Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Great cards, Val. Thank you.

Player #117A: Nicholas "Nick" Altrock. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1909, 1912-1915, 1918-1919, 1924, 1931 and 1933. 83 wins and 7 saves in 16 MLB seasons. 3-time World Series champion. At 42 years 1912-1953), he is the longest-tenured coach for one franchise (Washington Senators). He debuted for the Louisville Colonels in 1998. His best season was 1905 with the Chicago White Sox as he posted a 23-12 record with an ERA of 1.88 in 315.2 innings pitched. A 1906 arm injury stunted his career as a pitcher. He pitched very little after 1908 but continued making sporadic pinch-hit appearances, including one in 1933 at the age of 57. He became a coach with Washington in 1912 and was known for his antics in the coaching box and teamed with Al Schacht, the "Clown Prince of Baseball" for a dozen years performing comedy routines on baseball fields and on the vaudeville stage.

Altrock's SABR biography: For three years at the turn of the last century Nick Altrock was arguably the best left-handed pitcher in the game. His talent, pitching smarts, and extraordinary fielding ability helped him win 62 games for the Chicago White Sox from 1904 through 1906 and beat Mordecai Brown in Game One of the 1906 World Series. However, Altrock’s baseball prowess was overshadowed by his second career as one of the most-popular and longest-working baseball clowns of all time. At his clowning peak, Altrock enjoyed a salary that rivaled Babe Ruth‘s. . . .

. . . Nick rewarded (Chicago White Sox manager Fielder) Jones’ faith by tossing a four-hitter to beat Cubs’ ace Mordecai Brown in the first game (of the 1906 World Series), 2-1. Brown took the honors in their Game Four re-match 1-0, but Nick posted a 1.00 ERA for the series. In the second game Altrock set a Series record for chances handled by a pitcher in one game with 11 – 8 assists and 3 putouts. Nick also set a record for most chances in a six-game Series with 17. Hippo Vaughn later tied that mark in the 1918 series, except Vaughn pitched three games to Nick’s two.

It was a fitting accomplishment, given Altrock’s reputation as one of the finest fielding pitchers of his or any other generation, thanks in large part to an extraordinarily deceptive pickoff move. In 1901, while Altrock was pitching for Los Angeles in the California League, Nick reportedly walked seven men intentionally and picked off six of them. Altrock still holds the record for most chances accepted by a pitcher in a nine-inning game (13).

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[GeoPoto]

Player #89C: 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: Over the next several years (following the 1925 season), the Senators finished in the upper half of the American League, as the Yankees and then the Athletics flexed their muscles as kings of the junior circuit. Bluege was at the top of his game, leading the league in fielding in 1931 (.960) and in multiple years in games started, assists, and innings played. Although he hit anywhere from .271 to .295 in his prime years, he was overshadowed by stronger offensive players like Judge, Rice, Goslin, and later Heinie Manush, Joe Kuhel, and Joe Cronin.

One of the most difficult adversaries for any American League club was Ty Cobb. Contrary to popular belief that Cobb was a dirty player, sharpened spikes and all, Bluege had a different recollection of him. “He would fake a slide, as if going directly for the baseman, and at the last minute throw his body in the opposite direction, away from the infielder and the base. He would over slide, then reach for a corner with his hand.” The basepaths belonged to the baserunners. Get in their way, and you could get hurt.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #83G: Stanley R. "Bucky" Harris. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1919-1928. 1,297 hits and 167 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. 1924 and 1947 World Series champion. In 1975, inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Named player-manager of the Washington Senators in 1924 at age 27. "The Boy Wonder" led Washington to World Series victory as "rookie" manger. Managed Washington Senators in 1924-1928, 1935-1942, and 1950-1954. Managed the Detroit Tigers in 1929-1933 and 1955-1956. Managed the Boston Red Sox in 1934. Managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943. Managed the New York Yankees in 1947-1948, including winning the 1947 world Series. Served as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1959-1960.

Smiles describes Bucky's run up to the season and his 1926 pitching staff: (Clark) Griffith knew that Bucky Harris was good for his team's bottom line and Bucky knew it, too. He may have been born on top of a coal mine, but baseball -- to his way of thinking -- was more like a gold mine. Bucky was always one of the first to sign and had never quibbled. But in November 1925, he became a holdout. That's when he declined to sign a one-year deal Griffith proposed. He passed his time courting (future wife Betty), working on a few player deals, and watching a horse named Bucky Harris run at Pimlico. . . .

. . . Based on experience, Griffith didn't like multi-year deals. He believed players performed better under the pressure of year-to-year contracts. Bucky was a different case. Griffith couldn't deny the attendance figures and he loved Bucky like a son. He relented, and on January 27 signed a three-year deal in Tampa. Terms weren't released, but it was speculated to be worth $100,000. In 1928 when the deal expired, Post columnist Shirley Povich said it had been worth $100,000. . . .

. . . Bucky talked up the deal for Bullet Joe Bush as a winner. On February 1 the Senators sent Zachary and Win Balou to the Browns for Bush and Jack Tobin. Bucky was ecstatic about the deal, saying it "assured his team of a third American League pennant." . . . Bucky's hopes for Bush ended with one line drive. On April 18, in just his second start, Joe was working on a one-hitter against the Yankees in New York with one out in the ninth when he was hit on the knee by a sizzling line drive by Earl Combs. . . .

. . . Without Bush, Bucky relied on his same old big four from 1925: Walter Johnson, Stan Coveleski, Dutch Ruether, and Firpo Marberry. His only concessions to youth were a pair of 26-year-olds from North Carolina, General Crowder and George Murray. Each started 12 games. Crowder went 7-4 and Murray, 6-3. (Bucky Harris by Jack Smiles.)

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[ValKehl]

George, I like the 1926-29 PC Exhibits for all the different colors they come in. I've long thought it would be fun to do a color run of these for a Senators player, but I never got around to doing it.

[pro9]

Sorry I'm so late to this thread. Fantastic thread, tons of info and great pictures. Thanks to all that have contributed so far. George, I wish I had your collecting focus!

I've got a few to contribute

1st is a Horner photo of Dave Altizer (from 1906-07)

2nd- Tim O'Rourke, he played for Washington briefly in 1894, but the photo is from 1895 as there are others from that photographer

[pro9]

Dan Mahoney

A JK&A of Walter Johnson

Is there a reason that you have not shown any Goudeys (or did I just miss them?)

[GeoPoto]

Welcome aboardPro9, thanks for posting. And the kind words. We are trying to progress through time and haven't reached Goudey yet.

Val, another great card. I have a few Judge PCs that we will get to shortly.

Player #54O: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Deveaux on Walter Johnson in 1926: Walter Johnson started the Senators off on the right foot at Griffith Stadium on Opening Day, 1926, as he had with victories in nine previous opening games. This one was a marathon, fifteen innings, and Barney yielded a measly six hits, walked three, and struck out nine Philadelphia A's in staying the distance. No one reached second base against the Big Train throughout the entire contest. Of all his games and masterpieces, this was the one Walter Johnson considered his greatest, and it came as he was starting his 20th big-league campaign. It was another of those life-time-record 38 1-0 wins which Walter would chalk up by the end of his career, and was the last of his 13 home openers, ten of which he won, six by shutout.

However, age was beginning to catch up with the Washington Senators' pitching staff in 1926. Johnson, now 38, slipped to 15-16 on the heels of his 20-7, 3.07. It was an up-and-down year, as he went from a 6-1 record in mid-May to later losing seven in a row as the Nats fell to the second division. Barney's 3.61 ERA was the worst of his career, but in fairness to the great one, eight of his defeats were by a one-run margin, and five others were by two runs. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deaveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #118: Decature P. "Dick" Jones. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1926-1927. 2 wins in 2 MLB seasons. He made 6 career appearances, 3 as a starter.

Dick Jones appeared in six games for the Washington Senators, four in 1926 and two in 1927. He started three of the games in 1926. That was his entire MLB career, totaling 24.1 innings pitched with an ERA+ of 60.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #73E: Joseph I. "Joe" Judge. First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1915-1932. 2,352 hits and 71 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. In 1924, as Washington won the AL pennant and the World Series, he had one of his better years as he posted a .393 OBP with 71 runs scored and 79 RBIs in 593 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1933-1934. He may have been the basis for the character of Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, whose author dated Judge's daughter in the 1940's.

Povich records Judge commenting on Walter Johnson's modesty: . . . His (Walter's) teammates continued to marvel at the modesty of the man, and Joe Judge related the episode in St. Louis after Johnson had lost a 1-0 game. "Walter was my roommate and we were going to the movies after dinner at the hotel. I was trying to hustle Walter out of the lobby when some fan intercepted him and started to talk. I stood off until twenty minutes later, when Johnson finally broke away.

"I asked him why he had to stop and talk to every fan who approached him, and he said, 'that fellow was from Kansas and said he knew my sister.'
"I told him it was news to me that he had a sister and Walter said 'I don't. But I had to be nice to the man.' " (The Washington Senators by Shirley Povich.)

