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  #151  
Old 09-27-2022, 03:23 AM
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Default Ray Morgan

Player #65A: Raymond C. "Ray" Morgan. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1911-1918. 630 hits and 88 stolen bases in 8 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .348. His best season was 1913 as he posted a .369 OBP with 19 stolen bases in 565 plate appearances. He has an odd link to Babe Ruth: in 1917, he led off a game by drawing a 4-pitch walk from Boston starter Ruth, who was then ejected from the game by the home plate umpire. Ruth was replaced by Ernie Shore and Morgan was thrown out attempting to steal on Shore's first pitch. Shore then retired the next 26 batters he faced. Shore's "perfect game" was eventually down-graded to a "combined no-hitter" by subsequent revisions in the MLB criteria.

Morgan's SABR biography: Morgan played second base for the Washington Senators in the final decade of the Deadball Era alongside slick-fielding shortstop George McBride. Morgan often was sidelined by injuries but played mostly on a regular basis from 1912–17. He was used less in 1918, his final season, having lost favor with Griffith, who was still the field manager at the time.

On June 23, 1917, in Boston, Morgan played a pivotal role in one of baseball’s most famous games. He led off the game by drawing a walk from Ruth, the Red Sox starter. Ruth was so incensed by the calls, he punched the umpire and was ejected. Shore took over on the mound, and Morgan was immediately thrown out trying to steal. Shore famously retired the next 26 batters in a row, a feat that until 1991 was deemed a perfect game.

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  #152  
Old 09-28-2022, 03:12 AM
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Default The Old Sarge

Player #33E: Charles E. "Gabby" Street. "The Old Sarge". Catcher for the Washington Senators in 1908-1911. 312 hits and 2 home runs in 8 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Cincinnati Reds in 1904. Caught ball dropped from top of Washington Monument. Holds MLB record for longest gap between MLB games at 19 years -- 1912-1931. Managed the St. Louis Cardinals in 1929 and 1930-1933, including the 1931 World Series championship. Managed the St. Louis Browns in 1938.

Street's SABR biography introduces "the old Sarge": Gabby Street became known as Sergeant Street when he enlisted in the Army in March 1918. As Street put it, he was going off to fight in the “real” World Series.

“I was sent to Fort Slocum, N.Y., and everybody interested in baseball thought it was great that I should be on hand to catch the army team. I finally convinced my lieutenant that I joined the army to fight, pointing out that I could have continued playing baseball for a salary. I was one of the first 50,000 to get over and took part in three major engagements: Chateau Thierry, St. Mihiel and the Argonne. That St. Louis regiment, the 138th, was as fine as an outfit as I ever saw, and I was proud to be attached to it,” said Sergeant Street. The Sporting News, October 2, 1930.

Street was assigned to the 1st Gas Regiment, Chemical Warfare Division. He and his men joined the 138th in the Battle of the Argonne. Street’s men held down a smoke screen for the 138th Infantry on September 26, 1918. A machine-gun bullet from a German airplane punctured his right leg on October 2, 1918. He was awarded the Purple Heart, and his fighting days were at an end.

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  #153  
Old 09-29-2022, 03:18 AM
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Default Germany Schaefer

Player #45D: Herman A. "Germany" Schaefer. Infielder for the Washington Senators in 1909-1914. 972 hits, 9 home runs , and 201 stolen bases in 15 MLB seasons. His "steal" of first base prompted rule making it illegal. Popular as a baseball "trickster" and "on-field clown", often in tandem with Charley O'Leary and, later, with Nick Altrock. Altrock eventually perfected the art with Al Schacht.

Schaefer's SABR biography: . . . Schaefer continued to fine tune his crazed antics as a player/coach. Umpire Silk O’Loughlin chased him from a game in Chicago on June 8, 1912 for eating popcorn in the coach’s box, and Schaefer also began to perform tricks, like tight-rope walking the foul line and using two bats to “row across the grass.” His performances were later incorporated by baseball clowns Nick Altrock and Al Schacht. While he enjoyed drawing laughter, Schaefer defended his comedic coaching as important to team success. “Is humorous coaching of value to a team? I think so. It is valuable for two reasons. It keeps our fellow in good spirits, and it sometimes distracts the opposing players…I guess Clark Griffith thinks so also, for he encourages me in my tomfoolery,” Schaefer told The Sporting News in 1912.

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  #154  
Old 09-30-2022, 03:03 AM
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Default Dixie Walker

Player #66: Edward G. "Dixie" Walker. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1909-1912. 25 wins and 481 innings pitched in 4 MLB seasons. In 1910, he went 11-11 with a 3.30 ERA in 199.1 innings pitched. His brother Ernie played 3 MLB seasons and his sons Dixie and Harry played a combined 29 MLB seasons.

Edward "Dixie" Walker pitched four seasons for the Washington Senators. He was a year older than teammate Walter Johnson and was his roommate.
He was the brother of Ernie Walker and father of "Harry the Hat" Walker and Fred "Dixie" Walker. Until the Hairstons arrived, the Walkers were the only set of major-leaguers to have two generations in a row of brothers. He is the only father of two major-league batting champions.

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  #155  
Old 10-01-2022, 03:24 AM
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Default Rip Williams

Player #67: Alva M. "Rip" Williams. Catcher/First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1912-1916. 314 hits and 2 home runs in 7 MLB seasons. He debuted with Boston Red Sox in 1911. One of his better seasons was 1912 with Washington as he posted a .352 OBP with 22 RBIs in 172 plate appearances. His final season was 1918 with the Cleveland Indians.

Williams' SABR biography runs through his career in Washington: Though the third catcher on the team (in 1912), injuries to both John Henry and Eddie Ainsmith gave Williams more playing time and he took advantage. He appeared in 60 games and hit for a .318 batting average. It was the highest he would ever hit.

He had a reputation as a hard-hitter, but when he hit a pinch-hit home run in 1913 off George Kahler on May 21 in Cleveland, he not only tied the score for Washington in the top of the ninth, but it was the first home run he had ever hit, at any level of play. It was driven over center fielder Buddy Ryan’s head and Williams – not known for speed – sprinted around the bases “fairly staggering” as he rounded third, but scoring standing up for an inside-the-park home run. The Senators won the game, the tenth win in a row for Walter Johnson. In 1913, though suffering from a weak arm that prevented him playing in many more games, he hit for a .283 average, with six doubles and two triples.

He hit another homer in 1914, in the first game on July 3 off Guy Cooper of the Red Sox. It was a three-run homer in a game in which he was just a single shy of hitting for the cycle, a 12-0 shutout for Walter Johnson. Williams worked in 81 games in 1913, batting .278. He may have struck balls with force but his career slugging percentage was just .352.

He drove in 31 runs, matching his career best (with the Red Sox in 1911) in 1915, playing in 91 games, while batting for a .244 average. Four of those RBIs came all in one game, against the Red Sox, in a 4-2 win on April 29. He’d driven in every run of the game for Washington and helped Walter Johnson record yet another win. He liked catching Johnson, saying, “When Walter lets ‘em loose they come like shells, but his very speed seems to make the ball stick in your glove. Johnson never crosses a catcher. If the sign is for a fast one on the outside that is where she comes.”

