Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Player #135E: Joseph A. "Joe" Kuhel. First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1930-1937 and 1944-1946. 2,212 hits and 131 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. He had 107 RBIs in Washington's pennant-winning 1933 season, but his best season was probably 1936 as he posted an OBP of .392 with 118 RBIs and 107 runs scored in 660 plate appearances. He managed the Washington Senators in 1948-49.

Kuhel's SABR biography continued: Neither team’s fortunes were dramatically changed with the trade (just before the 1938 season), as both the Chisox and the Nats finished towards the middle of the junior circuit in the ensuing years. Kuhel enjoyed a monster year in 1940 by tying the club record of 27 home runs (set by Bonura). He also led the team in RBIs with 94 and put together the longest hitting streak of his career, 20 games from June 30 to July 20. However, on the whole his hitting diminished with the White Sox, reaching a rock-bottom .213 in 1943.

(This thread will now enjoy a brief pause. As always, thank you for your continued time and attention. Should restart ard 14 March.)

There was one person, himself an astute judge of talent, who heaped praise on Kuhel for his style of play. And that was none other than Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack. “A team composed of nine Joe Kuhels hardly would need a manager,” said Mack.“ I always use him as my No. 1 example when I give my boys their pep talks. Year after year, he goes on playing for teams which haven’t a chance to win the pennant, yet he keeps hustling as if the championship depended on every game.”

[GeoPoto]

Player #136E: Henry E. "Heinie" Manush. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1930-1935. 2,524 hits and 110 home runs in 17 MLB seasons. Had a .330 career batting average. 1934 All-Star. 1926 AL batting champion. Had more than 200 hits four times. In 1964, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Debuted with the Detroit Tigers in 1923. Leading batter on the 1933 Washington Senator team that won the AL pennant. First and last player to be ejected from a World Series game. Had 241 hits in 1928. Coach for the Washington Senators in 1953-1954.

Manush's SABR biography winds up: During the 1933 season, baseball held its first annual midsummer All-Star Game. Manush was not selected for the team despite his average being second in the league that season. In 1934, Manush appeared in the only All-Star Game of his career. In the first inning, he faced Hubbell for the first time since the 1933 World Series and drew a walk. Hubbell shook it off and struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Cronin in succession. . . .

. . . Heinie’s final career numbers are often overlooked, but he was one of the most dominating hitters of his time. He slapped 200 hits four times, 40 doubles five times, and finished his 2,008-game career with a .330 batting average, 2,524 hits, 491 doubles, 1,288 runs scored and 1,183 runs batted in.

. . . Manush moved to Florida and continued his competitiveness in a different sport: golf. He played just about every day until his death, which came on May 12, 1971, in Sarasota, Florida, after a long fight with cancer. The connection between Manush and Goslin continued as Goslin died three days later in New Jersey.

[GeoPoto]

Player #139E: Charles S. "Buddy" Myer. Second baseman with the Washington Senators in 1925-1927 and 1929-1941. 2,131 hits and 38 home runs in 17 MLB seasons. He had a career OBP of .389. 2-time All-Star. 1935 AL Batting champion. 1928 AL Stolen Base leader. His best season was 1935 for Washington as he posted a .440 OBP with 115 runs scored and 100 RBIs in 719 plate appearances. He was involved in one of baseball's most violent brawls when he was spiked and possibly racially derided by the Yankees' Ben Chapman.

We will follow Myer's SABR biography as we track his career -- Part 5: Bucky Harris returned for his second term as the Senators’ manager in 1935 and named Myer the team captain. Myer was having his usual .300 season when Harris moved him from leadoff to the third spot in the order in June. Around the same time, his friend Bill Werber of the Red Sox gave him a lighter bat. He took off on a 21-game hitting streak that boosted his average to .347, one point ahead of Cleveland left fielder Joe Vosmik for the league lead.

In the 1930s, and for decades afterward, a player’s batting average was his meal ticket. A batting championship was the pinnacle of achievement. Myer, Vosmik, and Philadelphia’s Jimmie Foxx vied for the lead down the stretch. Going into the final day, Vosmik stood at .349, Myer at .345, and Foxx at .343.

Vosmik’s name was missing from the lineup for the first game of Cleveland’s season-ending doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns. It’s not clear whether he decided to sit out to protect his lead or his manager, Steve O’Neill, made the decision. Myer calculated that he needed four hits in the last game against the Athletics to win the title. He got three in his first four at-bats: a bunt single, a single to center, and another to left. In his final plate appearance, in the eighth inning, the count ran to 3-and-2. Myer thought a walk would kill his chances. He reached for a wide pitch and fouled it off, then cracked a long double to left center. The 4-for-5 day (and 10 for his last 15) lifted his average to .349.

The news reached Cleveland late in the Indians’ first game. Vosmik hurried to the plate to pinch hit in the ninth but made an out. In the second game, he managed one single in three tries before darkness ended his season after six innings. The final averages: Myer .349026, Vosmik .348387, Foxx .345794.