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[ValKehl]

George, this one would fit in your nice color run. LMK if interested, and we'll work something out.
Best,
Val

[GeoPoto]

Player #95C: Roger T. Peckinpaugh. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1922-1926. 1,876 hits and 205 stolen bases in 17 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. His best season at the plate was probably 1921 as he helped the New York Yankees reach the World Series and posted a .380 OBP with 128 runs scored and 72 RBIs in 694 plate appearances. He debuted with the Cleveland Naps in 1910 and finished his playing career with the Chicago White Sox in 1927. He managed the New York Yankees in 1914 and the Cleveland Indians in 1928-1933 and 1941.

Peck's SABR biography lets us reprise the bumpy ending to his 1925 MVP season and the slide to the end of his playing career: Peckinpaugh came back strong in 1925 and had a fine season. He batted .294 (approximately the league average) as the Senators won their second straight pennant. In a testament to his fielding and leadership abilities, the sportswriters voted Peck the American League MVP in a narrow vote over future Hall of Famers Al Simmons, Joe Sewell, Harry Heilmann, and others. Despite his strong performance, Peck’s legs continued to give him trouble, and by the start of the World Series they needed to be heavily bandaged. After carrying the Senators in the 1924 World Series, Peckinpaugh sabotaged them in 1925, turning in one of the worst performances in Series history. He committed eight errors, a Series record that still stands, although Peckinpaugh later groused that “some of them were stinko calls by the scorer.” Three of Peck’s errors led directly to two Senators losses, including an eighth-inning miscue in Game Seven that allowed the Pirates to come from behind to capture the championship. Peckinpaugh’s two errors that day, however, were perhaps understandable, as the playing conditions were so wet that gasoline had to be burned on the infield to dry it off. Still, it was the second time (after 1921) that a World Series had been lost due to a Peckinpaugh error in the deciding game.

Peck’s legs were giving out, and he would only play two more years in the big leagues. After retiring from the game following the 1927 season, Peckinpaugh accepted the managerial post for the Cleveland Indians. In five and a half seasons with Cleveland, Roger guided the club to one seventh place finish, one third place finish and three consecutive fourth place finishes before being fired midway into the 1933 season. After stints managing Kansas City and New Orleans in the minor leagues, Peck returned to skipper the Indians again in 1941, finishing in fifth place before moving into the Cleveland front office, where he remained until he retired from organized baseball after the 1946 season.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #74K: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 1. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Carroll points out an odd aspect to Rice's 1925 national fame before summarizing his 1926 season: Soon after Rice's World Series "Catch", the Chicago Tribune cooked up a feature story about the local boy made good. If an author is interested in creating the tale of an American hero, writer Frank Butzow suggests, he need "visit the little city of Waseka, seventy-seven miles south of Chicago, and in the pumping station, courthouse or the back room of Bernie Canavan's tailor shop get the story of Sam Rice."

Butrow goes on to describe Rice as "flashy," a laughable adjective for a workmanlike throwback playing in a period of boisterous superstars. But the article coming so closely on the heels of Rice's spectacular face dive into the bleachers, the writer can be forgiven for being caught up in the moment. This perhaps qualified as the lone period of Rice's career when that label could accurately apply.

Besides supplying some folksy details about Rice's otherwise cloudy upbringing, the story is significant for one very big reason -- the first known public unveiling of Rice's dark public secret. "The great tragedy of his life," as it is called, is curiously buried deep into the text of an otherwise very light, very breezy story. Rice's taste in beer rates a higher mention, as does his affinity for local pool halls. (This account will be continued in our next post.)

And now, once again, we are pleased to provide images provided by the preeminent Washington Senator and, particularly, Sam Rice master-collector, Val Kell:

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[GeoPoto]

Player #74K: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 1. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Carroll points out an odd aspect to Rice's 1925 national fame before summarizing his 1926 season: Soon after Rice's World Series "Catch", the Chicago Tribune cooked up a feature story about the local boy made good. If an author is interested in creating the tale of an American hero, writer Frank Butzow suggests, he need "visit the little city of Waseka, seventy-seven miles south of Chicago, and in the pumping station, courthouse or the back room of Bernie Canavan's tailor shop get the story of Sam Rice."

Butrow goes on to describe Rice as "flashy," a laughable adjective for a workmanlike throwback playing in a period of boisterous superstars. But the article coming so closely on the heels of Rice's spectacular face dive into the bleachers, the writer can be forgiven for being caught up in the moment. This perhaps qualified as the lone period of Rice's career when that label could accurately apply.

Besides supplying some folksy details about Rice's otherwise cloudy upbringing, the story is significant for one very big reason -- the first known public unveiling of Rice's dark public secret. "The great tragedy of his life," as it is called, is curiously buried deep into the text of an otherwise very light, very breezy story. Rice's taste in beer rates a higher mention, as does his affinity for local pool halls. (This account will be continued in our next post.)

And now, once again, we are pleased to provide images provided by the preeminent Washington Senator and, particularly, Sam Rice master-collector, Val Kell:

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[GeoPoto]

Player #74K: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 2. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Perhaps the Tribune incorrectly assumed that Rice's background was well known to the Washington press and public. Perhaps he wasn't sure what to do with such unfathomable tragedy, particularly in a story that presumably was conceived as a celebratory feature story about Rice's shining moment, not an expose about his hidden past. For whatever reason, the writer and paper downplayed the biggest revelation it had about baseball's man of the moment. And in those days, it was much easier for news to stay contained within a market than it is today, when the Internet sends stories bouncing around cyberspace like pinballs. Also helping keep the story of Rice's tragic past quiet was the fact the writer of the story, Butzow, wasn't regularly a baseball writer but covered statehouse politics out of Springfield. By the next day, he had returned to his regular duties covering the Illinois state government. In the hands of a member of baseball's tight-knit fraternity of writers, surely Rice's secret would have spread like wildfire. Though it's possible that the more compliant sports writers of the era would have kept the story out of print at Rice's request, the fact that Shirley Povich, the legendary Washington sports writer, didn't even write about the tornado until 1985 would seem to indicate that it wasn't being passed along as oral history.

Rice's catch brought him nationwide attention, and momentarily drew the story of his tragic background to the surface. Apparently it was scarcely noticed, however, and wouldn't come up again until a decade after his death. . . . (This account will be continued in our next post.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #74K: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 3. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

. . . Through all the team's difficulties (during the 1926 season), Rice just kept on playing at a high level. While the Senators floundered in June, he put together a fourteen-game hitting streak in which he batted .400 -- in eight straight games during the streak, Rice had at least two hits.

The Senators needed a late-season surge to climb out of the American League's second division, and even then, Joe Judge's late-inning home run on the season's last day was the only thing that vaulted them into fourth place. But Rice was exempt from any blame for the tumble. He hit .337, finishing what would turn out to be the best three-year run of his career. From 1924 through '26, he batted .340. His 216 hits in 1926 gave him three consecutive seasons of at least two hundred. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

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[ValKehl]

Further to the info George mentioned in the above post regarding Sam Rice's best 3-year run of his career from 1924 to 1926, Rice accumulated a total of 659 hits in these years, an average of 219.67 hits/year. His 216 hits in 1924 led the AL - his 227 hits in 1925 didn't lead the AL (Al Simmons had 253 hits!) - his 216 hits in 1926 led both the AL & NL. Rice had 200+ hits in 6 of the 13 years in which he was an everyday player (500+ plate appearances). Here are Sam's hit totals for the other 3 years: 1920 - 211 hits, 1928 - 202 hits, and 1930 at age 40 - 207 hits. This photo of Sam was taken in 1925, the year in which he had the most hits of his career and his highest batting average, .350.

[GeoPoto]

Player #87D: Herold D. "Muddy" Ruel. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1923-1930. 1,242 hits and 61 stolen bases in 19 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. He debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1915. He was the Yankees catcher in 1920 when Ray Chapman was hit and killed by a Carl Mays fastball. He scored the tying run in regulation and then the winning run in the 12th inning of game seven in the 1924 WS. His best season was 1923 with Washington as he posted a .394 OBP with 54 RBI's and 63 runs scored in 528 plate appearances. His final season as a player was 1934 with the Chicago White Sox. He was manager of the St. Louis Browns in 1947. He was GM of the Detroit Tigers in 1954-1956.

Ruel's SABR biography recounts Muddy's role in integrating baseball: Part 1 -- By July (1947) the (St. Louis Browns) team (in its first year being managed by Muddy) had fallen into the cellar and attendance was very low. The front office sought a way to breathe life into the team and sell more tickets. The Browns’ vice-president and general manager was William O. DeWitt. He was once a young protégé of Branch Rickey when Rickey was still in St. Louis. Rickey plucked DeWitt from the concessions workforce and made him an office boy and set the young DeWitt on a career path toward the upper echelons of the front office. After watching the large crowds turning out to watch Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers visit Sportsman’s Park to play the tenant Cardinals, the Browns’ front office began to understand the economic benefits of integration. DeWitt sent the Browns’ chief scout, Jack Fournier, to seek talent in the Negro Leagues. After observing the Kansas City Monarchs and Birmingham Black Barons, Fournier made his recommendations to DeWitt. And so, the last-place Browns became the third major league team to integrate. On July 17, the Browns purchased a 30-day option on Lorenzo “Piper” Davis of the Black Barons and Chuck Harmon was signed to a minor-league contract and sent to Gloversville-Johnstown, New York, in the Browns farm system. The Browns also signed Henry Thompson and Willard Brown to contracts and in the process became the first team to have more than one African American on the same roster.