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  #156  
Old 10-02-2022, 03:06 AM
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Default 1913 Presidential First Pitch

Deveaux explains how the 1913 season got started for Washington: Right off the bat, the 1913 edition of the Washington Senators set out to show that the previous year's performance had not been a fluke. President Woodrow Wilson agreed to tend to the opening ceremonies, thus lending credence to Clark Griffith's dream of having the President in the ballpark to usher in each new season. The Old Fox was also lobbying to have the first game of each season always played in Washington. In the 1913 season opener on April 10, the newly named New York Yankees, formerly Highlanders, encountered the same old Walter Johnson, who beat them 2-1. The Big Train permitted a run in the first inning, and then shut them out the rest of the way. More than a month would pass, over a span of eight games, before he would allow a run again. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #157  
Old 10-03-2022, 01:50 AM
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Default 1913 Washington Senators

The 1913 Washington Senators won 90 games, lost 64, and finished in second place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

Deveaux talks to the 1913 season: The 1913 Senators, sans Ty Cobb (this reference will become clear when we next get to Griffith), were another excellent club nonetheless. They won 90 games, just a two-game aggregate short of the previous year's standing. They were the best draw in the league, what with the Altrock-and-Schaefer comedy team supplementing an alert ballclub. And then there was also one of the top attractions in all of baseball, the lightning-fast Walter Johnson.

The Big Train's roommate, Clyde Milan, followed his 88-stolen-base season with 75 more, enough to comfortably outdistance both Cobb and Eddie Collins for his second consecutive title, the only two of his career. Danny Moeller stole 62 bases, runnerup to Milan in the league, and catcher Eddie Ainsmith got into the act with three steals in one inning and 17 for the season. The club's 287 stolen bases was tops in the A.L. and fell just one short of tying for best in the league's short history. More impressively, the mark of 288 established by the 1910 New York Highlanders remained unbroken for two-thirds of a century before being shattered by the Oakland Athletics in 1976 (341).

Walter Johnson was again superb, so much so that this was probably the greatest of all his seasons. For once, he had gotten off to a fast start, and not just any fast start but the fastest ever. Walter this season held opposing batters to an unbelievable .187 batting average and .217 on-base percentage, both bests for his entire career. His 36-7 record would represent career highs in terms of wins and winning percentage. His league-leading 1.14 ERA would also remain his best. The 11 shutouts Barney recorded led the league and would also endure as the most for him in a season.

Johnson put together three long victory streaks, emerging as the winning pitcher in ten, fourteen (over a period of more than two months), and then seven games in a row at various times. Lanky rookie Joe Boehling, an astute purchase Griffith had made from the Richmond Battleaxes, went 17-7 with a very sound 2.14 ERA. Boehling would win 12 in each of the following two years for the Nats before dropping out of baseball and then returning for a lengthy stint as a minor leaguer. The Senators led the league in strikeouts for the second straight year, and in shutouts. They were also tops in stolen bases for a second straight year. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #158  
Old 10-04-2022, 03:19 AM
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Default Merito Acosta

Player #68: Baldomero P. "Merito" Acosta Fernandez. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1913-1916 and 1918. 111 hits and 17 stolen bases in 5 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .354. He also played for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1918. He also played winter baseball in the Cuban League in 1913-1925. He was also a long-time manager and part-owner of the Havana Cubans. He is a member of the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame.

Acosta's SABR biography explains his debut at 17: One of the main attractions of the Louisville Slugger Museum is its Signature Wall showing the names and signatures that have been branded on bats for hundreds of baseball players dating back to the beginning of the practice. Among the names of plaques featured from the 1920s is Baldonaro Acosto. The incorrectly spelled name on his plaque does not indicate that at one time Baldomero “Merito” Acosta was one of the top Latin prospects in baseball. . . .
. . . While managing the Cincinnati Reds in 1911, Clark Griffith had been impressed with Cubans Armando Marsans and Rafael Almeida. The next season Griffith moved over to the American League to manage the Washington Senators (commonly known as the Nationals at the time), and he hoped to discover more talent on the island that he could import for his new club. He developed a relationship with Victor Muñoz to help “bird dog” players in Cuba. In January 1913, based on Muñoz’s recommendation, Griffith signed Acosta, along with Jacinto Calvo of the Almendares club. It was reported that the senior Baldomero proclaimed a holiday in their hometown of Marianao to celebrate the signing.

Acosta made a good showing in his first major-league spring training, but it was widely accepted that at just 16 years old he was much too young to play in the big leagues and would be farmed out to a minor-league club to start the season. But when Washington broke north in April, Acosta was still on the Opening Day roster. Griffith wanted a left-handed outfield bat on the bench, and he figured that the young Acosta could get better experience being around the big-league squad versus playing in the minor leagues. Acosta batted with a hunched-over batting stance that drew several walks, and Griffith wanted to personally work with Acosta to adjust his swing and add some power to it. Griffith’s decision was probably financially motivated as well — keeping a couple of inexperienced rookies on the team would cost less than signing other players who worked their way up from the minors. “I could cite a dozen cases where players who were in the majors and were released owing to lack of experience came back at absurd prices,” said the Old Fox.

Acosta languished on the bench for nearly two months, stepping onto the field occasionally only as a base coach. By the end of May he was pleading with Griffith either to play him or farm him out. Quotes in the Washington papers attributed to Acosta were either completely literal to his broken English or were a bit embellished. “I no like sit on bench….In big league sit on bench and yell. No fun for Cuban ball player.” The quote may or may not have been altered a bit for the article, but it summed up Acosta’s mindset. Finally on June 5, Acosta was sent in to pinch-hit for pitcher Nick Altrock, and he reached base on his first attempt when he laid down a bunt and St. Louis Browns pitcher Roy Mitchell bobbled it for an error. At just over two weeks past his 17th birthday, Merito became the youngest player of the modern era to make a major-league debut. Acosta continued to be used sparingly during the season, normally for pinch-running duties or fielding substitutions. It was not until September 6 when Acosta finally achieved his first big-league hit, a pinch-hit bunt single off Yankees’ pitcher Cy Pieh. Two more bunts and an error allowed Acosta also to score his first big league run. To this day he is still the youngest Latin American player to make his debut and get a base hit in the majors.

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  #159  
Old 10-05-2022, 03:27 AM
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Default The Old Fox tracks Ty Cobb

Player #28F: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

Deveaux reports how Cobb could have been a Senator: Clark Griffith's "little ballclub," as he'd gotten into the habit of calling it, again finished second in 1913, by 6.5 games. The A's, however, had been ahead by double-digits until the last week of the season. This 96-57 Philadelphia team featured a pitching staff which included a couple of future members of the Hall of Fame -- Eddie Plank and Chief Bender. Jack Coombs was taking a regular turn, and rookies Herb Pennock and Bullet Joe Bush, both of whom would attain stardom, were starting to contribute. The pride of the A's was the infield, then widely referred to as the "$100,000 Infield," which included Stuffy McInnis, Eddie Collins, Jack Barry, and Frank "Home Run" Baker.

On the "little ballclub," even by the standards of the time, there was not much offensive firepower. Clark Griffith came to a conclusion that rocked the baseball world. With Walter Johnson capable of winning at nearly every turn and the Nats a viable contender along with the A's and Naps (as were called the Indians, named after their star player, the affable Napoleon Lajoie), Griffith was desperate for more hitting. Barely a week into the season, he claimed to have made the Detroit Tigers an overture he felt they couldn't possibly refuse. The New York Times printed it -- Washington had tendered an astounding $100,000 bid for Ty Cobb.

