Washington DC Baseball

GeoPoto · #1 11-30-2023, 04:00 AM

Player #153A: Earl O. Whitehill. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1933-1936. 218 wins and 11 saves in 17 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Detroit Tigers in 1923-1932. His best season came as Washington won the AL pennant in 1933 as he posted a 22-8 record with an ERA of 3.33 in 270 innings pitched. He ended his career with the Chicago Cubs in 1939. His only World Series start was a complete game shutout in Game 3 of the 1933 World Series, which Washington lost in 5 games.

Deveaux addresses Whitehill's entry to Washington: On the following day (December14, 1932), (Carl) Fischer became part of a trade that also brought Earl Olliver Whitehill to Washington, but the cost was much higher than just Fischer. The Tigers insisted on Firpo Marberry, the starter-reliever who'd recorded a stunning 39-13 record over the past three years. However, Marberry had passed his 34th birthday two weeks earlier. Earl Whitehill was only two months younger, but he'd been logging a lot of innings for the Tigers for ten years and was considered a reliable starter and a fierce competitor. Whitehill took a back seat to no one on the field -- he was a win-at-all-costs type of player, as evidenced by his arguments with his manager at Detroit, Ty Cobb, whenever the abrasive Cobb came to the mound to tell him how to pitch.

Dubbed the "Earl" for his dazzling wardrobe, good looks (he was married to the model who gained perpetual life by posing as the original Sunshine Raisin girl), and temperamental air, Whitehill wasn't afraid to tell off teammates or umpires, depending on the particular game situation. While Marberry would have a good year for Detroit, posting a 16-11 record, Earl Whitehill, who'd never won more than 17 for the Tigers, would win 22 games and be the Senators' best pitcher in 1933. Whitehill would eventually retire from baseball with 217 wins, but with the highest ERA (4.36) of any 200-game winner in history. He regularly walked more batters than he struck out in a season, and as late as the 1980s he was still on the top-ten all-time list for bases on balls given up over a career. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

(We are now going to pause briefly before beginning treatment of the 1933 World Series. Expected re-start: Sunday.)

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GeoPoto · #2 12-04-2023, 03:56 AM

If the Senators dominated the league in 1933, Bill Terry's New York Giants did the same in the rival loop, emerging as clear-cut champs with a five-game edge over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The upcoming World Series would pit two "boy managers" against one another. At 34, Terry had taken over from John McGraw early in the 1932 campaign, marking the end of the Lil' General's 30-year reign as the Giants' field boss. Cronin, eight years Terry's junior, became the youngest manager in World Series history, a distinction he still held at the beginning of this century.

So it would be, as in 1924, a confrontation between the Giants and the Senators. However, unlike the '24 Giants team, which was built around hitting, this outfit centered around an outstanding pitching staff. Its ace was Carl Hubbell (Hubbell would be forever remembered in baseball lore for something that would happen during the following year. In the 1934 All-Star game, he struck out, in succession, no less a group of sluggers than Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin.), a lanky, floppy-eared, 30-year-old lefthander who'd been pitching in the National League for six years with some success.

Carl Hubbel's specialty was the screwball, and he delivered it with a slow, cartwheeling movement toward the plate. Until this season, his best showings had been a pair of 18-11 efforts in '29 and '32. But in 1933, Hubbell occupied another stratosphere, leading all National League pitchers in wins (23), ERA (an overpowering 1.66), innings pitched, and shutouts. His ten shutouts were three more than were posted by his teammate, Hal Schumacher, second best in the league in that category. "Prince Hal," a righthander who threw a heavy ball and had a very good overhand curve, went 19-12 with a 2.16 ERA, third best in the league. Hubbell and Schumacher were 1-2 in the N.L. in allowing the fewest number of hits per nine innings, and third on that list was another Giant, Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons, 16-11 with another ERA under 3.00.

Rival managers and future Hall of Famers, Bill Terry and Joe Cronin exchange pleasantries before game 1 at the Polo Grounds:

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GeoPoto · #3 12-05-2023, 04:40 AM

Giants manager Bill Terry wasted no time making known who his starter would be for the first game -- Carl Hubbell. The lefty's screwball was said to be even more effective against lefthanded hitters, and of theose, Washington had plenty in its starting lineup -- Myer, Goslin, and Manush, who would be penciled into the 1-2-3 slots in the batting order in game one, and Joe Kuhel, who would bat sixth.