Needless to say, while the Browns were making big news in the world of baseball, the team was quickly unraveling, making Ruel’s job more stressful. Now Ruel found himself not only trying to right a sinking ship, he was now asked to integrate his workforce while some of the crew sought seats in the lifeboats. One player in particular, Paul Lehner, a promising young outfielder from Alabama, went to the front office demanding a pay raise or his release from the team. Ruel coaxed the young Lehner into staying with the team. But three days after the signing of Thompson and Brown, Lehner showed up late to the ballpark for the afternoon game with the Red Sox. The reason given for Lehner’s tardiness was that he had injured his leg in the previous day’s game. Ultimately, Lehner entered the game in the late innings as a pinch hitter. The Browns fined Lehner for his behavior and when Lehner saw his next paycheck he was less than thrilled.

We will return to this account when Muddy next surfaces in our progression.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #119A: Alphonse "Tommy" Thomas. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1932-1935. 117 wins and 13 saves in 12 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 1926-1932. His best season was 1927 with Chicago as he posted a 19-16 record with a 2.98 ERA in 307.2 innings pitched. He finished his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1937.

Thomas' SABR biography explains his exploits before reaching the big leagues: The Baltimore Orioles were coming off two consecutive International League pennants when Thomas joined the club in 1921. Tommy posted a record of 24-10 in his first year with the Birds, complimenting an already solid mound corps of Jack Ogden (31-8), Lefty Grove (25-10), Harry Frank (13-7), and Jack Bentley (12-1).

The Orioles dominated the circuit that year, winning 119 games, the second highest total in minor league history. However, injuries to Ben Egan, Jack Bentley, Joe Boley, Max Bishop, Merwin Jacobson, and Otis Lawry contributed to a disappointing loss to Louisville in the Little World Series that fall.

The high-flying Birds captured four more flags in a row with Tommy featured as one of the mainstays of the Baltimore pitching rotation. Thomas thrived under the tutelage of the Orioles’ owner-manager Jack Dunn, a former major league pitcher who knew how to get the most out of his young players.

Tommy held out for a better contract in 1925, and the issue wasn’t resolved with Dunn until the middle of April. The layoff didn’t affect his pitching in any way, as he went on to have his best season as an Oriole. The hard-throwing right-hander led the league with 32 wins, 268 strikeouts, 28 complete games and 354 innings pitched.

Jack Dunn, always knowing the right time to consummate a deal, sold Tommy to the Chicago White Sox at the end of the 1925 season for a reported $15,000. Thomas won 105 games while losing only 54 during his five years with Baltimore. He appeared in the Little World Series with Baltimore four times, going 4-4 in post-season play. Thomas’ lifetime pitching record in the International League was a stellar 138 wins, 85 losses and a 3.30 earned run average.

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[GeoPoto]

The 1927 Washington Senators won 85 games, lost 69, and finished in third place in the American League. They were managed by Bucky Harris and played home games at Griffith Stadium.

Walter Johnson made his first appearance of the 1927 season on Memorial Day. He was pleased to find that he still had good speed, and upon his return, like on so many of his first starts of previous years, he was superb, allowing just three hits, walking no one, and blanking Boston 3-0 at Griffith Stadium. This was the 11th and final time that fewer than 30 batters (29 in this instance) came up to the plate to face him in a complete game.

More significant than all of the above, however, may have been the fact that Barney struck out just one batter. He fanned six in his next start, a 5-3 loss to the Browns, but was then bombed 7-1 by Cleveland in a outing where no speed was evident. Johnson was held back from a couple of turns in mid-June, and when he did come back, he was the victim of an 8-2 drubbing at the hands of the Athletics.

Walter Johnson had been in the major leagues for 20 years, and August 2, 1927, was the precise anniversary date of his big-league debut. Coincidentally, he would be facing the Tigers on this day as well. Tributes were delivered by both clubs at Griffith Stadium -- Walter was handed the day's receipts of $14,476.05, and gifts from fans included over $1,500 in cash. Secretary of State Frank Kellogg spoke before the crowd of 20,000 and declared that the name Walter Johnson exemplified what was best about sports. The man stood as a shining beacon whose example the youth of America could follow.

Unfortunately, on this day, the Big Train surrendered four runs in the fifth on the way to a 7-6, incomplete-game loss. The defeat was debited from reliever Garland Braxton, although under modern rules Walter would have been the pitcher of record. This was poetic justice in the sense that his first loss, 20 years earlier, would not have been charged to him under the revised rules. The end came quickly for Walter Johnson in 1927, given his 31 decisions the previous year. His ERA ballooned to a surreal 5.10, and as a result his workload diminished to just 107.2 innings. That was it.

Tris Speaker, five months younger than Johnson, whose career was very nearly over, did earn his 30 grand, upping his average to .327 in 1927. It was to be his only year in Washington -- Spoke's final year in the majors would be spent in the company of Ty Cobb with the Philadelphia A's in 1928. Goose Goslin, still only 26, hit .334 in '27, as he had in the Nats last pennant-winning year, and tied for third in ribbies behind the Yankees' fearsome Ruth-Gehrig tandem. These were the highlights for a club, not far removed from a position at the top of the baseball world, which won 85 games. Regrettably, these Senators were at the same point in the continuum of time and space as were the 1927 New York Yankees.

The '27 Yankees are considered by many to have been the best team ever. They won 110 games and left the Nats in third place, but groveling in the dust, a full 25 games out of a pennant position. On July 4, 74,000 had turned up at Yankee Stadium for a doubleheader which the Yankees swept from the Nats by embarrassing 12-1 and 21-1 scores. Babe Ruth went 5-for-7 and Lou Gehrig hit two homers on the day, enabling him to pass Ruth momentarily in the home-run derby. The previous day, back in Washington, Ruth had hit what came to be considered for years as the longest drive ever seen at Griffith Stadium. The Babe had, quite naturally, tipped his cap for the fans while rounding the bases with the little steps he took.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #117B: Nicholas "Nick" Altrock Part 1. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1909, 1912-1915, 1918-1919, 1924, 1931 and 1933. 83 wins and 7 saves in 16 MLB seasons. 3-time World Series champion. At 42 years 1912-1953), he is the longest-tenured coach for one franchise (Washington Senators). He debuted for the Louisville Colonels in 1998. His best season was 1905 with the Chicago White Sox as he posted a 23-12 record with an ERA of 1.88 in 315.2 innings pitched. A 1906 arm injury stunted his career as a pitcher. He pitched very little after 1908 but continued making sporadic pinch hit appearances, including one in 1933 at the age of 57. He became a coach with Washington in 1912 and was known for his antics in the coaching box and teamed with Al Schacht, the "Clown Prince of Baseball" for a dozen years performing comedy routines on baseball fields and on the vaudeville stage.

Altrock's SABR biography: . . . Nick took his 1912 release from Kansas City in stride because he already had an offer from manager Clark Griffith to join the Washington Senators as a “comedy coacher.” The Senators already enjoyed the services of Germany Schaefer, one of the most colorful eccentrics ever to play baseball. However, in his first few days with the club Nick was buried deep on the bench. Then one day the Senators were losing to a strong Cleveland pitcher named Vean Gregg. Griffith turned to his rubber-faced acquisition and said, “What good are you?”

Nick said seriously, “I’m the king’s jester.” Then he asked, “Do you really want to win this game?”

Griffith said, “With your pitching I suppose?”

Altrock said, “No. With my coaching.” Altrock talked Griffith into sending him to the first base coaching box. The next time Griffith looked out to the field he saw Nick in a heap on the ground finishing a pantomime of a man who spiked himself with his own shoe. Gregg was laughing so hard he started heaving the ball over the middle and the Senators started hitting. Altrock morphed the routine into a full wrestling pantomime, pinning himself for a victory. Finally, home plate umpire Silk O’Loughlin, himself doubled over with laughter, ordered him to stop.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #117B: Nicholas "Nick" Altrock Part 2. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1909, 1912-1915, 1918-1919, 1924, 1931 and 1933. 83 wins and 7 saves in 16 MLB seasons. 3-time World Series champion. At 42 years 1912-1953), he is the longest-tenured coach for one franchise (Washington Senators). He debuted for the Louisville Colonels in 1998. His best season was 1905 with the Chicago White Sox as he posted a 23-12 record with an ERA of 1.88 in 315.2 innings pitched. A 1906 arm injury stunted his career as a pitcher. He pitched very little after 1908 but continued making sporadic pinch-hit appearances, including one in 1933 at the age of 57. He became a coach with Washington in 1912 and was known for his antics in the coaching box and teamed with Al Schacht, the "Clown Prince of Baseball" for a dozen years performing comedy routines on baseball fields and on the vaudeville stage.