According to Griffith, he had written a check and passed it to Tigers owner Frank Navin with the stipulation that he be allowed two weeks to cover it. In return, Washington wanted the one-and-only Cobb, at once the most prolific and most combative position player in the league, winner of six straight batting crowns and on his way to extending the string to nine (eventually, 12 in 13 years). Navin must have thought Griffith was joking, but for the public record, he never did confirm whether the offer had been been made, let alone considered. If the proposition ever really was dangled in front of Navin, his astonishment might have been minimal compared to that of the members of the Senators' board of directors. The Old Fox was ready for them.

Griffith's plan, according to writer Shirley Povich, had been to sell 100,000 one-dollar tickets to fans who could use them for whatever game they wished. After all, there were always empty seats at League Park. The fans would support this, thought Griffith, since it was obvious that the team was now very good and just a step away, as the saying goes. Newspapermen dismissed the rumors of an imminent deal, reasoning that no player, even Ty Cobb, could possibly be worth $100,000. Besides, they wondered, where would Washington get the money? The whole situation eventually dissipated when nothing happened. Just as well for Clark Griffith, who was likely spared what seemed like an oncoming confrontation with the club's directors. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #160  
Old 10-06-2022, 03:29 AM
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Default Walter Johnson Part 1

Player #54D (Part 1): 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 talks about Walter's best season: To emphasize just how dominant 25-year-old Johnson had become, in 1913 he had an astonishing, and heart-breaking, five one-hitters. The St. Louis Browns earned the title of being Johnson's "jinx team," breaking a surreal string of scoreless innings during the course of a 10-5 Washington victory on May 14. In this game, Johnson passed the record of 53 scoreless frames, previously held by Jack Coombs. The Big Train, who had had his string of 16 consecutive wins interrupted by St. Louis the previous summer, struck out six Brownies in the first three innings, firing nothing but fastballs. Coincidentally, the batter Walter retired in the first inning to set the new mark was Pete Compton, the same Pete Compton who had broken Barney's win streak less than nine months earlier.

Finally, with one out in the fourth, Gus Williams doubled and Del Pratt singled to bring home a run for the Browns, the first Johnson had surrendered in 55.2 innings, the equivalent of more than six full ballgames. It is interesting to note that the one out Walter got in the fourth inning, oddly enough, is not officially part of the streak. The modern way of calculating is bizarre to say the least -- it is such that outs in innings in which the streak is broken don't count. Hence, for years, the record was considered to be 56 innings.

In either case, the accomplishment stood as the major-league record for 55 years, until broken by Don Drysdale in 1968, the so-called "Year of the Pitcher." Drysdale's record of 58.2 was later topped by another Dodger, Orel Hershiser, who bumped the mark up to 59. While Drysdale no longer owns the National League record, Walter Johnson's record of 55.2 still stands as the American League standard, and it was the record of which Walter was proudest. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #161  
Old 10-07-2022, 01:57 AM
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Default Walter Johnson Part 2

Player #54D (Part 2): 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.

We stick with Deveaux: One of the strangest games in baseball history took place on October 4 (1913). With nothing at stake, Clark Griffith, nearing his 44th birthday, decided to pitch an inning. The game was a farce, the players padding their averages and the umpires allowing four outs in one inning. Walter Johnson, who'd pitched his 12th shutout five days earlier for his 36th victory, played center field, but relieved in the ninth and permitted a double and a triple, and two runs.

Those final two runs account for the difference in Walter's final reported earned run average for the season. For more than 70 years, his ERA for 1913 stood at 1.09. When it was discovered that the results of the 1913 travesty had been left out, history was rewritten and Barney's ERA was bumped to 1.14. As a result, when Bob Gibson came along 55 years later and posted a 1.12 ERA, he passed Johnson's record, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, for the best ever ERA in a single season. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #162  
Old 10-08-2022, 03:14 AM
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Default Grunting Jim Shaw

Player #69: James A. "Jim" Shaw. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1913-1921. 84 wins and 16 saves in 9 MLB seasons. He was nicknamed "Grunting" Jim Shaw because of the distinct grunting noise he made every time he threw a pitch off the mound. Shaw had a career ERA of 3.07. In 1919, he posted a 17-17 record with a 2.73 ERA in 306.2 innings pitched.

Shaw's Sabr biography: Only 20 years old when the Washington Senators broke camp in spring 1914, right-hander Jim Shaw was deemed a can’t-miss pitching prodigy. The youngster had impressed the previous September during a brief late-season audition with the club, and his spring work had left some onlookers near-swooning, with favorable comparison to renowned staff ace Walter Johnson coming from no-less-informed an observer than Washington manager Clark Griffith. Good-sized (6-feet, 180 pounds) with broad shoulders and noticeably long arms, Shaw bore a striking physical resemblance to Johnson and reputedly threw just as hard, with a nasty, sharp-breaking curve besides. Greatness, it seemed, was destined for Jim Shaw.

A century later, any comparison of the long-forgotten Shaw to the immortal Walter Johnson would be ludicrous. Handicapped by chronic control problems, nagging injuries, and an often complacent attitude, Shaw was never able to fully harness his natural talent and proved a disappointment. But he was far from a bust. Despite his shortcomings, Shaw gave the Senators almost a decade of useful service, posting five double-digit-win seasons. At times he even managed to lead American League hurlers in certain secondary pitching statistics, some positive — game appearances (1919); innings pitched (1919), and retroactive saves (1914 and 1919), others not — walks (1914 and 1917) and wild pitches (1919 and 1920). In the end, Jim Shaw was neither phenom nor flop. Rather, the descriptive that perhaps best suits him is: underachiever.

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  #163  
Old 10-09-2022, 03:09 AM
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Default Deerfoot Milan

Player #39E: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography takes us through his rise to MLB: The son of a blacksmith, Jesse Clyde Milan (pronounced “millin”) was born on March 25, 1887, in Linden, Tennessee, a quiet hamlet of about 700 residents nestled in the hills above the Buffalo River, 65 miles southwest of Nashville. He was one of eight children (four boys and four girls), and his younger brother Horace also took up professional baseball, briefly joining him in the Washington outfield in 1915 and 1917. Another younger brother, Frank, became a noted Broadway actor, co-starring alongside Humphrey Bogart in the famed original staging of The Petrified Forest. Baseball was almost unknown in rural Middle Tennessee where the Milans grew up, and Clyde told Lane that he didn’t play much of the sport as a youngster. “To show what little experience I really had, I will say that in 1903 I played in just nine games of baseball, and the following season I didn’t play the game at all,” he recalled. Clyde’s chief sporting interest in those years was hunting for quail and wild turkey with his two setters, Dan and Joe.

Deveaux talks about Horace: Clyde Milan managed to improve to .294 after an off year in '16, and was joined by his brother Horace, who had been brought up for a second cup of coffee. Between the '15 and '17 seasons, Horace Milan got 32 hits in an even 100 at-bats, for a cool .320 career average, frozen forever in time. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #164  
Old 10-10-2022, 03:22 AM
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Default 1914 Washington Senators

The 1914 Washington Senators won 81 games, lost 73, and finished in third place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

The threat of the First World War hovered over and then descended upon the United States in 1914, but the little ball club (Griffith's pet description of the Senators) remained intact and reached first place for one day, on June7, only to fall back to third by the end of the year, behind the A's and Red Sox. The Nationals were just about as good as the previous year, but as a team did not lead in any category except the number of strikeouts by the pitching staff.

