Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

In the sixth, Roger Peckinpaugh committed his fourth error in three games and it led to another Pittsburgh run, making the score 3-1. After Pie Traynor flied out to Sam Rice about 420 feet to the bleacher fence to open the inning, Glenn Wright bounced to Peckinpaugh, who made a bad relay to first. Wright eventually scored when pitcher Kremer got a base hit which took a freaky high bounce over second base. In the bottom of the inning, however, the Nats got one back very quickly when the lefty-hitting Goslin led off by pulling a home run into the right centerfield bleachers.

Alex Ferguson got out of the seventh inning, and the game, after retiring the Pirates in order for the first time. His departure was hastened because he was due to be the first batter in the next half inning. The veteran outfielder, Nemo Leibold, took a walk and was immediately lifted for pinch runner Earl McNeely. McNeely was now strictly relegated to a reserve role due to the emergence of Joe "Moon" Harris, who was having a great Series. After Clyde Barnhart made a fine catch off of a Sam Rice attempt at the left-field foul line, the Nats' peerless leader, Bucky Harris, beat out a single.

With the score 3-2 and men on first and second with just one out, the Pirates could not have been prepared for what came next. Goose Goslin, the Nats' best slugger, swung from the heels on the first pitch and missed -- the infielders were playing far back. Goslin then caught the defense by surprise, bunting along the third base line and loading the bases in the process. Joe Judge was next up, and his sac fly to center brought in McNeely with the tying run. Joe Harris was next and singled to left to put the Nats ahead for the first time in the game. The inning then ended in odd fashion when Buddy Myer got in the way of his own batted ball while outside the batter's box and was called out.

There was a much more unusual play in the eighth inning -- indeed one of the most bizarre plays in all of World Series history. Firpo Marberry, pitching for the first time in five weeks and yet called upon to protect a 4-3 lead in a World Series game, began wonderfully by striking out the first two Pirates to face him. Then Pirate catcher Earl Smith slammed a monster shot to the right centerfield bleachers. Sam Rice raced to the spot, extended his glove as far as he could, and definitely seemed to get it on the ball. But Rice's momentum carried him into the bleachers, behind the fence, and out of sight. He did not immediately re-emerge, and Pirates manager Bill McKechnie came bounding out of the dugout, protesting that Rice surely must have dropped the ball. Rice only had it in his possession now, McKechnie contended, because it had been handed back to him by a fan.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1684834822

[GeoPoto]

Ah, I see that. Means nothing to me. Figurative, obviously, as Boone died in 1820. Don't think Boone ever lived in Chattanooga, either. 1933 was Bolton's age-26 season, so he was hardly ancient arriving in MLB. You got me!

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[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:

[steveorcutt8]

The final averages: Myer .349026, Vosmik .348387, Foxx .345794.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.

[GeoPoto]

. . . Another highlight of this baseball season in Washington took place on April 30, 1937, when the Senators were mired in their early slump. They had just dropped a pair of games at Griffith Stadium to the Yankees (Cecil Travis had suffered his ankle injury in the first game), and in the final game of the series, Joe DiMaggio made his first appearance of the season. DiMaggio was already the hottest ticket in baseball. At age 22, he was coming off a 46-167-.346 sophomore year.

Enlightening as to just how good a season "Joltin' Joe" had just had is the fact that his totals for home runs, runs scored (151), and slugging percentage (.673) were figures he would never surpass in the 11 years of his golden career still ahead of him. DiMaggio had been a member of a world championship club in each of his first two years. In his first appearance of 1937, he connected for a pinch single in the seventh inning off Bobo Newsom, but Newsom won his first game of the year with a complete-game five-hitter as the Senators salvaged their only win of the three-game set.

The highly promising roster of players Clark Griffith had assembled, seemingly enhanced by the addition of the Ferrell boys and Al Simmons, was a major letdown for the old man. His ballclub dropped three places in the standings, managing only to place ahead of some of the most infamous teams in the entire history of both the Philadelphia A's and St. Louis Browns. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

[GeoPoto]

Player #159A: W. Benjamin "Ben" Chapman. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1936-1937 and 1941. 1,958 hits and 287 stolen bases in 15 MLB seasons. He had a career OBP of .383. 4-time All-Star. 1932 World Series champion. 4-time AL stolen base leader. He managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1945-1948. His playing reputation was eclipsed by the role he played as manager of the Phillies, opposing Jackie Robinson's presence in MLB, including shouting racial epithets. His best season as a player was 1931 for the Yankees as he posted a .396 OBP with 61 stolen bases, 120 runs scored, and 122 RBIs in 686 plate appearances.