Continued from previous post: Naturally the newspapers reported this strange behavior and more fans started to turn out for Senators games. American League President Ban Johnson attended one of Nick’s early games, and decided to allow his antics so long as they didn’t interrupt play. Nick was funny enough by himself, but his routines really began to soar when he added a partner. At first he did routines with Schaefer, until Schaefer signed with Newark of the Federal League in 1915. Then Altrock teamed with reserve Carl Sawyer for two seasons, then worked solo for two seasons until 1919, when the Senators acquired another washed-up pitcher, Al Schacht.

Altrock and Schacht became the Martin and Lewis of baseball comedy. They created a series of pantomimes that they performed at games, including bowling, juggling, golf tricks, rowing boats during rain delays, mocking umpires, and other tricks. The two of them regularly headlined vaudeville bills, and became part of the eagerly anticipated entertainment for the World Series and All-Star games. Altrock made more money at his peak in the 1920s than almost any other ballplayer. His salary from all his various appearances was reported in the $180,000 range.

Ironically, in the midst of this success Altrock and Schacht stopped speaking to each other in 1927. Although Altrock never spoke about the specific reasons for it, their rift was often attributed to a fake prizefight routine that got a little too real. The story is that Schacht thought it would be funnier if he actually hit Nick and so punched the older comic unexpectedly and knocked him to the ground. Altrock got revenge a few days later during a routine where he would normally fire a hard baseball at Schacht for him to dodge and follow it with a soft baseball that Schacht took on the head. Altrock switched the baseballs, and Schacht took a hard blow to the skull and hit the turf.

We will now pause -- expected restart date 29 June.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #111B: Stanley A. "Stan" Coveleski. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1925-1927. 215 wins and 21 saves in 14 MLB seasons. 1920 World Series champion. 1923 and 1925 AL ERA leader. 1920 AL strikeout leader. Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame. 1969 inducted to MLB Hall of Fame. He debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1912. He was one of 17 "grand-fathered" spit-ball pitchers. One of his best seasons was 1918 with Cleveland as he posted a 22-13 record with a 1.82 ERA in 311 innings pitched.

Covey's SABR biography sums him up and then details the second half of his career, which included time in Washington: With one of the finest spitballs in baseball history, Stan Coveleski baffled American League hitters from the final years of the Deadball Era into the 1920s. To keep hitters off balance, Coveleski went to his mouth before every pitch. “I wouldn’t throw all spitballs,” he later explained. “I’d go maybe two or three innings without throwing a spitter, but I always had them looking for it.” Though he led the American League in strikeouts in 1920, Coveleski prided himself on his efficient pitching. “I was never a strikeout pitcher,” he recalled, “Why should I throw eight or nine balls to get a man out when I got away with three or four?” The right-hander often boasted of his control, once claiming he pitched seven innings without throwing a ball; every pitch was either hit, missed, or called a strike. During his 14-year career, Coveleski ranked among the league’s top ten in fewest walks allowed per nine innings pitched seven times. . . .

. . . On August 17, 1920, tragedy again struck the Cleveland Indians, with the death of shortstop Ray Chapman following a beaning at the hands of New York pitcher Carl Mays. Coveleski, who had been the opposing pitcher in the game, later recalled that he did not think Mays was purposely trying to hit Chapman but “at that time if we saw a fellow get close to the plate, we’d fire under his chin.”

Despite these tragic circumstances, both Coveleski and the Indians persevered to narrowly win the American League pennant. Once again, Coveleski was a big reason for the Tribe’s success, winning 24 games, finishing second in the league with a 2.49 ERA and leading the league with 133 strikeouts. His best work he saved for that year’s best-of-nine World Series against the Brooklyn Robins, pitching three complete-game victories, including a shutout in the series-clinching Game Seven. Covey posted a 0.67 ERA for the series, while walking only two batters in 27 innings.

From 1921 through 1924 Cleveland gradually fell out of contention as ownership did little to improve the ball club. In 1921 Covey won 23 games: his fourth straight year of at least 22 victories. Although his win totals declined thereafter as the fortunes of the team waned, Coveleski continued to pitch well, winning his first ERA title in 1923.

After a sixth-place finish in 1924, the Indians traded Coveleski, coming off a subpar year (15-16, 4.04 ERA) to the world champion Washington Senators. Despite having spent nine years of his career there, Coveleski had no regrets about leaving Cleveland behind. “I never did like Cleveland,” he later explained. “Don’t know why. Didn’t like the town. Now the people are all right, but I just didn’t like the town.” He even admitted that his dissatisfaction with his surroundings had come to affect his performance. “You know I got to a point where I wouldn’t hustle no more,” Covey remembered. “See, a player gets to be with a club too long. Gets lazy, you know.”

True to form, Coveleski rebounded strongly for the Senators in 1925, finishing the season with a 20-5 record and capturing his second ERA title with a 2.84 ERA, though he lost both of his starts in Washington’s World Series defeat against Pittsburgh. After turning in another good year in 1926, Coveleski came down with a sore arm in 1927 and the Senators gave him his unconditional release. Covey caught on with the Yankees for the 1928 season, but pitched poorly and was released in August.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #90D: Leon A. "Goose" Goslin. Left fielder for the Washington Senators in 1921-1930, 1933, and 1938. 2,735 hits and 248 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. 1936 All-Star. 1924 and 1935 World Series champion. 1928 AL batting champion. 1924 AL RBI leader. 1968 inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. He drove in the game-winning, walk-off run to win the 1935 World Series for the Detroit Tigers. With Gehringer and Greenberg, was one of the Detroit "G-Men". In 1936 he had an inside-the-park HR when both outfielders (Joe DiMaggio and Myril Hoag) collided and were knocked unconscious. He had one of his best seasons for the WS-winning Washington Senators in 1924 as he posted a .421 OBP with 100 runs scored and 129 RBIs in 674 plate appearances.

Goslin's SABR biography jumps over 1926 and 1927: The 1926 season saw Washington drop to fourth, with Goose contributing 109 RBIs, 17 homers, and a .354 average. The 1927 Senators finished third; Goslin knocked in 120 runs and hit .334. He swung from his heels and his left-handed power was complemented by an exaggerated closed stance in which he turned almost 180 degrees completing his swing. His stroke was fun to watch, whether he homered or struck out. We will pick this up again when Goose comes along next.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #83H: Stanley R. "Bucky" Harris. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1919-1928. 1,297 hits and 167 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. 1924 and 1947 World Series champion. In 1975, inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Named player-manager of the Washington Senators in 1924 at age 27. "The Boy Wonder" led Washington to World Series victory as "rookie" manger. Managed Washington Senators in 1924-1928, 1935-1942, and 1950-1954. Managed the Detroit Tigers in 1929-1933 and 1955-1956. Managed the Boston Red Sox in 1934. Managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943. Managed the New York Yankees in 1947-1948, including winning the 1947 world Series. Served as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1959-1960.

Smiles points out that Bucky was a member of a dying breed -- player-managers: There was a changing of the guard among baseball managers in 1927. Superstar player-managers were out. Sisler, Speaker, Cobb and Collins all retired as managers after the 1926 season. Jack Hendricks, the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, predicted their retirements meant the beginning of the end for player-managers. In seven seasons as player-manager, Cobb had never finished higher than third and was sixth in 1926. Eddie Collins tried it for three years and finished sixth, fifth and fifth. Sisler also lasted three years. He had one season over .500, in 1925, but dropped all the way to seventh in 1926. Speaker won a pennant and World Series in his first full year as player-manager in 1920, but nothing since.

Rogers Hornsby was the player-manager with the N.L. and World Series champion Cardinals in 1926 but was traded to the Giants for Frankie Frisch and Jimmy Ring after the season. Though Hendricks was right in his prediction, it would take some years for player-managers to fade away. In 1927 there were seven, including Bucky. Dave Bancroft was a player-manager with the Boston Braves but was released in 1927 following a second consecutive seventh-place finish. Ray Schalk was player-manager for the White Sox in 1927 but was fired in July 1928 when he appeared in only two games as a player. Bob O'Farrell took over for Hornsby with the Cardinals in 1927, his only full year as a manager, and was also the backup catcher. Hornsby managed the Giants for the last 33 games, filling in for the ailing McGraw. Stuffy McInnis was officially a player-manager in 1927, his one and only season as a major league manager, but he appeared in just one game with the Phillies, who lost 103 games. In 1928 Bucky and Hornsby, who had moved on to the Boston Braves, were the only active player-managers. (Bucky Harris by Jack Smiles.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #54P: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson Part 1. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Carroll summarizes the dismal end to Walter's great pitching career: Continuing where they had left off the season before (a disappointing 1926 campaign), things went sour from the onset of spring training for the Senators in 1927. In Tampa, Florida, before an exhibition game, Johnson was throwing batting practice to Joe Judge. Judge ripped a line drive back through the middle, striking Johnson in the right leg. The Senators had seen this before, Johnson being dusted by a line drive through the middle. Usually, he rose to his feet, brushed himself off, then, like clockwork, turned in three hundred-plus innings and twenty-five victories. In fact, just a few days before, Judge had lined a ball off Johnson's other leg with no damage done. So used to the scene were Johnson's teammates, and desensitized to the sight of Johnson sprawled out after a hot smash off some seemingly indestructible body part, that jokester coach Al Schacht hustled out to the mound and jokingly gave Johnson an animated ten-count.