Walter Johnson, now making $12,000 a year (which represented a $5,000 raise on his expired three-year pact and as much money as Ty Cobb had made in 1913), was still himself, but things did not go his way on many occasions. Barney wound up with a 28-18 record despite a golden 1.72 ERA. He pitched more innings, 372, than in any other year of his career. He led the league in wins, games (51), complete games (33), strikeouts (225) and shutouts (9). The baseball player who had put the Washington Senators on the map was by now widely recognized as the best pitcher baseball had ever known.

Again in 1914, the Senators lacked hitting, particularly from a power standpoint. Deerfoot Milan hit .295, best on the team, but missed 40 games after sustaining a broken jaw on July 17 as a result of an outfield collision with Danny Moeller in Cleveland. Only third baseman Eddie Foster, at .282, excelled offensively. There were an inordinate number of low-scoring losses, making it impossible for Walter Johnson in particular and the team in general to remain successful for any extended period. There were a crushing 11 1-0 losses, three absorbed by Johnson.

The infield was composed of a bunch of crackerjacks, so the pitchers had great support from that standpoint. In this season, infielders Morgan, McBride, and Foster led the league in double plays at their respective positions. The other infielder, first baseman Chick Gandil, was also a slick gloveman, but his batting slipped to .259 from .318 in '13. The Senators batted .244 as a unit, below the league average, and barely crawled into third, losing a full nine games off their record of the preceding year.

While gathering war clouds dampened the spirits of baseball partisans all over the country, there was still at least some fun to be had at the old ballpark. Cleveland outfielder Jack Graney had a bull terrier named Larry who served as the team's mascot. Larry was also acrobatic and did tricks to entertain the fans at all big-league venues. This was all well and good until Larry refused to give up the ball to the umpire, Big Bill Dinneen, at League Park. Back then, fans, let alone dogs, had to return balls batted into the stands. Larry's obstinacy was not appreciated, and he was banned from attending any more Washington games by no less an authority than League president Ban Johnson. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #165  
Old 10-11-2022, 03:16 AM
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Default Joe Boehling

Player #70A: J. Joseph "Joe" Boehling. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1912-1916. 56 wins and 4 saves in 7 MLB seasons. His career ERA was 2.97. His best season was 1913 with Washington as he posted a 17-7 record with a 2.14 ERA in 235.1 innings pitched. He finished his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1916-1917 and 1920.

In 1913, Boehling was used primarily as a starter alongside Walter Johnson in what was his best season. He pitched in 38 games, starting 25 of them, and finished the season with 18 complete games and three shutouts. He finished with a 17-7 record and an ERA of 2.14. His ERA of 2.14 was sixth in the American League, better than the ERAs of Hall of Famers Chief Bender (2.21) and Rube Marquard (2.50). During January 1914, Boehling signed a one-year contract to continue playing with the Senators. Boehling played 34 games during the 1914 season, and finished the season with a 12–8 record and a 3.03 ERA.

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  #166  
Old 10-12-2022, 03:12 AM
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Default Carl Cashion

Player #71: Jay Carl Cashion. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1911-1914. 12 wins and 1 save in 4 MLB seasons. In 1912 he posted a 10-6 record with a 3.17 ERA in 170.1 innings pitched.

"...Carl Cashion... is perhaps the biggest man in the major leagues, but being all muscle and sinew, without as much flesh on him as a spring chicken, is fast nonetheless, and is something of an athletic phenomenon. This big youngster is a natural batter. He has hit .300 to date..." - Sporting Life of May 18, 1912, while Cashion was still primarily a pitcher, after Carl had hit .324 in 1911 in the majors and over .300 in the minors.

"Another boxman who had Rusie's speed, but in this instance never gained control, was Carl Cashion, a giant tried out by Griffith a few years ago. Cash had so much stuff that it was hard to follow the pill as it flashed across the plate. The pity is that he was unable to tame it..." - Baseball Magazine in 1919

Carl Cashion pitched four seasons in the big leagues, most notably going 10-6 for the 1912 Washington Senators, a team on which Walter Johnson won 33 games. Cashion was three years younger than Walter. Carl occasionally played the outfield for the Senators, and when his pitching arm gave out, he became a minor league outfielder. Carl made his major league debut not long after he turned 20.

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  #167  
Old 10-13-2022, 03:05 AM
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Default Chick Gandil

Player #72A: Charles A. "Chick" Gandil. First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1912-1915. 1,176 hits and 151 stolen bases in 9 MLB seasons. 1917 World Series champion. He led AL first baseman in fielding percentage 4 times. He debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 1910. His best season was 1913 with Washington as he posted a .363 OBP with 72 RBI's and 22 stolen bases in 603 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Chicago White Sox in 1917-1919. He is best known as the "ringleader" of the players involved in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

Gandil's SABR biography reviews his time in Washington: Gandil got off to a solid start in 1912 (for Montreal in the Eastern League), batting .309 in 29 games, after which he was traded to the Washington Senators. This time, the big first sacker was ready for the major leagues, and in 117 games with Washington he hit .305 and led American League first basemen in fielding percentage.

Gandil was highly regarded by Washington. In 1914 Senators manager Clark Griffith wrote, “He proved to be ‘The Missing Link’ needed to round out my infield. We won seventeen straight games after he joined the club, which shows that we must have been strengthened a good bit somewhere. I class Gandil ahead of McInnes [sic] as he has a greater range in scooping up throws to the bag and is just as good a batsman.”

Gandil continued to perform well with Washington both at bat and in the field. In 1913 he hit for a career-high average of .318. He was also tough and durable, averaging 143 games during his three full seasons with Washington, despite knee problems that haunted him throughout his career. When asked by a reporter after the 1912 season what his greatest asset was, he replied “plenty of grit.” He reportedly used the heaviest lumber in the American League, as his bats weighed between 53 and 56 ounces.

Gandil was sold to Cleveland before the 1916 season for a reported price of $7,500. One of the main reasons for the sale was supposedly the fact that Gandil was a chain smoker, occasionally lighting up between innings, which annoyed Griffith.

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  #168  
Old 10-14-2022, 03:11 AM
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Default Clark Griffith helping to start the AL -- Part 1

Player #28G: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

How the Old Fox helped start the American League -- Part 1: (Account taken from Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.) In September of 1900, Griffith, Chicago Colts owner Charles Comiskey and businessman/baseball entrepreneur Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson met in a Chicago tavern, the West Side's Polk Street Cafe. Johnson had founded the Western League, enjoying some success, but carrying dreams of developing it into another major league. For that, he'd need major league-caliber players, and the National League was not about to give up its primary product, its talented players. At first, Johnson had tried to reach a profitable compromise with the National League. He had two requests. First, he wanted to limit the number of players that the National League could "draft" from American League squads. The best American League teams were simply being dismantled in short order because of the contract between the leagues that said the National League could purchase American League players, no bargaining necessary. Also, Johnson wanted to move American League franchises into vacated National League cities, including Washington.

The National League denied his demands, however, setting the stage for a showdown.