It was the Washington Senators, a truly balanced ball club, who were considered runaway favorites to win the 1933 World Series. As the first contest at New York's Polo Grounds, slated for October 3, approached, Joe Cronin remained mum regarding who would start the first game for the Senators. Terry had already declared that Carl Hubbell would win the first and fourth games, and this may have contributed to Cronin's determination to remain silent. After dallying for a week, he settled on a lefthander as well, but baseball observers were shocked that it wasn't Earl Whitehill, the 22-game winner. Instead, Lefty Stewart, loser of only six games all season, got the nod.

Game 1 starters Carl Hubbel and Lefty Stewart shake hands before the contest:

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GeoPoto · #4 12-06-2023, 04:28 AM

The day of the first game started off very badly for the Senators . . . even before play even began. On his way to the Polo Grounds, lead-off batter Buddy Myer was reportedly a witness to a traffic accident in which a pedestrian was killed. Myer, visibly and understandably shaken by the experience, would make three errors in the field on this day. He was easy prey for Hubbell leading off the game and struck out. Goose Goslin and Heinie Manush both struck out as well.

In the field, right away Myer had to handle a ground ball off the bat of lead-off man Jo-Jo Moore (not the same player as Eddie Moore, the second baseman who'd played for the Pirates against Washington in the 1925 Series). Myer booted the play, and the error would be costly. Lefty Stewart got the next two batters but then Mel Ott, the Giants' most powerful hitter, propelled a drive into the lower rightfield stands.

Stewart, Cronin's "hunch," pitched just two innings. He was lifted after giving up three singles, one of them off the wall, and a run, without getting anyone out in the top of the third. Jack Russell came in and got three straight outs, but another run came in when a shot off the bat of Travis Jackson, a 1924 World Series alumnus, went off Kuhel's glove to Myer, who relayed to Russell covering first.

The Senators scored single runs in the fourth and ninth, both unearned, off Hubbell, who went all the way and gave up just five hits. Buddy Myer opened the fourth with a single, advanced on an error by second baseman Hughie Critz, and scored on Fred Schulte's single. In the top of the ninth, with the Nats still down 4-1, New York shortstop Blondy Ryan muffed a Manush grounder to start the inning. Joe Cronin and Fred Schulte then singled, both of them for the second time in the game. Here were the makings of a rally. Joe Kuhel then grounded to short for the first out. Manush scored. The next batter, Ossie Bluege, struck out for the third time, proving that Hubbell was no picnic for righthanded hitters either. Luke Sewell then grounded to short to end the game.

The Caption on the reverse of this photograph reads: "With New Yorkers still bemoaning the decline of Babe Ruth as their son of swat, a new idol popped into the picture at the Polo Grounds in the first game of the series between Giants and Senators yesterday. 'Twas Mel Ott. To make the roaring fans forget Babe Ruth for the day at least, Ott tied a World Series record with a homer and three singles out of four official times at bat. He drove across three of his team's four runs."

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GeoPoto · #5 12-07-2023, 04:15 AM

The events of game two would in no way inspire any second guessing about Joe Cronin having picked Lefty Stewart as his starting pitcher in the Series opener. This is because of what happened when the Nats' top winner, General Alvin Crowder, was handed the ball for the second game. With two down in the third, Goose Goslin, hitless in his first five at-bats in this Series, belted a Hal Schumacher pitch into the upper right field stands. The ball sailed over a sign sponsored by the NRA proclaiming "We Do Our Part." Crowder was doing his part, coasting through the first five innings, giving up just one walk and two harmless singles.

In the sixth, however, the roof caved in. In the top half, the Nats had men on second and third with one out when Goslin, the lead runner, got caught in a rundown when Fred Schulte grounded toward third. Joe Kuhel walked to load the bases, but Ossie Bluege struck out for the fourth time in five official at-bats so far in the Series. In the bottom of the inning, the Giants sent 12 batters to the plate, bunching seven singles, a double by Terry, and an intentional walk, to score six runs and chase Crowder. The tying and winning runs were driven in by pinch hitter Lefty O'Doul, a pitcher who had been transformed into an outfielder while already in his thirties. O'Doul had proceeded to win the National League batting championship in 1930 with a .398 average.

Tommy Thomas came in to relieve Crowder with two outs and the score 6-1, and gave up an inconsequential infield single before getting Bill Terry to ground into a force play to end the slaughter. The score remained as it was at the end of New York's six-run sixth, 6-1. The Giants, who had ten hits in each of the first two games to the Senators' five in each game, were well positioned now with a 2-0 lead with the sixth and seventh games, should the Senators succeed in rendering them necessary, to be played at the Polo Grounds.

