Washington DC Baseball

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Player #125A: William Clifton "Cliff" Bolton. Catcher for the Washington Senators in 1931, 1933-1936, and 1941. 280 hits and 6 home runs over 7 MLB Seasons. His best season was 1935 as he posted a .399 OBP with 55 RBI's in 435 plate appearances. He also had a .500 OBP in 46 plate appearances coming off the bench in 1933 as Washington won the A.L. pennant.

In 1931 Cliff Bolton made his major league debut with the Washington Senators. Bolton spent the next few years with Washington. Despite a career OBP of .366, he would only get 1,078 plate appearances across 7 MLB seasons.

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Player #126: Lloyd A. Brown. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1928-1932. 91 wins and 23 saves in 12 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Brooklyn Robins in 1925. His best season was 1931 with Washington as he posted a 15-14 record with a 3.20 ERA in 258.2 innings pitched. He last played with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1940. He is best remembered as the pitcher who gave up the most home runs (15) to Lou Gehrig, including two grand slams.

Brown's SABR biography covers the highlights of his time in Washington: Walter Johnson became the new Washington manager in 1929, and he said he’d heard very good reports about Brown and that he intended to work with him to help him develop. “They tell me he has the stuff but needs plenty of work. If the first part of this is true I’ll guarantee he’ll be given plenty of work.” Brown did get plenty of work; he appeared in 40 games in 1929, including 15 starts, throwing 168 innings. He was 8-7 with a 4.18 ERA, slightly better than the fifth-place Senators’ 4.38 team ERA. . . .

. . . Brown led the Senators in victories in 1930, with a 16-12 (4.25 ERA) record, but just by a hair. Four other Senators each had 15 wins: General Crowder, Bump Hadley. Sad Sam Jones, and Firpo Marberry. The team finished in second place, eight games behind the Athletics. He had another very good year in 1931 – 15-14 (3.20 ERA) –; though the Senators finished third. And he added 15 more wins in 1932, against 12 losses, with a 4.44 earned run average as the Senators again finished third.

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Player #127A: Robert J. "Bobby" Burke. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1927-1935. 38 wins and 5 saves in 10 MLB seasons. In 1931, he pitched a no-hitter against Boston at Griffith Stadium. He was the last Washington pitcher to pitch a no-hitter until Jordan Zimmerman in 2014. His best season was 1934 as he posted a 8-8 record with a 3.21 ERA on 168 innings pitched. He ended his career with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1937.

Deveaux addresses Burke's surprising accomplishment in 1931: However, it was neither (Washington pitchers, Lloyd) Brown nor (Firpo) Marberry who grabbed the biggest headlines among the Griffithmen in 1931. A 24-year-old beanpole named Bobby Burke, who already had four years and a composite 14-18 record with the Senators under his belt going into 1930 (sic), threw one of the American League's two no-hitters on August 8 at Griffith Stadium. Burke, 7-2 going into that game, struck out eight Red Sox and walked five, but his fielders never had a real tough play to make all day, and there were no miscues, in a 5-0 shutout. Buddy Myer and Joe Cronin both tripled, with Cronin's blow driving in two runs.

Bobby Burke claimed to have thrown just six curve balls in accomplishing the no-hitter. Amazingly, his feat still stands as the only no-hitter in the entire history of the Senators apart from Walter Johnson's in 1920. Just as amazing is that Burke didn't win another game over the final two months of the 1931 season. He managed to hang on with the Nats for another four seasons, largely on the strength, many believed, of that one game in August '31. He left the big leagues following a failed attempt at making the Philadelphia Phillies in 1937. The Senators' old field boss, Bucky Harris, dubbed Burke "the kid who got an eleven-year tryout." (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Player #128A: Joseph E. "Joe" Cronin. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1928-1934 and the Boston Red Sox in 1935-1945. 2,285 hits and 170 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. He had a career OBP of .390. He was a 7-time All Star. Boston Red Sox #4 retired. Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame. In 1956, he was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. His best season was probably 1930 for Washington as he posted a .422 OBP with 127 runs scored and 127 RBIs on 686 plate appearances. He managed the Washington Senators in 1933-1934 and the Boston Red Sox in 1935-1947. He was General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1948-1958. He was president of the American League in 1959-1973. When he left the Red Sox in 1959, they were the only MLB team without a black player. He and team owner Tom Yawkey are generally viewed as responsible for this injustice which ended six months after Cronin's departure.

Cronin's SABR biography explains his rise to stardom: With Kansas City (of the American Association), Joe played mostly third base and struggled to regain his batting stroke after a year of playing so infrequently. In July he was hitting just .245 and feared he might be sent to a lower classification club. Instead, Joe’s ship suddenly came in. Joe Engel, a scout for the Washington Senators, was making a scouting trip in the Midwest when he discovered that Cronin, whom he remembered from the Pirates, was available. The Senators, it turned out, needed an infielder, and Engel made the purchase.