Griffith was part of the meeting because of his connection to Comiskey, aa well as his role as vice president of the Ball Players Protective Association, a precursor to the modern Major League Baseball Players Association, or the union. For example, he had spent the preceding months attempting to get the National League to increase its maximum salary from $2,400 to $3,000. And he wanted the league to pay for player uniforms. He was interested in joining Johnson and Comiskey on one condition -- that the American League pursue major-league status. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

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  #169  
Old 10-15-2022, 03:07 AM
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Default Clark Griffith helping to start the AL -- Part 2

Player #28G: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

How the Old Fox helped start the American League -- Part 2: Griffith was the trio's (Griffith along with Comiskey and Ban Johnson) link to the players, and by the time the winter was over, he had acquired written pledges from forty National Leaguers. His next step was approaching the National League's power brokers, demanding that they release players from their binding contracts. He carried with him a petition from the players, demanding their freedom, handing it to National League vice president A.H. Soden. Soon after, however, Griffith noticed his petition still in Soden's pocket. The V.P. had reneged on his agreement to distribute it to the National League owners, and Griffith was through with being diplomatic. He called Johnson and Comiskey with the news, yelling into the phone: "There's going to be a new major league if you can get the backing. Because I can get the players!" Then he went public with the new league's intentions, as well as what he felt were transgressions by the National League against players, preventing them from bettering their own situation.

The eight-team American League was formed in time for the start of the 1901 season, with Griffith managing and pitching in Chicago. He won twenty-four games for the first American League pennant winners, who beat out teams in Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., for the title. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

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  #170  
Old 10-16-2022, 03:23 AM
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Default Walter Johnson

Player #54E: 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.

Here we begin Deveaux's account of Walter's stormy 1914-1915 off-season: As if the news from overseas wasn't gloomy enough, from Coffeyville, Kansas, came another ominous threat during the following winter. The rebel Federal League, an offshoot of a players' revolt against penurious owners, had formed the previous year. As had been the case when the American League was organized a decade and a half earlier, players now had some bargaining power -- they were able to shake off the shackles of baseball's reserve system and accept more money from a competing league for their services.

In the midst of this more advantageous environment, from a players' standpoint, Senators president Ben Minor hit upon the bright idea that Walter Johnson would have to take a cut in pay. His 28-18 did not warrant a $12,000 salary, and Minor resolved to write to his star hurler to address the matter. Clark Griffith nearly had a coronary and begged Minor not to do this. The Old Fox knew that the Chicago Federals were making a bid for Johnson's signature on a contract, and knew that Minor's ultimatum would be the straw to break Barney's back. Minor mailed his letter anyway. Johnson wrote back in mid-November, 1914, stating that he was looking for nothing less than $16,000 a year for three years, plus a $6,000 signing bonus.

Ben Minor believed rumors that the Federal League was about to go under, and that Walter Johnson was going to have to play by his rules. Minor wrote back that he could pay $12,500 only, for one, two, or three years. That is what Johnson really didn't like; he would not have anyone dictate terms of his contract. Then the Chicago Federals offered the Big Train $17,500 a year and his $6,000 bonus; Walter signed, on December 3, 1914.

Clark Griffith initially reacted in anger, claiming the Nats were going to sue the star pitcher " to the end of the earth" for breach of contract. The signing, the worst thing that could have happened to the American League, let alone the Washington Baseball Club, had immediate repercussions. League president Ban Johnson arranged the sale of Philadelphia's Eddie Collins to the White Sox so the league could have a marquee player to counter the Big Train in Chicago.

It is ironic how incensed Griffith had been with the great pitcher. He himself had of course once jumped leagues and raided National League clubs at the turn of the century. The time had come for the Old Fox to live up to his sobriquet. He enlisted the help of Fred Clarke, manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who happened to be a friend of his and who lived near Independence, Kansas, not far from where the recalcitrant pitcher lived. This was the same Fred Clarke who had once been too busy to give young Walter Johnson a tryout. On behalf of the Washington owner, Clarke reminded Johnson, just turned 27, of his obligation to baseball and particularly to the fans of Washington. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

We will complete this account, when Johnson surfaces in our treatment of 1915.

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  #171  
Old 10-17-2022, 03:08 AM
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Default Deerfoot Milan

Player #39F: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography discusses the rest of his career: In 1914 Milan suffered a broken jaw and missed six weeks of the season after colliding with right fielder Danny Moeller. He rebounded to play in at least 150 games in each of the next three seasons, 1915 to 1917, and he continued to play regularly through 1921, batting a career-high .322 in 1920. Griffith appointed Milan to manage the Nats in 1922 but the job didn’t agree with him; he suffered from ulcers as the club finished sixth, and he was fired after the season amidst reports that he was “too easy-going.”

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  #172  
Old 10-18-2022, 03:09 AM
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Default 1915 Washington Senators

The 1915 Washington Senators won 85 games, lost 68, and finished in fourth place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

Deveaux runs over the 1915 season: In 1915, the Senators slipped down another notch in the standings, finishing fourth despite a slightly improved record of 85-68. Walter Johnson again led the league in a host of pitching categories and logged a 27-13 slate on his way to recording ten straight seasons with 20 or more wins. He improved his ERA to 1.55, just short of Joe Wood's league-leading 1.49. As it had been in 1912, the Senators' pitching staff was the A.L.'s best, recording a 2.31 ERA in a league which averaged 2.94. This was still the era of slap hitting, and the New York Yankees led the league with a grand total of 31 home runs.

Nineteen fifteen was also the year Ty Cobb reclaimed the stolen-base title with his career best 96, which stood as the majors' record until broken 47 years later by Maury Wills. The Senators did distinguish themselves on the basepaths in the July 19 game. They stole eight bases in one inning, the first, against Detroit, with Steve O'Neill the unfortunate catcher involved. Moeller, Milan, McBride, and Eddie Ainsmith, a fast runner for a catcher, all swiped two each. Ainsmith by this time caught only Walter Johnson -- he contended his hands needed several days to recover from the beating they took when Barney pitched.

Of note in 1915 was the August 22 game at Detroit, an 8-1 win, when the Nationals managed to score without recording a single official at-bat in the inning, the only time this has been done in major-league history. (Note: I suspect this record has been overcome by the ghost runner(s).) Following walks to Chick Gandil and Merito Acosta, Rip Williams moved the baserunners ahead with a sacrifice bunt. George McBride hit a sac fly to score Gandil, and Acosta was then picked off second base. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #173  
Old 10-19-2022, 03:17 AM
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Default Jpe Boehling

Player #70B: J. Joseph "Joe" Boehling. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1912-1916. 56 wins and 4 saves in 7 MLB seasons. His career ERA was 2.97. His best season was 1913 with Washington as he posted a 17-7 record with a 2.14 ERA in 235.1 innings pitched. He finished his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1916-1917 and 1920.

Joe Boehling pitched seven years in the majors. In his best year, he went 17-7 for the 1913 Washington Senators. He was three years younger than Hall of Fame teammate Walter Johnson. Boehling makes the list of the top ten Twins/Senators pitchers with the lowest ERA (minimum 500 innings since 1900). Joe was remembered in 2015 when the 2015 Brewers and 2015 Reds were poised to send rookie starting pitchers against each other for all three games of an upcoming series. MLB said the last time that happened was in 1913 when Joe was one of the rookie starters.

The 1915 season saw Boehling pitch a career high number of games with 40, 32 of them starts. After a 14–13 record in 1915 and a 9–11 record the following season, the Senators traded Boehling. On August 18, 1916, Boehling was traded along with Danny Moeller to the Cleveland Indians for Elmer Smith and Joe Leonard.