By one account, Myer beat out 60 bunt hits during the season, a total impossible to verify. He was renowned as the game’s best drag bunter, who took advantage of the league’s slower first basemen. Opponents said the Washington groundskeepers sloped the foul lines inward so his bunts would stay fair, but Myer protested, “I got a lot of bunt base hits on the road, too.” He finished with 215 hits, one fewer than Vosmik, and walked 96 times for a .440 on-base percentage. He batted in 100 runs for the only time in his career. He also set a major league record (since broken) by turning 138 double plays, quite a feat for a man whose weak defense had once threatened his job. Vosmik, who led the league in hits, doubles, and triples, finished third and Myer fourth in the MVP voting.

[ValKehl]

To further honor Byddy Myer for his 1935 AL Batting Championship, here's a Myer card you don't often see, his 1934 R304 Al Demaree card:

[GeoPoto]

(Thanks for posting Val. Very nice card!)

Player #157B: Louis N. "Bobo" Newsom. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1935-1937, 1942, 1943, 1946-1947, and 1952. 211 wins and 21 saves in 20 MLB seasons. 4-time All-Star. 1947 World Series champion. 1942 AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 3.98. He debuted with the Brooklyn Robins/Dodgers in 1929-1930. He changed teams 16 times. Almost joined Benton as only to have pitched to Ruth and Mantle. He was known for his eccentricities. In 1940 with the Detroit Tigers, he posted a 21-5 record with a 2.83 ERA in 264 innings pitched. His last team was the Philadelphia Athletics in 1952-1953.

Deveaux addresses Bobo's 1936 season: Bobo was also in the spotlight, right where he wanted to be, when Bucky Harris selected him as his starting pitcher for the 1936 season opener against the Yankees. Always up to challenge, later in this season, with a start against the Yankees forthcoming, Newsom, unwisely, publicly vowed to find a weakness in rookie Joe Dimaggio's batting eye. Following the game, much hay was made of the fact that he had indeed uncovered something. It was obvious that DiMaggio had a penchant for doubles, having hit three of them off Bobo.

On opening day, 1936, Newsom got to exchange autographs with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. With the President, his Cabinet, the Army Band, and 31,000 faithful in the seats, Bobo may have been a little overwhelmed. He wasn't very alert when Yankees outfielder Ben Chapman bunted to the left side of the infield. Newsom made a move toward the ball, and then decided to let Ossie Bluege field it. For some unknown reason, Bobo made no attempt to get out of the way of what had to be a strong throw to nip the swift Chapman. Bluege's missile traveled all of 15 feet or so before it conked Bobo right on the coconut.

Instead of falling, the 6'3" Newsom embarked on a stagger which took him toward the presidential box before veering back toward the mound. He was steered to the bench by his teammates, and, revived with nothing more than a cold towel, proceeded to pitch a complete game 1-0 shutout. The Nats got the season off on the right foot. Newsom was a horse for Harris all year, won 17 games against 15 losses, and, with 286 innings pitched, was just 15 short of league leader Wes Farrell of Boston. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

[GeoPoto]

Player #158A: Cecil H. Travis Part 1. Infielder for the Washington Senators in 1933-1941 and 1945-1947. 1,544 hits and 27 home runs over 12 MLB seasons. 3-time All-Star. One of two to get 5 hits in first game. Led American League in hits in 1941 despite DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak and Ted Williams hitting .406. His best season was 1941 as he posted a .410 OBP with 101 RBIs in 663 plate appearances. In the Army during 1942-45, he wound up a frostbite victim in the Battle of the Bulge and a Bronze Star recipient. His return to MLB after the war surgery was not the same.

Cecil Howell Travis was a three-time All-Star who played in twelve Major League seasons between 1933 and 1947, all of them with the Washington Senators. Playing primarily as a shortstop, Travis hit .300 in eight of his first nine Major League seasons. A three-time All-Star, he had his best year in 1941, when he hit .359 (second in the American League), led both leagues in hits (218), and was named by The Sporting News as the best shortstop in baseball. After missing nearly four seasons serving in the Army during World War II, earning the Bronze Star, Travis returned to the Senators at the end of the 1945 season, but he was never able to regain his prewar all-star form.

[GeoPoto]

Player #153C: 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.

We go back to Whitehill's SABR biography: His temper notwithstanding, Whitehill had his best season was 1933, and his pitching was largely responsible for the Senators finding themselves in the World Series against the Giants. During that contest, New York enjoyed a 2-0 series lead when Whitehill took the hill for the third game. He made the most of his only World Series appearance by tossing a complete game shutout of the Giants, scattering five hits and two walks in front of 25,727 at Griffith Stadium. In doing so, he also held future Hall-of-Famers Mel Ott and Bill Terry to a collective 0-for-7 day at the plate. On the biggest stage, Earl brought his best stuff.

Whitehill played three more consistent, winning seasons for Washington, despite one aberrant game in 1935 in which he gave up ten doubles, but on December 10, 1936, he anchored a three-team trade that sent him to Cleveland. The Senators received Jack Salveson from the White Sox, while Chicago took Thornton “Lefty” Lee from the Indians.