This time would be different, though. Just two years removed from his twelfth twenty-win season for the 1925 American League pennant-winners, Johnson would battle back onto the field, but posted just a 5-6 record in eighteen appearances, along with an ugly 5.10 ERA. Johnson turned forty about a month after the end of the season. He never pitched again, though that didn't mean his role with the franchise had ended -- far from it. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #54P: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson Part 2. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Now for Deveaux's summary of Walter's last pitching season: Very early in 1927, Walter Johnson signed what was to be, he said, his last contract to pitch for the Washington Senators. It called for his same $20,000 salary for the one year. Bucky Harris's plan was to work Walter and Stan Coveleski in spots, and then only when the two graybeards would feel like pitching. When Johnson was hit in the leg by a line drive off the bat of his roommate Joe Judge, during spring training of 1927 at Tampa, coach Al Schacht, the clown, reportedly stood over Johnson and gave him the ten-count. The comedian didn't know he was counting down the days left in the Big Train's career. Johnson's leg was broken (officially a fracture of the fibula, about 3 1/2 inches above the ankle). The Big Train would be sidelined for six weeks, and this injury would precipitate the end of his scintillating career in 1927. . . .

. . . Walter Johnson's final pitching appearance in the big leagues occurred on September 22, 1927, the same day that Gene Tunney took the long count and came back to defend his crown against ex-champion Jack Dempsey in Chicago. Former Nats teammate Frank "Blackie" O'Rourke, the Canadian, was the last big leaguer to get a hit off Walter, and he also was the last man to have been struck out by him. On September 30, Barney played in his final game. He pinch hit for Tom Zachary, his 110th official pinch-hit appearance, in the very same game in which Zachary surrendered Babe Ruth's 60th home run. In Walter Johnson's final appearance in a major-league game, he hit a fly ball to Babe Ruth . . . who else! . . .

. . . There is some sort of irony in the fact that the game's greatest active pitcher made his last appearance as a pinch-hitter (he hit .235 lifetime with 24 home runs), and that the ball was caught by the greatest hitter the game had ever known. (The Washington Senators by Ton Deveaux.)

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[Kawika]

On September 30, Barney played in his final game. He pinch hit for Tom Zachary, his 110th official pinch-hit appearance, in the very same game in which Zachary surrendered Babe Ruth's 60th home run.

Quite a day in baseball history.

[GeoPoto]

Player #104B: Frederick "Firpo" Marberry. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1923-1932. 148 wins and 99 saves in 14 MLB seasons. First prominent reliever; used as a closer. Important piece of the Washington team that won back-to-back AL pennants in 1924-1925. 1924 World Series champion. His most productive season was 1929 with Washington as he posted a 19-12 record with a 3.06 ERA in 250.1 innings pitched. He ended his career with Washington in 1936.

Marberry's SABR biography traces his career in Washington and in the evolution of the role and importance of relief pitchers: Fred Marberry, one of the best pitchers in baseball for a decade, was the first great hurler to be used primarily as a relief pitcher. He played a large role in Washington’s only World Series triumph, and set many records for relievers that would not be bested for many years. Almost forgotten today, he has been denied larger fame by splitting his career between starting and relieving —had he done one or the other, he might be in baseball’s Hall of Fame today. . . .

. . . Legendary Washington Senators scout Joe Engel heard enough about Marberry to go to Arkansas to have a look, and he soon signed the big right-hander, bringing him to Washington in early August 1923. For the Senators, Marberry finished 4-0 in 11 games with a 2.80 ERA. He was 24 years old, still having pitched for a only few years.

Early on in Washington, Marberry acquired the nickname Firpo because of his size and facial resemblance to Argentine boxer Luis Firpo. The fighter, dubbed “The Wild Bull of the Pampas,” knocked Jack Dempsey out of the ring in a 1923 title bout before losing in the second round. Marberry never liked the nickname, especially as Luis Firpo’s career fizzled out, but he would be Firpo Marberry for the remainder of his baseball years.

One of the more interesting stories on the 1923 Senators was Allan Russell, previously a pitcher for several years with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, and one of the few pitchers still allowed to throw a spitball. Manager Donie Bush (likely with the urging of Clark Griffith) turned Russell into one of the first full-time relief specialists. He started five games, relieved in 47 (a new record), finished 10-7, and “saved” nine games. (Saves were not recorded in 1923, but were retroactively figured in the 1960s.) Of his 181 innings pitched, 144 came in relief (also a new record), meaning he pitched an average of three innings every time he came in as a reliever. This may have been the best season ever put forth by a relief pitcher up until this time.

Marberry began the 1924 season as an extra starter and as a second reliever to Russell. When the latter hurler struggled to repeat his 1923 success, new Senators manager Bucky Harris turned to Marberry more and more often. He responded sensationally. He pitched in 50 games, 35 in relief, won 11, saved 15 and pitched 195 innings, fourth most on the team. Harris used Marberry as Bush had used Russell the previous year: an average of three innings per appearance and as early as the second inning if needed. Russell finished second in the league with eight saves, and the Senators set an all-time team record with 25. (We will return here when Firpo next surfaces.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #95D: Roger T. Peckinpaugh. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1922-1926. 1,876 hits and 205 stolen bases in 17 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. His best season at the plate was probably 1921 as he helped the New York Yankees reach the World Series and posted a .380 OBP with 128 runs scored and 72 RBIs in 694 plate appearances. He debuted with the Cleveland Naps in 1910 and finished his playing career with the Chicago White Sox in 1927. He managed the New York Yankees in 1914 and the Cleveland Indians in 1928-1933 and 1941.

Peck's SABR biography: Peck’s legs were giving out, and he would only play two more years in the big leagues. After retiring from the game following the 1927 season, Peckinpaugh accepted the managerial post for the Cleveland Indians. In five and a half seasons with Cleveland, Roger guided the club to one seventh place finish, one third place finish and three consecutive fourth place finishes before being fired midway into the 1933 season. After stints managing Kansas City and New Orleans in the minor leagues, Peck returned to skipper the Indians again in 1941, finishing in fifth place before moving into the Cleveland front office, where he remained until he retired from organized baseball after the 1946 season.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #74L: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 1. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Carroll touches on Rice's down-and-up 1927 season: Meanwhile, Rice, one of the Senators actually healthy enough to take the field day after day, struggled with health problems of his own, something he tried to fight through at first. Rice developed headaches, then difficulty with his eyesight, complaining that he was having trouble following anything while he was in motion. . . . a week into June Sam Rice, one of the era's most bankable hitters, was struggling along with a .194 average. . . .

. . . Something was clearly wrong. Even when his team was good, Rice was bad. On May 17, Washington drubbed the Cleveland Indians 12-0. Speaker and Goslin combined to go 7-for-7 -- a sweet afternoon, surely, for Speaker against the team that cut him loose rather than see him through a potentially damaging scandal. Meanwhile Rice, mired in the worst slump of his career, went 0-for-6. All the while, with the exception of a brief spell in the number two hole, Harris kept leading his veteran off. While the powerful Yankees began to run away with the American League, Washington was led off every game by a player who was struggling to bat .200.

In mid-May, an explanation for Rice's plate struggles arose. . . . An exam revealed three infected teeth, which "had poisoned his entire system." He had them extracted. . . .

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[ValKehl]

Here's another E210 Type 1 card of Sam Rice, but with a "ghost" back, along with Rice's E210 Type 2 card:

[GeoPoto]

Val: Thank you for showing the Type 2 and the ghost.

Player #74L: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 2. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

. . . Removing a few bothersome teeth was kind of a catch-all solution in the rudimentary sports medicine era of the 1920's, but in Rice's case, it seemed to work. Relieved of the pain and accompanying sluggishness on the field, Rice's batting average began a steady climb. So did the Senators, though an Independence Day massacre at New York probably killed any delusions of a return to championship form (the Yankees drubbed Washington 12-1 and 21-1 in the same afternoon).

At the same time, Rice entered one of the most blistering stretches of his career. Over a sixteen-game span, he hit .467. Finally, on the last day of July, Rice reached the .300 mark for the season, a remarkable turnaround considering his career seemed to be in serious jeopardy just a few short weeks before. . . .

. . . Rice's production at the plate steadied and he ended the season batting .297 with ninety-eight runs scored, including at least one in sixteen consecutive games down the stretch. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

In addition to an E126, I'm also showing my other E210-1 just because I think it looks awfully good for its grade (there is a bit of paper loss on the back):

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[ValKehl]

I can't resist showing my E126 with a ghost back again because it's one my favorite cards of Rice:

[GeoPoto]

Player #120: Tristam E. "The Grey Eagle" Speaker. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1927. 3,514 hits, 436 stolen bases and 117 home runs in 22 MLB seasons. 3-time World Series champion (1912, 1915, and 1920). 1912 AL MVP. 1916 AL Batting champion. 1912 AL home run leader. 1923 AL RBI leader. Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame. Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame. 1937 inducted to MLB Hall of Fame. Holds MLB career records for doubles (792) and outfield assists (449). His career OBP is .428. Speaker played center field for the Boston Americans/Red Sox in 1907-1915 and the Cleveland Guardians in 1916-1926. With Hooper and Lewis was member of Boston's "Million-Dollar Outfield". He also managed the Cleveland Guardians in 1919-1926.

