasons. He also managed at Cleveland from 1933-35, where he was constantly under attack by the local press. Although his managerial style was criticized as too easy-going, it should be noted that his teams had an overall winning percentage of .550.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #121A: Samuel P. "Sad Sam" Jones. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1928-1931. 229 wins and 31 saves in 22 MLB seasons. 2-time World Series champion: 1918 with the Boston Red Sox and 1923 with the New York Yankees. He went to Boston in 1916 as part of the trade that sent Tris Speaker to Cleveland. He pitched a no-hitter in 1923 without striking out a batter. He debuted with the Cleveland Indians in 1914-1915. One of his better seasons was 1921 with Boston as he posted a 23-16 record with a 3.22 ERA in 298.2 innings pitched. Another was 1928 with Washington, 17-7/2.84 in 224.2 innings pitched. His final seasons were with the Chicago White Sox in 1932-1935. His 22 consecutive years pitching in the same league is an MLB record, shared with 4 other players.

Jones' SABR biography explains his early days with the Boston Red Sox: For a player so significant in Red Sox history, surprisingly little is known about Samuel Pond “Sad Sam” Jones. Despite his incredible contributions to the Red Sox World Series victory in 1918, the most often discussed thing about Jones is his curious nickname. . . .

. . . The new (Red Sox) manager for 1918, Ed Barrow, saw that Jones had a “most baffling delivery” and nurtured him into a pitcher who delivered 16 victories against only five losses (2.25 ERA). Though Barrow would later say that he was equally as proud of turning Babe Ruth into an outfielder as he was of turning Jones into a great pitcher, Jones and his manager had a contentious relationship at best. In his interview with Laurence Ritter for The Glory of Their Times, Jones admitted that he was a bit hard to handle as a ballplayer in his younger years, something that would become a semi-serious problem in his years with the Washington Senators. . . .

. . . When Ernie Shore left for the Navy, Dutch Leonard took a shipyard job, and Babe Ruth cut back a bit on pitching, Joe Bush and Sam Jones got the opportunity to pitch in 1918. Bush won 15, Jones won 16, and Carl Mays won 21. It was a terrific year, and Jones led the league in winning percentage as the Red Sox advanced to the World Series against the Chicago Cubs. Though Jones lost his start in Game Five, 3-0, the Sox won the Series–it would be their last world championship for 86 years.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #73F: 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 tracks his path to the major leagues: . . . Joe played semi-pro ball as a teenager, attracting the attention of New York Giants Manager, John McGraw. But McGraw advised the youngster that he would be better off as a pitcher, as he was too short to make it as a first baseman.

The Judge family relocated to Yorkville, a neighborhood in Manhattan, and Joe joined the Yorkville Orients semipro team. The move to Yorkville was a fortuitous one for Judge. One day, as the team practiced, a mail carrier was watching the scene, taking note of the young, left-handed man playing shortstop. The postman, Bud Hannah, told Judge he would never make it to the majors playing an infield position left-handed. Hannah further told Joe to get himself a first baseman’s glove, and to start practicing to become a first sacker. Judge told Hannah that he was poor and could not afford a new glove. The next day Hannah showed up at the practice field and gave Joe a box. “Inside was the most beautiful first baseman’s mitt I’ve ever seen, before or since. I don’t know how he could afford it. Mailmen didn’t get much in those days. It must have set him back a week’s pay,” recalled Judge. When Joe became a big leaguer, he always left a pair of tickets for Hannah when the team played in New York. “It was little enough for me to do for him after all he had done for me,” said Judge.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #74M: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice. 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 talks to Rice's 1928 season: Speaker and McNeely were both now gone, opening at least one Washington outfield spot for one of the team's farm league up-and-comers. Regardless, Rice's starting position still wasn't guaranteed.

Reported the Washington Post: "It is no secret that the veteran, Sam Rice, will report at next spring's Tampa training camp with the knowledge that he is merely a candidate for the right-field job and hasn't a stranglehold on it, as has been the case in many previous seasons."

But Rice did win his spot in the lineup, and soon showed why he deserved to still be out there.

By July, the Senators had long been an afterthought in the American League pennant race, and faced the prospect of nine games in five days. Somehow, Washington managed to string together five straight victories during that time. Rice was the hottest Senator of all. The stretch included four double headers, both pairs coming on consecutive days, yet Rice didn't miss an inning. Not only that, but he was flat-out torrid at the plate, collecting sixteen base hits over the five days.

Although his team struggled for the entire season, prompting ever louder calls for Bucky Harris' firing or resignation, the once-again healthy Rice was enjoying a sort of renaissance season a year after his worst overall season since he became a full-timer in the big leagues. On September 5, he was batting .340. . . .

. . . There was a late April scare that Rice's sinus problems, or whatever they were, from the season before were creeping back up, but that turned out to be nothing more than a common cold. Otherwise, while the team mostly struggled, Rice had a terrific season, batting .328 with 202 hits. He had fifteen triples, the second-highest total of his career, and his thirty-two doubles gave him more than thirty doubles and ten triples for the eighth consecutive season. Perhaps one of the few signs of aging was Rice's sixteen stolen bases, his lowest total in a full season since he had been in the big leagues. But Rice was stealing smarter these days, only getting thrown out three times two seasons after he was nailed twenty-three times. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

This thread will now enjoy an extended pause -- planned restart date: 2 August.

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