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  #174  
Old 10-20-2022, 03:10 AM
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Default Chick Gandil

Player #72B: Charles A. "Chick" Gandil. First baseman for the Washington Senators in 1912-1915. 1,176 hits and 151 stolen bases in 9 MLB seasons. 1917 World Series champion. He led AL first baseman in fielding percentage 4 times. He debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 1910. His best season was 1913 with Washington as he posted a .363 OBP with 72 RBI's and 22 stolen bases in 603 plate appearances. He finished his career with the Chicago White Sox in 1917-1919. He is best known as the "ringleader" of the players involved in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

Gandil's SABR biography talks to his involvement in the game-fixing scandal: Prior to his infamous involvement in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, Chick Gandil was one of the most highly regarded first basemen in the American League, both for his play on the field and his solid work ethic. In 1916 a Cleveland newspaper described Gandil as “a most likeable player, and one of excellent habits.” From 1912 to 1915 the right-handed Gandil starred for the Washington Senators, leading the club in runs batted in three times and batting .293. In the field Gandil paced American League first sackers in fielding percentage four times and in assists three times.

He continued his strong work with the Chicago White Sox from 1917 to 1919, helping the club to two American League pennants before forever tarnishing his legacy by helping to fix the 1919 World Series. Yet Gandil may have been the only banished player who gained more than he lost from the fix. After the 1919 World Series, the first baseman retired from major-league baseball, reportedly taking $35,000 in cash with him.

No one knows the full story of the Black Sox Scandal — few of the participants were willing to talk, and the whole plot was confused and poorly managed. But by all accounts Gandil, who claimed to be furious with Comiskey’s miserly ways, was one of the ringleaders. Most accounts agree that it was Gandil who approached gambler Sport Sullivan with the idea of fixing the Series, and that he also served as the players’ liaison with a second gambling syndicate that included Bill Burns (a former teammate of Gandil’s) and Abe Attell. Chick was also the go-between for all payments, and reportedly kept the lion’s share of the money. Though none of the other fixers took home more than $10,000 from the gamblers, Gandil reportedly pocketed $35,000 in payoffs.

It’s interesting to note that Gandil had a reasonably good Series. Although he hit only .233, that was the fourth best average among White Sox regulars. He was second on the team with five RBIs, and he had one game-winning hit. However, he made several suspicious plays in the field, and all but one of his seven hits came in games the fixers were trying to win, or in which they were already losing comfortably. Rumors of a Series fix began to circulate, with Gandil’s name prominently mentioned.

The next spring Gandil demanded a raise to $10,000 per year. When Comiskey balked, Gandil and his wife decided to remain in California. Flush with his financial windfall from the Series, Gandil announced his retirement from the majors, instead spending the season with outlaw teams in St. Anthony, Idaho, and Bakersfield, California. Thus Gandil was far away from the scene as investigations into the 1919 World Series began during the fall of 1920.

This thread will now experience a brief pause. Expected restart: 22 October.

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  #175  
Old 10-22-2022, 03:11 AM
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Default Clark Griffith

Player #28H: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

We begin Deveaux's summary of how the Washington lineup evolved prior to the 1915 season: Clark Griffith himself got a new contract prior to the opening of the 1915 baseball season, although it wasn't the five-year term he'd been seeking. It was for a reported $10,000 a year for three years, an increase from $7,500 a year. On the ballfield, he was contemplating changes. Chick Gandil was irresponsible, but got his hitting back on the beam with .291. But Griffith had been patient long enough with Howard Shanks and Danny Moeller in the outfield. On a scouting trip to Buffalo in search of some help, Griff made a discovery that would instead bolster the infield for a long time to come. He was at first only interested in Charlie Jamieson, an outfielder who in fact turned out to be a blue-chipper, except not before the Senators let him get away on waivers in 1917.

The Buffalo owner, David Harum, was talked not only into giving up Jamieson, but throwing in a first baseman named Joe Judge for an extra $500. . . . (We will return to this account very soon.) (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #176  
Old 10-23-2022, 03:11 AM
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Default Walter Johnson

Player #54F: 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.

We go back to pick up Deveaux's account of Johnson's contract developments before the 1915 season: There was only one thing to do (renege on his contract with the Chicago Federals and accept an offer from Washington), according to Clarke (Fred, Pittsburgh Pirates owner, Kansas resident, and Griffith emissary), and he soon had Walter in tears. It was arranged that he would meet Clark Griffith summarily. At that meeting, Johnson agreed to sign for Minor's $12,500. Walter got the Old Fox's word that he would do everything in his power to get the best pitcher in baseball a big increase after that. This is what happened, and Johnson was very satisfied the following year to sign a five-year agreement, good through the 1920 season, at $16,000 per.

For the moment, however, there was still for Clark Griffith the problem of paying Walter Johnson the $6,000 bonus he had been promised by the Chicago Federals. To match that, Griff approached Ban Johnson and tried to sell him on the importance of retaining Walter Johnson in the American League. The league's "emergency fund" had grown to nearly a half a million dollars, and surely, Grifith pleaded, this was an emergency. Despite the league's healthy resources, Ban Johnson initially turned him down.

Charles Comiskey was reportedly with Ban Johnson while the league prexy discussed the matter with Griffith over the telephone. Johnson, exasperated, asked to confer with Comiskey. Griffith impressed upon the tightwad owner that if Walter Johnson headed for Chicago, that would be formidable opposition for his White Sox. Then Comiskey agreed to cover the $6,000, and the deal was finally done. Johnson turned the bonus over to his brother Earl, who wanted to buy a garage back home in Coffeyville, Kansas.

The squabble over the contract was humiliating for Walter Johnson, as was related in the April 1915, issue of Baseball Magazine. In the detailed article, the letter Johnson had received from Nationals president Ben Minor was reprinted in its entirety. In the ten pages it took to explain why he had signed with the Federals, Walter admitted he had broken his contract with the Chicago outfit only because he felt that that would be less serious than the harm he would do to baseball in Washington, D.C. Damned if he did, and damned if he didn't, he had been humbled more than he ever could have been by actually playing the game he excelled at.

It is worth noting that it was at this time that the nickname Big Train originated. Bud Milliken wrote in the Washington Post that the "Big Train" had been prevented by "a storm" from getting to spring training on time, an allegorical reference to the pitcher's absence. Milliken reintroduced the moniker a couple of weeks later, and it got picked up by other writers. Still, it would be nearly a decade before it would be universally adopted. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #177  
Old 10-24-2022, 03:02 AM
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Default Joe Judge

Player #73A: 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.

We pick up Deveaux's account prior to the 1915 season: . . . Griffith thought Judge could hit, and that he was obviously a great fielder -- a natural ballplayer. A son of Irish immigrants and raised in one of the roughest sections of New York City, Judge would be a regular in the Washington lineup for 15 years. Nineteen fifteen was quite a remarkable year for players breaking into the major leagues --most noteworthy were Rogers Hornsby, George Sisler, Joe Judge, and another Washington player who would become another piece of a championship puzzle for the Nationals.