Deveaux explains Tris Speaker's brief time in Washington: The Senators did have another (besides Walter Johnson) most distinguished player in their midst for the first time at their training camp in Tampa. Tris Speaker, soon to be 39, seventh all-time in batting average as the 21st century begins, had been signed to a $35,000 contract on January 31. The Cleveland Indians had replaced Speaker as manager and had then cleared him to sign with any team. Speaker had recently been embroiled in controversy. Pitcher Dutch Leonard (this was the lefthanded Dutch Leonard, who was about 17 years older than the righthanded Dutch Leonard who would later pitch for Washington) had accused both him and Ty Cobb of conniving to fix a game between the Indians and the Tigers back in September 1919.

Leonard's charges were never substantiated, but the resulting investigation had a lot to do with finally bringing down Ban Johnson, whose grip on the league's operations had been slipping. Johnson would resign in October after 27 years as president, rather than risk being fired at a general meeting requested by the team owners. Clark Griffith took advantage of the brouhaha surrounding the investigation of the two star players, enticing Speaker with the hefty one-year contract in return for outfield insurance. The pact was sealed four days after Commissioner Landis absolved the two star players of involvement in any wrongdoing. Speaker hit .389 in 1925, but had slipped to .304 in '26.

Griffith could always make room for a career .344 hitter, though. Speaker played a role in shaping the Senators' long-term future in 1927 but, unfortunately, not in a positive sense. "Spoke" was high on a 30-year-old shortstop named Emory "Topper" Rigney, of the Red Sox. Speaker contended that with Rigney, a .270 hitter in '26, at short instead of Buddy Myer, Ossie Bluege could move to second and the Nats would be much improved as a result. Bucky Harris got talked into this and in turn coaxed Clark Griffith into making the trade with Boston.

This, Griffith would admit in later years, was the worst deal ever made under his administration. Within a year and a half, the Nats would give up five players to get Myer back. Topper Rigney batted only .253 in 150 at-bats in 1927, and it was his major-league swan song. He was released after just 45 games with the Senators, while Myer continued to improve and would lead the league in stolen bases in 1928. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #98C: J. Thompson "Tom" Zachary. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1919-1925 and 1927-1928. 1924 and 1928 World Series champion. 186 wins and 23 saves in 19 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1918. In Washington's World Series-winning 1924 season, he posted a 15-9 record with a 2.75 ERA in 202.2 innings pitched. In 1949 with the New York Yankees, he went 12-0, an MLB record that still stands for most wins without a loss in one season. He also gave up Babe Ruth's 60th home run in 1927. He finished his career with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1936.

Deveaux's account of the Bambino's home run record: The Senators became even more indelibly linked with the Yankees when, at season's end, they arrived at Yankee Stadium for the last three games (of the 1927 season). Babe Ruth was three home runs shy of breaking his record of 59, set in 1921. Lord knows he'd been trying, but the closest he'd been to approaching 59 in the six years since was 47. Until now. On September 29, Ruth chalked up number 58 when he got hold of a curveball that submariner Hod Lisenbee tried to sneak by him.

What followed may well be one of the most dramatic beginnings to any major leaguer's career. Young Paul Hopkins, graduated four months earlier from Colgate University, had been working out with the Nationals for three weeks when Bucky Harris, with the bases loaded, finally called upon him. Hopkins had no idea whose turn it was to bat. Seventy-one years later, he still recalled standing on the mound wondering who the first batter would be.

When Paul Hopkins found out the first man he would face in the major leagues would be none other than Babe Ruth, he was nervous, he admitted later, but not scared, since he felt he was capable of getting anybody out. The youngster threw nothing but curves, most of them slow. The Babe ripped foul balls down both lines, and the count got up to 3-and-2. Then Hopkins threw yet another curve, extra slow, and Ruth had to pull up a bit before launching a rocket toward the right field stands, a grand slam for his 59th homer of the year. Paul Hopkins may never have recovered from the blow, although he would always remember striking out the next batter, Lou Gehrig. When he got back to the bench, his self-image shattered, he said he sat down and cried because he couldn't get Babe Ruth out. Hopkins' major-league journey lasted all of 27 innings.

The next day, with the score knotted at two runs apiece in the eighth inning, Tom Zachary had the task of keeping Ruth from driving in the potential game-winning run, which was standing on third in the person of Mark Koenig, who had tripled. Zachary, reacquired by the Nats from the St. Louis Browns at midseason and 4-7 the rest of the way for Washington, hadn't done too well thus far this day, yielding a walk and two singles to the Bambino. The Babe unleashed a mighty wallop on a 1-1 pitch, a low inside fastball that barely stayed fair. "Foul ball!" yelled Tom Zachary, but fair it stayed.

There was never any doubt about the distance on home run number 60, and the sphere came to rest way up in the bleachers, about 15 rows from the top. The game ended with the score still 4-2 Yankees a few minutes later, when pinch-hitter Walter Johnson flew out to the Babe in right field. "Let's see some other son of a bitch match that!" challenged the Babe, as the Yankees prepared for the beginning of the World Series five days later against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.

Gentle Tom Zachary, when pressed later on in life to give his impressions of surrendering Ruth's 60th homer, declared, "If you really want to know the truth, I'd rather have thrown at his big, fat head." (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

We finish back with Zachary's SABR biography for his most lasting "accomplishment": . . . On July 7 (1927) he was traded back to the Senators for pitcher Alvin “General” Crowder. Zachary picked up three wins but then went on a six-game losing streak in August and early September, which was followed by a string of no-decisions. On September 25 he shut out the Browns for his first win since August 4. His next start would be in New York on September 30.

Babe Ruth had 57 home runs entering the final series against the Senators. He smashed two homers and drove in six on September 29. The dingers tied his career high of 59 and he had two games left to set a new standard. Zachary had faced the Babe many times since 1919. The Babe had hit eight home runs off his offerings, including two earlier in the season. “But few recall how many times I struck ol’ Babe out.”

Zachary claimed that pitchers always bore down when facing Ruth. He would joke that if pitchers had tried that “hard against everyone else, they would have pitched many of the weaker hitters out of the league.” The Babe walked on four pitches in the first inning. He singled and scored on a Bob Meusel sacrifice fly in the fourth to cut the Washington lead in half. He singled and scored on a Meusel single in the sixth to tie the game. The game was still tied in the eighth when Mark Koenig slammed a one-out triple. Ruth connected on Zachary’s third pitch and sent the ball curving towards the right field corner. It settled into the seats “no more than a foot inside” fair territory according to Senators catcher Muddy Ruel and plate umpire Bill Dinneen. New York won the game, 4-2, sending Tom to his 13th loss of the year.

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[GeoPoto]

The 1928 Washington Senators won 75 games, lost 79, and finished in fourth place in the American League. They were managed by Bucky Harris and played home games at Griffith Stadium.

Smiles summarizes Washington's 1928 season: In March, amid whispers that Bucky (Harris) was too soft as a manager, Griffith ordered him to impose stricter discipline in spring training. Bucky laid down the law at camp. Bucky said he would no longer be "a good fellow" but intended to tighten the reins, saying, "I feel my job is at stake. I don't believe I ever before took baseball as seriously as I am taking it this year. Looking back I can see where on several occasions, conditions confronted me which I now feel were partly my fault. I had my own heart wrapped up in the game and the team and took a little too much for granted in assuming that my players looked at things in the same manner. . . .

. . . A few days later Griffith said the Senators would contend with the Yankees for the A.L. pennant. The team's strength, he said, were the nine men on the roster who were part of the 1924 and 1925 championship teams. Of the nine -- Ruel, Marberry, Zachary, Bluege, Judge, Rice, Goslin, Tate and Harris -- only Goslin would have a season reminiscent of 1924 and 1925 in 1928. He led the A.L. in batting at .379 and the team in home runs with 17 and RBIs with 102. Ruel hit .257. Bucky had a horrendous season. Beset by nagging injuries, he batted .204 in only 99 games. . . .

. . . The collapse of the Senators was completed in 1928. They fell below .500, at 75-79, and finished 26 games behind the Yankees, who won another 101 games.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #90E: Leon A. "Goose" Goslin Part 1. Left fielder for the Washington Senators in 1921-1930, 1933, and 1938. 2,735 hits and 248 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. 1936 All-Star. 1924 and 1935 World Series champion. 1928 AL batting champion. 1924 AL RBI leader. 1968 inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. He drove in the game-winning, walk-off run to win the 1935 World Series for the Detroit Tigers. With Gehringer and Greenberg, was one of the Detroit "G-Men". In 1936 he had an inside-the-park HR when both outfielders (Joe DiMaggio and Myril Hoag) collided and were knocked unconscious. He had one of his best seasons for the WS-winning Washington Senators in 1924 as he posted a .421 OBP with 100 runs scored and 129 RBIs in 674 plate appearances.