Joe reported to Washington in mid-July. When Engel brought him to meet Clark Griffith, the Senators’ owner, they first had to meet Mildred Robertson, Griffith’s niece and secretary. In fact, Engel had sent a telegram to Mildred before his arrival, warning her that he had signed her future husband. As it turned out, Joe and Mildred soon began a long courtship before being married after the 1934 season.

The Senators needed a shortstop, oddly, because of an arm injury suffered by left fielder Goose Goslin which kept him from throwing the ball more than a few feet. The club needed Goslin’s great bat so the shortstop, Bobby Reeves, had to run out to left field to retrieve his relay throws. Though hitting well over .300 in June, Reeves began to lose weight rapidly in the summer heat, and the team at least needed a capable reserve. Cronin began as Reeves’ backup, but eventually manager Bucky Harris began playing the newcomer most of the time. Cronin hit just .242 in 63 games but played an excellent shortstop and became a favorite of his manager.

After the season Harris was fired and replaced by Walter Johnson. Johnson was a longtime Senators hero, but was not familiar with Cronin at all and said only that he would keep an open mind. The next spring Johnson moved Ossie Bluege from third base to shortstop and installed Jackie Hayes at third, but an early-season injury to Bluege gave Cronin an opening, and his strong play forced the recovered Bluege back to third base. In 145 games, including 143 at shortstop, Joe hit a solid .282 with eight home runs and 29 doubles. His 62 errors, due mainly to overaggressive throwing, did not cause alarm. Turning 22 that fall, Cronin was one of the brightest young players in the game.

In 1930 Cronin took his game up another notch, becoming the best shortstop and one of the best players in baseball. Joe hit .346 for the season, with 203 hits and 126 runs batted in. In fact, the baseball writers voted Joe the league’s MVP, ahead of Al Simmons and Lou Gehrig. It was not until 1931 that the writers’ award became the “official” MVP award, but Cronin was recognized in the press as the recipient in 1930. The Sporting News also gave Cronin its Player of the Year award. The Senators’ 94 wins were eight shy of the great Philadelphia Athletics’ 102-52 record.

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Player #129A: Alvin F. "General" Crowder. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1926-1927 and 1930-1934. 167 wins and 22 saves in 11 MLB seasons. 1933 All-Star. 1935 World Series champion. 1932 and 1933 AL wins leader. His nickname came from General Enoch Crowder, who designed the World War I draft lottery in the United States. His best season was 1932 for Washington as he posted a 26-13 record and a 3.33 ERA in 327 innings pitched. He was known as "Yankee Killer", for his success against the Yankees and Babe Ruth in particular. He finished his career with the Detroit Tigers in 1934-1936, including a complete-game, 2-1 victory in Game 4 as the Tigers won the World Series in 1935. He pitched in three consecutive World Series in 1933-1935.

(We go to Crowder's SABR biography and begin with his second stint in Washington: . . . Then, on June 13 (1930), in a startling move, Browns owner Phil Ball sent Crowder, along with outfielder and future Hall of Famer Heinie Manush, to the Washington Senators for another future Hall of Famer, outfielder Goose Goslin. The trade was universally considered a coup for Clark Griffith, who provided manager Walter Johnson with yet another arm for the most consistent and best staff in the AL. Given a new lease on life with a contender, Crowder responded by becoming the workhorse of the Senators staff. After the trade, he hurled nine consecutive complete games, winning six of them, while the Senators battled the Athletics for the lead. Philadelphia pulled away in late July and early August to win its second consecutive pennant, but Crowder proved to be a rubber-armed starter. Concluding the season with nine consecutive complete games for the second-place Nationals, Crowder was one of five Washington pitchers with at least 15 victories. The 31-year-old finished with an 18-16 record (15-9 with the Senators), completed a career-high 25 of 35 starts, and logged 279⅔ innings.

A notorious late starter, Crowder annually struggled to find his form in April and May. As if on cue, the General got off to a particularly brutal start with the Senators in 1931, posting a 0-4 record and 9.64 ERA five weeks into the season, prompting The Sporting News to call him “the biggest disappointment” in baseball. . . . “[Crowder] cannot win until the weather gets warm,” noted The Sporting News, while other sportswriters sarcastically suggested that Crowder should start the season in June or get paid only in the summer. Despite his troubles, Crowder notched a team-high 18 wins and logged 234⅓ innings.