One aside to this unhappy story from the Nationals' perspective was that Sam Rice, owner of a .290 career batting average in the World Series, got one last crack at the bat. The 43-year-old was brought in as a pinch hitter for Tommy Thomas after the sixth-inning debacle. With one out in the top of the seventh, Rice singled to center to raise his average above the magical .300 barrier (.302) for all eternity. As things would go, this was Sam Rice's final at-bat with the Senators after having donned a Washington uniform over a span of 19 consecutive years. (Note: Deveaux makes mention here of Rice's career .302 average in the World Series; his career average in the regular season is .322.)

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GeoPoto · #6 12-08-2023, 04:00 AM

The weather may not have matched the mood at Griffith Stadium for the third game on October 5. The teams had traveled by train from New York, and there were still no off days scheduled during the fall classics of this era. It rained hard before the game, drenching a relatively sparce crowd of under 26,000 which included President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a large congressional retinue -- the largest, it was said, ever to see a baseball game. President Roosevelt threw out the first ball, and the custom then in vogue was for the players to scramble to catch it. On this occasion, a wild melee ensued, and it was lucky on one was injured. For the record, it was Heinie Manush who finally emerged from the scrum with the ball.

A short while earlier, Joe Cronin had a few choice words for his troops. As manager, but also as their shortstop, he told them that he hoped every man in the room was as ashamed as he was about what had happened in New York. He told them that they were a better team than the New York Giants, and now was the time to show that.

Cronin's words didn't hurt. As the Giants had done in the first game, the Senators struck for two runs right off the bat in this one. After Earl Whitehill mowed New York down in order, lead-off man Buddy Myer, who up to this point was a dismal 1-for-7 with three errors on only ten fielding chances in the first two games, singled off Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons. Goose Goslin, up next, unloaded on one of Fred's fat ones, propelling it off the top of the fence in right field. Mel Ott gamely retrieved it, keeping Myer from scoring.

After Heinie Manush popped up, Cronin hit a bouncer back to the mound. Myer had moved quickly, however, and Fitzsimmons had no choice but to go for the easy out at first, making the score 1-0 Washington. Fred Schulte kept the rally going, tagging a double to right to bring in Goslin with the second run of the inning. The rally ended moments later when Schulte got caught in a rundown after Kuhel had hit a ground ball toward Travis Jackson, the former shortstop who was just recently starting to play some at the hot corner.

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GeoPoto · #7 12-09-2023, 04:43 AM

Like Myer had done in the Washington half of the first inning, Ossie Bluege gained a measure of redemption in opening the second. Ossie needed it. He was 0-for-6 with four strikeouts in the Series to date, but this time he banged a double down the third-base line. The veteran Luke Sewell hit expertly behind the runner, and Bluege was quickly moved up to third with one away.

What happened next was thrilling, although it would end up being unimportant. Pitcher Earl Whitehill drove a bouncing ball toward the mound and Fred Fitzsimmons made a split-second decision to try and nab Bluege off third. He didn't, and there were now runners on the corners. The beleaguered Buddy Myer promptly doubled down the first-base line, bringing in a third run and putting Whitehill on third. The next batter, Goslin, drove a fly to left on which Whitehill was given the go-ahead to try and score, but Jo-Jo Moore's relay to Gus Mancuso got Whitehill at the plate and the inning was over. But it was 3-0 Washington.

The flashy Whitehill would allow but six hits on this day and only one for extra bases -- a harmless fourth-inning two-out double which resulted in Travis Jackson being stranded on second. With the score unchanged in the bottom of the seventh, Buddy Myer singled to right, his third hit of the day, off reliever Hi Bell, who'd been brought in after six innings to relieve Fitzsimmons. The hit brought in Luke Sewell, who had beaten out a grounder to short, stolen second, and made it to third when Whitehill grounded to second.

Whitehill, winner of 22 games, the Senators' best lefthander and ace of the staff, completed the shutout, the only one there would be in this Series. He kept hitless the trio of Moore, Terry, and Ott, who between them had made eight hits in the first two games. That Whitehill had had to wait until the third game for his chance, particularly in light of the fact that it was Carl Hubbell's turn again, was an issue that was at this point certainly gaining importance in the psyche of many a fan of the Washington Senators. By Heinie Manush, Whitehill was presented with the hard-earned "game ball" President Roosevelt had thrown out. But would he get another start? The likelihood that Whitehill would pitch again seemed reduced all the more by Cronin's choice of Monte Weaver as his fourth-game starter. If the Senators kept winning and Lefty Stewart and General Crowder did not miss their turns, Whitehill would have to wait until a seventh game.

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