Deveaux outlines Chapman's brief, initial stint in Washington: The man Washington got (in a trade with the Yankees during the 1936 season) in exchange for Powell (Jake Powell, a temperamental outfielder who had alienated Griffith and the Washington fans), Ben Chapman, also had an interesting, but much longer, career in baseball. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas Day, 1908, the 27-year-old Chapman was a converted infielder who'd been moved to the outfield so that New York could maximize the benefit from his outstanding speed and throwing arm. Chapman went on to rack up great numbers on some very good Yankees teams of the early 1930s. With the arrival of Joe DiMaggio in the spring of '36, however, he had outworn his welcome. Moving him to Washington meant the Yanks could open up centerfield for DiMaggio, who'd been playing in left. But Chapman was certainly a welcome addition in the Washington outfield, scoring an awesome 91 runs in just 97 games, and batting .332. . . .

. . . The following day (11 June 1937), Griffith pulled off a much more important coup, landing the celebrated Ferrell brothers from the Red Sox in exchange for Bobo Newsom and centerfielder Ben Chapman. Bobo was allowing nearly six runs per nine innings in 1937, and Chapman had only 12 RBIs in 35 games and his average was a puny .262. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

[GeoPoto]

We stay with Deveaux regarding the acquisition of Rick Ferrell and his brother, Wes: In return (for Bobo Newsom and Ben Chapman), the Senators were getting a sibling battery the likes of which has not since been seen in the major leagues. Catcher Rick Ferrell, a .296 career hitter (Hall of Fame, 1984), still just 31, had hit .312 in '36 and was at .308 this season. He was known for his good eye at the plate and was a crackerjack receiver.

[GeoPoto]

Player #161A: Wesley C. "Wes" Ferrell. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1937-1938. 193 wins and 13 saves in 15 MLB seasons. 2-time All-Star. 1935 AL wins leader. He pitched a no-hitter in 1931. His 37 career home runs are the MLB record for a pitcher. He debuted with the Cleveland Indians in 1927-1933. His erratic behavior caused concern. He last played with the Boston Braves in 1941. He is a member of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame. He is a member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame. His brother Rick is a member of the MLB Hall of Fame.

Deveaux continues: The brothers were North Carolina farm boys and Rick Ferrell, one of the best catchers of his time, was the more mild-mannered of the two. Three years younger than Rick, Wes Farrell was as handy with a guitar and a banjo as with a pitchfork or a baseball. Younger than Bobo Newsom (who'd won 47 big-league games to this point), Wes Farrell had already racked up six 20-win seasons in the majors. Included were two 25-win years, in 1930 and '35, when he led the league.

Wesley Cheek Ferrell seemed to have a lot more cheek than his older brother. He was a hothead who would at times fly into rages even if he was just having a bad day at the card table. Teammate Billy Werber told of how he'd seen him stomp on an expensive watch after some setback on the field. In 1932, Wes's manager at Cleveland, Roger Peckinpaugh, fined him for refusing to come out of a ballgame. In '36, Wes had a run-in with another old Nat, Joe Cronin, his manager at Boston, who fined him for doing exactly the opposite and leaving a game without permission. Later, while managing in the minor leagues, Wes would be suspended for smacking an umpire, and on another occasion for pulling his team off the field.

Apart from the fact that he'd won 20 or more in six of eight seasons, Wes Farrell also arrived in Washington carrying the reputation of being the best-hitting pitcher in the history of baseball. His lifetime .280 average and 38 home runs are still all-time records. In one memorable contest involving the Senators in late July 1935, he slammed two homers off Bobo Newsom while pitching the Bosox to victory -- remarkably, he hit two home runs in the same game on five different occasions. A week before he had victimized Bobo, he had pinch hit for the immortal Lefty Grove in the ninth inning with two men on base and the score 6-4. The pitcher was Tommy Bridges, who had 21 wins, four shutouts, and who led the league in strikeouts that year. Wes homered, for the victory. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

[GeoPoto]

Good detective work Lucas. On the one hand, it was probably not unusual for clubs to use left over uniforms to get through spring training and the departing club could easily have left/sold old Washington uniforms to the new franchise, but on the other hand, Keough, while far from a star, would have been expected to make the roster. Maybe it means none of the next/first year uniforms had arrived by picture day.

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