Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Player #155B: John T. "Rocky" Stone. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1934-1938. 1,391 hits and 77 home runs in 11 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .376. he debuted with the Detroit Tigers in 1928-1933. His most productive season may have been 1932 with Detroit as he posted a .361 OBP with 106 runs scored and 109 RBIs in 643 plate appearances. His best season in Washington was 1936 as he posted a .421 OBP with 95 runs scored and 90 RBIs in 500 plate appearances.

Back to Stone's SABR biography: Cronin’s departure (following the 1934 season) resulted in the return of Bucky Harris to Washington as skipper in 1935. Bucky was certainly well acquainted with Johnny from their days together in Detroit and immediately announced plans to utilize Stone as the Senators’ clean-up hitter for the upcoming season. Harris commented: “He’s got the power that a fourth-place hitter needs. I don’t mean home runs, but those frequent doubles and triples that roll off his bat.” Stone went on to hit .314 in 125 games.; however, Harris wasn’t pleased with either the team’s sixth place finish or the overall performance of Johnny Stone.

Harris unfairly assumed southern ballplayers had a lazy streak, a trait he referred to as the “Tennessee hookworm.” The Senators manager surmised Stone was simply not giving it his all, both offensively and defensively. Harris even speculated about the possibility of relegating Stone to part-time status, fueling rumors of a potential salary cut for the 1936 season.

Johnny ultimately signed, retaining his $7,500 salary, plus his clean-up spot in the batting order. Perhaps the motivational tactic worked; he went on to post a .341 average with 15 home runs and 90 RBIs as the Senators moved up to finish third with an 82-71 record.

Washington fell back to sixth place (73-80) in 1937, with Johnny posting a .330 average in 139 games. Sportswriter Al Costello described Stone: “He is as colorless as a newly whitewashed fence. Not one bit of showmanship or grandstanding is in his makeup as he goes along his business of fielding almost faultlessly and hitting often and hard. Ask any of the players in the American League what sort of a player Stone is and you’re sure to receive the answer that to a player is the acme of praise. They’ll tell you concisely the words that best explain a good ballplayer to another ballplayer when they explain: Stone is a ballplayer’s ballplayer.”

[GeoPoto]

Player #149B: Montie M. Weaver. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1931-1938. 71 wins and 4 saves in 9 MLB seasons. In 1933 as Washington won the AL pennant, he posted a 10-5 record with a 3.25 ERA in 152.1 innings pitched. He finished his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1939.

Weaver's SABR biography goes on to describe the troubles and criticisms he endured while in Washington: Weaver started strongly in 1934 and had won nine games by mid-July. But the Nats lost 11 of his last 13 starts as they sank to seventh place, crippled by injuries to Cronin, catcher Sewell and first baseman Joe Kuhel.

The sporting press turned on Weaver. He had been portrayed as an oddball, but a respected, educated one; now his quirks were blamed for his poor performance, an 11-15 record with a 4.79 ERA. In September The Sporting News labeled him a “hypochondriac” and made the first mention of his vegetarian diet: “addicted to the spinach habit.”

The next spring Washington Star sports editor Denman Thompson wrote that he “does not resemble even remotely the well-built pitcher bought by Griffith from Baltimore five [actually four] years ago. Monte sticks to peas and carrots and passes up the starches and meats so necessary to the profession that is his. As a result, the gaunt Weaver has been unusually tardy in hitting his stride and fails to promise much improvement when warmer weather comes.” The Post reported that his weight was down to 146 pounds, from 170 when he broke in.

Other writers of the meat-and-potatoes school ridiculed Weaver. Dan Daniel of the New York World-Telegram wrote, “They tell a strange story about Weaver down in Washington… [A] disciple of a certain school of bone manipulation and starvation came to Monte and sold him the idea of taking treatments – for $500.” According to Daniel, the quack showed Monte an alarming x-ray of his sore back – actually an x-ray of a hunchback – and promised to cure him with a vegetarian diet. Months later he displayed an x-ray of Weaver’s own straight back – “a marvelous cure.” Daniel said Weaver was hooked on the diet, and his weight and his pitching declined.

“It seems you can’t throw strikes on collard greens,” the sportswriter-nutritionist concluded.

Whatever the merits of greens, peas and carrots, Weaver was hammered in his first two starts of 1935. In May he was waived by all other American League teams and sent down to Albany in the International League. Clark Griffith said he was too weak to pitch in the hot weather at the Nats’ other top farm club in Chattanooga.

[GeoPoto]

Player #153B: 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.

Whitehill's SABR biography: Earl Whitehill, one of the solid yet increasingly anonymous pitchers of the 1920s and 1930s, played 17 major league seasons and remains one of the top 100 winning pitchers of all time. A southpaw, he mixed a tantalizing curve with a fiery disposition to win 218 games for the Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, and the Chicago Cubs. . . .

. . . In Elden Auker‘s Sleeping Cars and Flannel Uniforms, the former Tiger relates a story about a time he and Whitehill played golf in Arizona during Tiger spring training. Well down the fairway, a golf ball suddenly landed close to Earl (known to have a short explosive temper), and he charged back to the tee box to “take care” of the hacker. Providentially, his fellow golfers talked him out of the quest, as later on they learned that the “assailant” was actually heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey.

[GeoPoto]

The 1936 Washington Senators won 82 games, lost 71, and finished in third place in the American League. They were managed by Bucky Harris and played home games at Griffith Stadium.

This club (the 1936 Senators) put forth a much more spirited effort (than the 1935 one). There was leadership from old champions Harris and Bluege. There was some slugging, provided by Kuhel and Stone. There was a newfound cohesion after the trade of Jake Powell, and plenty of team speed (the Senators led the league in triples for the sixth consecutive year) supplemented by the addition of Ben Chapman. Young players Travis and Lewis made enormous contributions, and of course there was the constant presence of the raucous Bobo Newsom.

The Senators in 1936 were a winning ballclub again, finishing with 82 wins, 11 games above .500. This was good for a tie for third place with the Chicago White Sox, but a long way from the World Series. The Nats finished an even 20 games behind the Yankees, who defeated the Giants in six games in the fall classic. The previous year's World Series hero was Goose Goslin, who had singled in the winning run in the sixth and final game with two out in the ninth. (It was during this Series, as well, that umpire Bill Klem was sharply rebuked and fined by Commissioner Kenesaw Landis for dressing Goslin down as a result of a heated on-field discussion.) This year's (World Series) hero was none other than Jake Powell, who had ten hits and batted .455. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

[GeoPoto]

Player #89I: Oswald L. "Ossie" Bluege. Third baseman for the Washington Senators in 1922-1939. 1,751 hits and 43 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. 1935 All-Star. 1924 World Series champion. He played his entire career in Washington. He was best known for his defense, but his best season at the plate was 1928 as he posted a .364 OBP with 78 runs scored and 75 RBIs in 588 plate appearances. He managed the Washington Senators in 1943-1947.

Bluege's SABR biography helps us say farewell to Ossie: Bluege retired as a player after the 1939 season. He had played in 1,867 games with 6,440 at-bats and hit .272. He started 1,454 games at third base, fielding the position at a clip of .957.

[GeoPoto]

Player #125E: 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 1930, he (Bolton) hit .380 for the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern Association, and in 1931 he made his major league debut with the Washington Senators. Bolton spent the next few years with Washington. In 1933, he hit .410 coming off the bench; Washington won the American League pennant that season, and Bolton batted twice in the World Series. His only two years as a major league regular were 1935 and 1936.

[rcbb14]

George, wonderful thread going here. Do you happen to know anything about Cliff's nod to the "fatherly counsel of Daniel Boone"?