An industrious businessman, Clark Griffith had cultivated friendships with baseball men everywhere, and he kept an eye on developing minor-leaguers. He formed allegiances with owners, and in the spring of 1915, he loaned some money to the Petersburg club of the Virginia League. That loop folded, and in lieu of cash, Griffith was persuaded to take a promising young pitcher instead. (Again, we will return to this account very shortly.) (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #178  
Old 10-25-2022, 03:13 AM
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Default Deerfoot Milan

Player #39G: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography takes us back to his earliest days in baseball: In 1905 Clyde traveled several days to join a semipro team in Blossom, Texas, after reading an advertisement that the manager of the club was looking for players. There was a great rivalry that year between Blossom and the neighboring town of Clarksville. “Dode Criss, now with St. Louis, was the star pitcher and batter of the Clarksville team, and he surely was some hitter,” Milan told a reporter in 1910. “Well, we played Clarksville and I not only hit Criss hard, but in the ninth inning, with the bases full, I guess I made the most remarkable catch off of his bat that I have ever made in my life. I don’t know today how I ever got near the ball, but I nailed it and was a hero in Blossom thereafter.” Milan ended up joining Blossom’s rivals, but he wasn’t with the Clarksville team very long before the North Texas League disbanded in mid-July due to an epidemic of yellow fever. Milan then finished up the season in the Missouri Valley League, with the South McAlester Miners in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). . . .

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  #179  
Old 10-26-2022, 03:05 AM
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Default Sam Rice

Player #74A: 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, mother, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

We again pick up Deveaux's account prior to the 1915 season: . . . The pitcher, Edgar Charles (Sam) Rice, would be converted into an outfielder without much power, but who could place the ball and who had the speed and instinct to steal bases and cover an enormous amount of real estate. Sam Rice would be good enough to make the Hall of Fame. He and Joe Judge would be teammates for 18 years, a record which would stand until broken in 1996 by Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker of the Detroit Tigers.

Sam Rice was already 25 1/2 years old by the time he first appeared in a game for the Nats on August 7, 1915. (He relieved in a 6-2 loss to Chicago, one of his nine appearances before the idea of his pitching was abandoned the following year. The right fielder behind him in his debut was Walter Johnson, subbing for the injured Danny Moeller.) The reason for Rice's late start in baseball remained a secret for 70 years. The truth was that he had shown up for a tryout three years earlier at Galesburg, Illinois, leaving a wife and two children behind in Indiana. A number of days later, while Rice's wife and children were visiting his parents in Morocco, Indiana, a tornado struck their farm. His wife, children, parents, and sisters were all killed.

Rice drifted for about a year after that, and then joined the navy. He became a star pitcher and, after seeing actual combat in Mexico, returned to pitch for Petersburg of the Virginia League during furloughs. He did so well that Clark Griffith thought it fit to accept his contract from the Petersburg owner as repayment of the old debt. Edgar Rice got a new name right then. Clark Griffith forgot Rice's given name and told a newspaper reporter that he thought it was Sam, and the name stuck. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.) (Note: This account of Rice acquiring his nickname is not universally accepted. There is evidence that the nickname existed prior to Rice joining Washington.)

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  #180  
Old 10-27-2022, 03:18 AM
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Default Howie Shanks

Player #75A: Howard S. "Howie" Shanks. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1912-1922. 1,440 hits and 185 stolen bases in 14 MLB seasons. His best season was 1921 with Washington as he posted an OBP of .370 with 81 runs scored and 69 RBIs in 647 plate appearances. He finished his career with the New York Yankees in 1925.

Shanks' SABR biography details his time with Washington: The Washington Senators drafted him in the September 1 Rule 5 draft. Mike Kahoe is credited with the actual signing; he worked as Washington’s main scout at the time. The Senators anticipated using Shanks in a utility role–or maybe not to use him at all. McAleer hailed from Youngstown and (it was written nearly a year later) he drafted Shanks to keep him from going to another team and then return him to Youngstown in the spring–in other words, to “cover him up.” But McAleer became a part-owner of the Boston Red Sox and Clark Griffith bought into the Senators. “When Griff looked over his youngsters this spring, he could not see anything the matter with Shanks except inexperience, so decided to keep him.”

His debut came on May 9, 1912, pinch-hitting for Dixie Walker, but made an out. Shanks got more work than initially expected (he ultimately played in 116 games) and by early August was said by the Washington Post to be “playing the best left field in the league.” He was a gamer, for sure. In the springtime he’d been beaned in batting practice and been out for a week or two. When he was hit again–hard–in the head on August 1, by a George Mullin fastball, “he fought the players of the two clubs who ran to the plate and tried to carry him. It required the services of about four athletes to hold Shanks’ legs and arms, while four others did the actual lugging.” He was dizzy in the dressing room, but recovered later in the day.

The Red Sox won the pennant, by 14 games over the Senators, who beat out the third-place Athletics by two games. Shanks drove in 48 runs and scored 25; he hit for a .231 average (.305 on-base percentage). He was a very good fielder who earned his keep with defense. Griffith later said that “the greatest play I ever saw was pulled off by one of my own boys–young Howard Shanks. That kid actually came in from the outfield, gathered up an error, carried it into the infield and converted it into a double play. I might add in passing that the stunt retired the side, and saved the game for us.” Shanks was playing left field that day against the White Sox, but he recorded a putout at second base, tagging baserunner Harry Lord and then threw to home plate in time to get Morrie Rath trying to score. (We will return to this account when Shanks next surfaces in our progression.)

(Aside: For those golfers among us, you have to love this guy's name!)

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  #181  
Old 10-28-2022, 03:12 AM
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Default 1916 Washington Senators

The 1916 Washington Senators won 76 games, lost 77, and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

Deveaux takes on the 1916 season: The presence of Joe Judge precipitated the departure of Chick Gandil, who was sold to the Indians in February 1916. Later in the season, Danny Moeller and pitcher Joe Boehling were traded to the Indians for outfielder Elmer Smith and third baseman Joe Leonard, neither of whom was to make a big splash in Washington. Smith would be sold back to the Indians less than a year later and would enjoy a fine 10-year career.

Walter Johnson beat the Yankees 3-2 in 11 innings on Opening Day, April 12, the third opening-day win over the Yankees for Johnson. (The Yanks would beat the jinx two years later with a 6-3 decision at National Park.) After a good start, the Senators tailed off and finished 76-77, good enough for only seventh place in a very tight field, 14 1/2 games behind the champions, the Red Sox.

Clark Griffith's own standpat stance was starting to impact on his team's performance. This was not as serious as what was happening in Philadelphia, however, where Connie Mack, after winning the World Championship in 1913 and reaching the World Series again in 1914, had sold off his stars. In '16, the A's sank to an incredible 54 1/2 games behind the pennant-winning Red Sox; they won just 36 games and lost a whopping 117. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #182  
Old 10-29-2022, 03:08 AM
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Default Dorf Ainsmith

Player #61B: Edward W. "Dorf" Ainsmith was born Edward Anshmedt. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1910-1918. 707 hits and 22 home runs in 15 MLB seasons. His best season was 1919 with the Detroit Tigers as he posted a .354 OBP with 42 runs scored and 35 RBIs in 419 plate appearances. He finished his MLB career with the New York Giants in 1924. He later managed the Rockford Peaches in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Back to Ainsmith's SABR biographical info for an account of his post-playing days: After the 1924 season, he organized a tour of ballplayers to Japan where they played a number of successful exhibition games. Buoyed by that success, he decided to organize a tour of women players to the Far East next, partnering with Mary O'Gara, manager of the Philadelphia Bobbies, one of the most prominent female teams of the period, adding a few players to her core team. Eddie and his wife, Loretta, accompanied the team to Japan, as did former big league pitcher Earl Hamilton and his wife. However, there was dissension on the team, as both O'Gara and Ainsmith wanted to be the manager, and players split into factions. Once in Japan, the ladies could not hold their own against the teams of Japanese men they faced, even with Ainsmith and Hamilton helping them on the field, and the trip turned into a financial disaster as crowds stayed away. The initial promoters bailed out and the team moved on to Korea, where it split in half. Ainsmith and Hamilton convinced three of the better female players to stay with them and recruited four locals to complete the team, hoping to raise some money by arranging their own fixtures, as they did not have any money left to pay their return fare to the States. For her part, O'Gara went back to Kobe with the rest of the squad and unsuccessfully asked the local U.S. Consulate to bring them home; she eventually convinced a couple of local expatriate businessmen to give them the money to return, but Ainsmith's group was left stranded. He found enough money to get himself and his wife home, but left behind the three young female players. When the girls' families in the States were finally able to raise the money, one of the players, Leona Kearns, a 17-year-old left-handed pitcher, was washed overboard and died when the Empress of Asia was hit by a huge wave when she was on the deck.