Contemporary sportswriters like Dan Daniel noted that Crowder had a pitching arsenal that included a fastball, a “corking change of pace,” a “baffling” curve, and a screwball, all of which made it difficult for hitters to predict what he would throw. From his lazy, slow, three-quarters-to-overhand delivery, his fastball had surprising movement (often called a “sneak”). He also possessed a deceptive throw to first base which discouraged base runners from taking large leads.

We will now enjoy a brief pause -- planned date for next post: 31 August.

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Player #130A: Charles W. "Carl" Fischer. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1930-1932 and 1937. 46 wins and 10 saves in 7 MLB seasons. His best season was 1933 with the Detroit Tigers as he posted an 11-15 record with 3.55 ERA in 182.2 innings pitched. He last pitched in MLB in 1937 but pitched another 10 seasons in the minor leagues.

We go to Fischer's SABR biography for his introduction to Washington: Fischer quickly established himself (in 1926) as one of the best left-handers in the (Class B) NYP (New York-Pennsylvania) League, fashioning a 7-1 record with a sparkling 2.15 ERA. After another solid season in the lower minors, the 22-year-old moved up to within one rung from the big leagues, hurling for Walter Johnson’s Newark Bears of the International League. In stark contrast to the mild-mannered Johnson, who was one of the game’s great control pitchers, Fischer’s fiery disposition and frequent wildness on the mound often led to trouble. Trying to harness them was one of Johnson’s more challenging jobs as manager. He met with moderate success, as Fischer finished the season with an 11-8 record, while walking nearly five batters a game.

The following season, Johnson returned to Washington to manage the Senators, leaving Fischer in Newark to work under another future Hall of Famer, manager Tris Speaker. Speaker used Fischer exclusively as a starter and gave him a longer leash than Johnson had. The hard-throwing southpaw responded by twirling 248 innings, winning 18 games and fanning a league-leading 198 batters. Fischer continued his big year by marrying Grace Reynolds of Middleport, New York, in the fall of 1929.

Despite the breakout campaign, Fischer again found himself back with the Bears for the 1930 season. Although he was not as effective as in the previous year, he showed enough that in mid-July the Senators outbid a number of other teams for his services. Team owner Clark Griffith gave Newark $20,000 and two players for the rights to the “Medina Mauler.” The deal reunited Fischer with Walter Johnson, who had recommended him to Griffith and was in his second season at the Nats’ helm. As he had in Newark, Johnson used Fischer in a swingman role, working him out of the bullpen and as a spot starter. Since the Senators were on the fringes of the pennant race, the newcomer saw limited action, taking the mound only eight times in his ten weeks with the Senators, who finished the American League campaign in second place.

Entering 1931, Washington was widely considered to have the strongest stable of pitchers in the league. Despite the stiff competition, Fischer headed north from spring training in Biloxi, Mississippi, on the Senators’ roster. Early in the season he was one of the team’s most effective pitchers and by mid-June sported a 7-1 record and the best winning percentage in the American League. Included in this span of games was an outing that Fischer considered the highlight of his career. In the first game of a May 30 doubleheader against the New York Yankees at Washington’s Griffith Stadium, Senators starter Sad Sam Jones began the ninth inning by giving up a home run to Tony Lazzeri and a single to Earl Combs. With nobody out and Washington clinging to a 3-2 lead, Johnson summoned Fischer from the bullpen to face the heart of the Bronx Bombers’ lineup. Fischer proceeded to strike out Sammy Byrd and Babe Ruth, and then coaxed Lou Gehrig to pop out to end the contest. Fischer claimed he got a $1,000 bonus for his game-saving act.

1931 Washington Senators Picture Pack Fischer

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Player #82E: Edward P. "Patsy" Gharrity. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1916-1923 and 1929-1930. 513 hits and 20 home runs in 10 MLB seasons. He also played some first base and outfield. He had a career OBP of .331. His best season was 1921 as posted a .386 OBP with 55 RBIs in 455 plate appearances.

Gharrity's SABR biography: . . . Gharrity and Walter Johnson were good friends. Gharrity considered him “one of the grandest fellows” he had ever met. When Griffith appointed Johnson manager for the 1929 season, Gharrity was the Big Train’s choice to join his coaching staff. Gharrity applied for reinstatement and got word from Commissioner Kenesaw M. Landis on November 11 (Armistice Day) that he was in good standing again.

Spring training was an interesting sight in 1929. Johnson worked with the pitchers and assigned the other positions to his coaching staff of Zeb Milan, Gharrity, Nick Altrock, and Al Schacht. One writer noted that “Gharrity and Milan make them cry and Schacht and Altrock leave them laughing.”

Gharrity coached with Johnson in Washington through the 1932 season. When Johnson was hired in Cleveland, Gharrity joined him there from 1933 to ’35. In Washington he was signed to a player contract and made a total of five appearances when needed. He also played in exhibition games.

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