Spring training 1928 took place at the fairgrounds in Tampa, Florida, a location providing ample diversion for the fun-loving Goslin. A high-school track team was working out and Goose delighted in challenging runners to impromptu races. He approached a group of teens practicing the shot-put, picked up a 16-pound weight and proceeded to toss it like a baseball – for the next 30 minutes. The next morning his right arm was so strained that he couldn’t comb his hair.

The arm was swollen and discolored as the season opened. Goslin was sent to Atlantic City for salt-water baths, followed by ice packing, massaging, rest, and even a cast (although x-rays showed no break). Another diagnosis revealed that his collarbone was out of placement, prompting a trip to a bone-setter in Michigan. To Griffith’s chagrin, nothing worked. Goose’s throwing arm remained a liability all season and it became a ritual for infielders to run deep into the outfield to retrieve his weak throws. Despite the arm woes, his average was as high as. 432 in late June.

Babe Ruth gets you a quart of Yuengling's ice cream or a skooter skate, which was an early form of roller skate/skate board with an art deco design:

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[GeoPoto]

Player #90E: Leon A. "Goose" Goslin Part 2. Left fielder for the Washington Senators in 1921-1930, 1933, and 1938. 2,735 hits and 248 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. 1936 All-Star. 1924 and 1935 World Series champion. 1928 AL batting champion. 1924 AL RBI leader. 1968 inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. He drove in the game-winning, walk-off run to win the 1935 World Series for the Detroit Tigers. With Gehringer and Greenberg, was one of the Detroit "G-Men". In 1936 he had an inside-the-park HR when both outfielders (Joe DiMaggio and Myril Hoag) collided and were knocked unconscious. He had one of his best seasons for the WS-winning Washington Senators in 1924 as he posted a .421 OBP with 100 runs scored and 129 RBIs in 674 plate appearances.

Goslin’s .379 (in 1928) average ultimately beat a .378 mark posted by the St. Louis Browns’ Heinie Manush. In The Glory of Their Times, Goslin provided author Lawrence Ritter insight into his quest for the title – right down to his last at-bat. Goose realized that if he got a hit, he won; if he was out, he lost. Confronted with this dilemma, Goslin thought seriously about sitting it out, but teammates insisted he’d hear accusations of “being yellow if you win the title on the bench.”

Goslin decided to take his licks, and quickly looked at two strikes. He decided to try to get thrown out of the game. Umpire Bill Guthrie read through the ruse and told Goslin: “You’re not going to get thrown out of this ballgame no matter what you do.” The ump added that a walk was out of the question too. Back in the box, Goslin got what he termed a “lucky hit” and won the title fair and square.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #83I: Stanley R. "Bucky" Harris Part 1. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1919-1928. 1,297 hits and 167 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. 1924 and 1947 World Series champion. In 1975, inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Named player-manager of the Washington Senators in 1924 at age 27. "The Boy Wonder" led Washington to World Series victory as "rookie" manger. Managed Washington Senators in 1924-1928, 1935-1942, and 1950-1954. Managed the Detroit Tigers in 1929-1933 and 1955-1956. Managed the Boston Red Sox in 1934. Managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943. Managed the New York Yankees in 1947-1948, including winning the 1947 world Series. Served as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1959-1960.

Smiles relates Bucky's demise as Washington's manager: The Day of the final (1928 season) game, after a meeting in Griffith's office, he (Bucky) walked down the clubhouse steps with a grim smile and said, "Well boys, I'm through."

On October 2, he was relieved of his managerial duties. He was not released. Griffith still held his rights as a player. To the extent that the criticisms (that he was too soft) of Bucky were true, he was a victim of his own success. He was one of the youngest players on the team when he took over as manager in 1924. He didn't feel it was his place to discipline them and there was little need for discipline. The veterans played hard for him in 1924 and 1925. Subsequent teams were not like that.

Post columnist Shirley Povich opined on the Harris-Griffith relationship.

"Bucky Harris was one of Griffith's greatest disappointments. Griffith will not admit it in so many words but when he talks about Bucky you get a drift of blighted hopes and sad reminisce. For Griffith had plans for Bucky. When the contract for $100,000 was handed to Bucky, Clark Griffith was ready to step down and let younger hands relieve him of the responsibility of president of the club. On Bucky Harris he had built his hopes of a successor. Bucky was no mere manager. He was an officer of the club. A new clubhouse was being built and Bucky's office was already receiving its appointments. But the Bucky Harris of 1926 was not the Harris of '24. Baseball was no longer an obsession with Bucky. He had made new friends and moved in new circles. He was no longer the first man on the field and the last to leave. Bucky was growing older, less ambitious. (We will return to Smiles' account and this Povich quote tomorrow.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #83I: Stanley R. "Bucky" Harris Part 2. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1919-1928. 1,297 hits and 167 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. 1924 and 1947 World Series champion. In 1975, inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Named player-manager of the Washington Senators in 1924 at age 27. "The Boy Wonder" led Washington to World Series victory as "rookie" manger. Managed Washington Senators in 1924-1928, 1935-1942, and 1950-1954. Managed the Detroit Tigers in 1929-1933 and 1955-1956. Managed the Boston Red Sox in 1934. Managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943. Managed the New York Yankees in 1947-1948, including winning the 1947 world Series. Served as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1959-1960.

Povich continues: He (Bucky) spent less time in his office. During 1926 and '27 Bucky managed the ball team and that was all, Griffith was back in the clubhouse running the business affairs as he had run them since 1912 when he bought the team."

If Griffith and Bucky had such a relationship, where Bucky was expected to take over as club president, it was news to a lot of people. Griffith had always been something of a control freak, and it's doubtful he was going to make Bucky his successor. Griffith remained club president into his 80s. And it was not fair to say Bucky did nothing but manage the team on the field. He engineered a lot of the deals that made the 1924 and 1925 teams winners and had some of the failed deals forced on him by Griffith, notably for fading stars Sisler and Speaker. But it was true that Bucky had changed. He was no longer the "mine boy" or the "boy wonder," and he did "move in new circles," as Povich put it. At the end of his first tenure in Washington, though, it was his personality that did him in and that did not change as he aged. When not on the field playing, Bucky was soft-spoken and easy going. He didn't like imposing strict rules off the field. He trusted men to act like men, not boys. Curfews were for children. (Bucky Harris by Jack Smiles.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #54Q: Walter P. "Barney" Johnson. "The Big Train". Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1907-1927. 417 wins and 34 saves in 21 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1913 and 1924 AL Most Valuable Player. 3-time triple crown. 6-time AL wins leader. 5-time AL ERA leader. 12-time AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5,914.1 innings pitched. He pitched a no-hitter in 1920. He holds the MLB record with 110 career shutouts. MLB All-Time Team. Inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1936. One of his best seasons was 1913 as he posted a record of 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA in 346 innings pitched.

Walter's SABR biography: After 1927, his final season, Walter Johnson managed for a year at Newark in the International League, then returned to Washington, where he served as manager for four seasons. He also managed at Cleveland from 1933-35, where he was constantly under attack by the local press. Although his managerial style was criticized as too easy-going, it should be noted that his teams had an overall winning percentage of .550.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #121A: Samuel P. "Sad Sam" Jones. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1928-1931. 229 wins and 31 saves in 22 MLB seasons. 2-time World Series champion: 1918 with the Boston Red Sox and 1923 with the New York Yankees. He went to Boston in 1916 as part of the trade that sent Tris Speaker to Cleveland. He pitched a no-hitter in 1923 without striking out a batter. He debuted with the Cleveland Indians in 1914-1915. One of his better seasons was 1921 with Boston as he posted a 23-16 record with a 3.22 ERA in 298.2 innings pitched. Another was 1928 with Washington, 17-7/2.84 in 224.2 innings pitched. His final seasons were with the Chicago White Sox in 1932-1935. His 22 consecutive years pitching in the same league is an MLB record, shared with 4 other players.

Jones' SABR biography explains his early days with the Boston Red Sox: For a player so significant in Red Sox history, surprisingly little is known about Samuel Pond “Sad Sam” Jones. Despite his incredible contributions to the Red Sox World Series victory in 1918, the most often discussed thing about Jones is his curious nickname. . . .

. . . The new (Red Sox) manager for 1918, Ed Barrow, saw that Jones had a “most baffling delivery” and nurtured him into a pitcher who delivered 16 victories against only five losses (2.25 ERA). Though Barrow would later say that he was equally as proud of turning Babe Ruth into an outfielder as he was of turning Jones into a great pitcher, Jones and his manager had a contentious relationship at best. In his interview with Laurence Ritter for The Glory of Their Times, Jones admitted that he was a bit hard to handle as a ballplayer in his younger years, something that would become a semi-serious problem in his years with the Washington Senators. . . .

. . . When Ernie Shore left for the Navy, Dutch Leonard took a shipyard job, and Babe Ruth cut back a bit on pitching, Joe Bush and Sam Jones got the opportunity to pitch in 1918. Bush won 15, Jones won 16, and Carl Mays won 21. It was a terrific year, and Jones led the league in winning percentage as the Red Sox advanced to the World Series against the Chicago Cubs. Though Jones lost his start in Game Five, 3-0, the Sox won the Series–it would be their last world championship for 86 years.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #73F: Joseph I. "Joe" Judge. First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1915-1932. 2,352 hits and 71 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. In 1924, as Washington won the AL pennant and the World Series, he had one of his better years as he posted a .393 OBP with 71 runs scored and 79 RBIs in 593 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1933-1934. He may have been the basis for the character of Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, whose author dated Judge's daughter in the 1940's.

Judge's SABR biography tracks his path to the major leagues: . . . Joe played semi-pro ball as a teenager, attracting the attention of New York Giants Manager, John McGraw. But McGraw advised the youngster that he would be better off as a pitcher, as he was too short to make it as a first baseman.

The Judge family relocated to Yorkville, a neighborhood in Manhattan, and Joe joined the Yorkville Orients semipro team. The move to Yorkville was a fortuitous one for Judge. One day, as the team practiced, a mail carrier was watching the scene, taking note of the young, left-handed man playing shortstop. The postman, Bud Hannah, told Judge he would never make it to the majors playing an infield position left-handed. Hannah further told Joe to get himself a first baseman’s glove, and to start practicing to become a first sacker. Judge told Hannah that he was poor and could not afford a new glove. The next day Hannah showed up at the practice field and gave Joe a box. “Inside was the most beautiful first baseman’s mitt I’ve ever seen, before or since. I don’t know how he could afford it. Mailmen didn’t get much in those days. It must have set him back a week’s pay,” recalled Judge. When Joe became a big leaguer, he always left a pair of tickets for Hannah when the team played in New York. “It was little enough for me to do for him after all he had done for me,” said Judge.

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[GeoPoto]

Player #74M: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Carroll talks to Rice's 1928 season: Speaker and McNeely were both now gone, opening at least one Washington outfield spot for one of the team's farm league up-and-comers. Regardless, Rice's starting position still wasn't guaranteed.

Reported the Washington Post: "It is no secret that the veteran, Sam Rice, will report at next spring's Tampa training camp with the knowledge that he is merely a candidate for the right-field job and hasn't a stranglehold on it, as has been the case in many previous seasons."

But Rice did win his spot in the lineup, and soon showed why he deserved to still be out there.

By July, the Senators had long been an afterthought in the American League pennant race, and faced the prospect of nine games in five days. Somehow, Washington managed to string together five straight victories during that time. Rice was the hottest Senator of all. The stretch included four double headers, both pairs coming on consecutive days, yet Rice didn't miss an inning. Not only that, but he was flat-out torrid at the plate, collecting sixteen base hits over the five days.

Although his team struggled for the entire season, prompting ever louder calls for Bucky Harris' firing or resignation, the once-again healthy Rice was enjoying a sort of renaissance season a year after his worst overall season since he became a full-timer in the big leagues. On September 5, he was batting .340. . . .

. . . There was a late April scare that Rice's sinus problems, or whatever they were, from the season before were creeping back up, but that turned out to be nothing more than a common cold. Otherwise, while the team mostly struggled, Rice had a terrific season, batting .328 with 202 hits. He had fifteen triples, the second-highest total of his career, and his thirty-two doubles gave him more than thirty doubles and ten triples for the eighth consecutive season. Perhaps one of the few signs of aging was Rice's sixteen stolen bases, his lowest total in a full season since he had been in the big leagues. But Rice was stealing smarter these days, only getting thrown out three times two seasons after he was nailed twenty-three times. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

This thread will now enjoy an extended pause -- planned restart date: 2 August.

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[ValKehl]

The F50 Yuengling's Ice Cream cards are found with two different backs. This one below doesn't have the sentence at the bottom about saving the Babe Ruth card for ice cream or a $5.00 skooter, like the example George posted above has.

[ValKehl]

Here's a 1928 F50 Harrington's Ice Cream card of Sam Rice to keep this most interesting thread near the top until George returns:

[ValKehl]

Here's a 1928 F50 Sweetman card of Sam Rice to help keep this most interesting thread near the top until George returns:

[GeoPoto]

Val: Thank you for keeping the pilot light on in my absence.

Player #87E: Herold D. "Muddy" Ruel. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1923-1930. 1,242 hits and 61 stolen bases in 19 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. He debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1915. He was the Yankees catcher in 1920 when Ray Chapman was hit and killed by a Carl Mays fastball. He scored the tying run in regulation and then the winning run in the 12th inning of game seven in the 1924 WS. His best season was 1923 with Washington as he posted a .394 OBP with 54 RBI's and 63 runs scored in 528 plate appearances. His final season as a player was 1934 with the Chicago White Sox. He was manager of the St. Louis Browns in 1947. He was GM of the Detroit Tigers in 1954-1956.

We return to Ruel's SABR biography as it recounts Muddy's role in integrating baseball: Part 2 -- Meanwhile (in 1947 as newly hired Muddy Ruel began managing the St. Louis Browns), (Hank) Thompson and (Willard) Brown were attempting to earn a spot on the team and make good in their opportunity in the American League. Thompson played second base regularly during the absence of Johnny Berardino who was out with a broken hand. Brown, however, did not see much playing time and was used mostly as a pinch hitter. Unfortunately for Brown, his batting average likely suffered from not seeing American League pitching on a daily basis.

Sam Lacy, a prominent sportswriter in the African-American press and future inductee of the baseball Hall of Fame, interviewed Muddy Ruel a couple of weeks into the Browns’ experiment with integration. Lacy wrote that it was “refreshing” to see firsthand that Ruel was giving Brown and Thompson every opportunity to prove themselves as ballplayers, not as black ballplayers. Ruel told Lacy that he was watching Brown and Thompson “just as I watch every man on the team.” Ruel further stated that Brown and Thompson were “no different than Vern Stephens with me,” referring to one of the Browns’ best players. Lacy walked away from this interview feeling Ruel never hinted at the fact that Lacy was interested in Brown and Thompson because of their race. Lacy added, “. . . each time he spoke of Brown or Thompson, it was as though either or both were just two new men—not two COLORED men.”

After approximately six weeks of integration, the Browns released Thompson and Brown. The two players passed through on waivers with no other takers in either league. They returned to the Kansas City Monarchs and the Browns were once again an all-white ballclub. Though the Browns road attendance was up, the attendance at home in St. Louis remained low during the period that Thompson and Brown were with the team and the team remained in last place in the standings and that is where the Browns finished the season.

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[GeoPoto]

The 1929 Washington Senators won 71 games, lost 81, and finished in fifth place in the American League. They were managed by Walter Johnson and played home games at Griffith Stadium.

Deveaux kicks off 1929: All good wishes aside (regarding Walter Johnson's appointment as Washington manager), things would not go well, as Johnson himself was not pleased with the team he had inherited for 1929. This displeasure proved well founded when the Nats became firmly ensconced in the second division. The youngsters touted as replacements for Harris at second, Jackie Hayes and Stuffy Stewart, were unimpressive to Johnson, and the Big Train did not think Bobby Reeves was the long-term answer at short. The new manager proposed moving Ossie Bluege to short and benching young Cronin, a future star. He wanted the ballclub to reacquire Buddy Myer, who'd been transformed into a top-notch third baseman with the Red Sox, to patrol the hot corner. Barny figured second base could be handled by committee for the time being, but the sooner Myer was brought back, the better. . . .

. . . Walter Johnson's charges dropped three games lower in the standings (in 1929 compared to 1928) and their fate was once again sealed early, when they lost an appalling 13 of 14 games with the Philadelphia A's in the opening six weeks. One of those was the season opener, attended by President Herbert Hoover, a 13-4 debacle. Following a tongue-lashing by the normally placid manager, who made the players attend morning drills to sharpen their minds and make them think about the dumb plays some of them were making, the ballclub won 14 of 20 on the road, and 35 of their last 58 to edge Bucky Harris's Tigers by two games in the quest for fifth place in 1929. Nevertheless, this marked the first time in seven years that the Nats found themselves out of the first division. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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[GeoPoto]

Player #89D: 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: Bluege was known as a quiet, unassuming type of person who went about his job without much fanfare. He never popped off or brought attention to himself. He did not drink, smoke, or keep late hours. He was a virtual unknown to many. In spite of his anonymity, Bluege was a member of the Washington Senators for 18 seasons, served as a coach for two, and managed the Nats for five more. He was the franchise’s first farm director and worked as the comptroller, and later executive secretary, when the organization relocated to Minneapolis. When he retired in 1971, Bluege had worked 50 years for the same franchise. Indeed he was a company man.

Whenever American League President Joe Cronin was asked to rank big-league third basemen, he always gave the same answer: “Well, you start with Bluege.” Of course shortstop Cronin was referring to his old partner on the right side of the Washington Senators teams of the 1920s and ’30s, Ossie Bluege. At the 1970 World Series, watching Baltimore’s Brooks Robinson make one outstanding play after another, Joe would remark “That’s another Ossie Bluege play.” He would often comment that he never had to worry about a ball that was hit to his right side with Bluege manning the hot corner.

Luke Sewell, a catcher for the Senators in the later years of his career, described Bluege as “the two greatest infielders who ever played in my time.” Sewell explained: He played third and short at the same time, and nobody could come up with a bunt and snap it to first base as fast as Bluege.”

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