In spite of his role and less than honorable conduct in the tragedy, Ainsmith continued to work around baseball for many years. When (Walter) Johnson became the Senators' manager in the late 1920s, he brought him in as a coach, although it is not clear if he ever officially was listed as such. He also worked as an umpire, although again, it is not clear where exactly. He later managed the Rockford Peaches and Fort Wayne Daisies in the AAGPBL, a rather sadly ironic turn of events.

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  #183  
Old 10-30-2022, 03:20 AM
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Default Needles Bentley

Player #76A: John "Needles" Bentley. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1913-1916. 46 wins and 8 saves in 9 MLB seasons. His most productive season was 1924 with the New York Giants as he posted a 16-5 record with a 3.78 ERA in 188 innings pitched. Was a good hitter with a career OBP of .316 in 616 plate appearances. Gave up World Series winning-ground ball single to McNeely in the 1924 "pebble" game.

Bentley's SABR biography sums up his role in one of Washington's greatest moments and the apex of his career as the "Babe Ruth of the Minors": The “Pebble” game. After 85 years it remains one of the most memorable games in the history of the World Series. On October 10, 1924, at Washington’s Griffith Stadium, in the seventh game of the World Series between the New York Giants and Washington Senators, the Senators’ Earl McNeely came to bat in the bottom of the 12th inning with the score tied, 3-3, runners on first and second, and one out. Moments later, his routine grounder fortuitously struck a pebble and bounced high over the head of Giants’ third baseman Freddie Lindstrom, and the Senators scored the winning run for their only World Series victory. Fittingly, the winning pitcher that day, in what would also be his only World Series victory that year, was the universally beloved Big Train, Walter Johnson. For New York, the losing pitcher was a 29-year-old left-hander named John Needles Bentley. Everybody called him Jack.

Jack Bentley remembered that game for the rest of his life; yet surprisingly, he recalled it with fondness, not regret. In October 1955, when he was 60 years old, Bentley told a reporter, “There I was, pitted against Walter Johnson, my boyhood idol. The whole country wanted him to win a Series. When we lost, I felt lower than a snake’s belly in a rut. But as I walked off the field and heard all those people hollering, I was a little bit pleased that I had brought so much happiness to so many people … by losing! My own family was rooting for Washington.” . . .

. . . On January 27, 1917, Jack Dunn, owner and manager of the International League’s Baltimore Orioles, had not yet finished assembling the core group of players who would soon make his team legendary. Two and a half years earlier, in July 1914, with the Orioles in first place by 5½ games but in desperate financial straits because of competition from the Federal League’s Baltimore Terrapins, Dunn had sold pitchers Babe Ruth and Ernie Shore and catcher Ben Egan to the Boston Red Sox for $20,000. After the subtractions from the roster, the Orioles had collapsed, finishing 21 games behind. Now Dunn was rebuilding, and on January 27 he announced that he had traded shortstop Sam Crane, in Dunn’s estimation “easily the best shortstop in the minor leagues last season,” to the Senators for catcher Alva Williams, outfielder Turner Barber, and Bentley. As it turned out, Dunn didn’t want Bentley to pitch; instead, having witnessed Bentley’s batting prowess in Minneapolis, Dunn installed him as the Baltimore Orioles’ starting first baseman.

It proved a very prescient move. Beginning in 1919, the Orioles won seven consecutive International League pennants, and for three of those years Bentley, who by then considered himself a hitter who occasionally pitched, put on one of the most dazzling offensive demonstrations the league had ever seen. In his first two seasons, 1917 and 1919 (he was in the US Army in 1918), with the exception of a lone pitching appearance in his first year, Bentley played exclusively at first base and in the outfield: In 185 games, he posted averages of .333 batting and .510 slugging. Then he really caught fire. From 1920 to 1922, Bentley’s numbers were staggering, as he batted .378 in 439 games, scored 340 runs, drove in 399, and had a slugging average of an astounding .590. In both 1920 (161) and 1921 (120), Bentley led the league in RBIs; in 1921, he won the league Triple Crown, batting .412 (the league’s highest season average in the 20th century), with 24 home runs and 120 RBIs. His 246 hits that season remain the league’s single-season record.

Yet Bentley continued to pitch when needed, and those results, too, were staggering. From 1920 through 1922, Bentley pitched in 56 games and produced a 41-6 record, a winning percentage of .872: in both 1921 (.923) and 1922 (.867), he led the league in that category. In 1920 (2.10) and 1922 (1.73), Bentley also led the league in ERA, and over three seasons his ERA was an astounding 2.07. During those years, by virtue of his performance both at the plate and on the mound, the press bestowed on Bentley the moniker Babe Ruth of the Minors.

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  #184  
Old 10-31-2022, 03:39 AM
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Default Eddie Foster

Player #77A: Edward C. "Eddie" Foster. Third baseman with the Washington Senators in 1912-1919. 1,490 hits and 195 stolen bases in 13 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .329. He debuted with the New York Highlanders in 1910. His first season in Washington was one of his best as he posted a .345 OBP with 98 runs scored and 27 stolen bases in 682 plate appearances. His final season was with the St. Louis Browns in 1922-1923.

Foster's SABR biography on his debut season: Foster didn’t get into any games for Washington in 1911, but made the club in 1912, played in every one of the 154 games, and hit for an impressive .285. He had, however, been converted into a third baseman, where Washington had more of a need. In the first few weeks of the new season, he made his mark – particularly against the New Yorkers. “With his batting and fielding, no one person has helped to keep the Highlanders in last place more than third baseman Eddie Foster, of the Washingtons. And the Highlanders had him once, too.” Indeed, the Highlanders could have pulled him back from Rochester but had elected to sell his contract to Clark Griffith’s Washington club.

Foster drove in 70 runs, which remained his career best. His three-run inside-the-park home run on April 27 off New York’s Ray Caldwell came in the bottom of the sixth, neither team having scored, and was “a resounding Rooseveltian rap,” in the words of Sporting Life editor Paul W. Eaton. In his 13 years in the majors, Foster hit six home runs.

Near the end of the season, none other than American League president Ban Johnson in effect called Foster the rookie of the year: “It is a delicate thing for me to pick a player as the best youngster in the American League, but I feel that Foster deserves the distinction.” With a late-season boost, though, teammate Chick Gandil outpaced Foster.

Note: Rorschach's ghost appears on the back of this otherwise blank-backed card.

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  #185  
Old 11-01-2022, 03:13 AM
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Default The Old Fox

Player #28I: Clark C. "The Old Fox" Griffith. Pitcher for the Washington Senators in 1912-1914. Debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1891. 237 wins and 8 saves in 20 MLB seasons. Was 1898 MLB ERA leader. Managed the Chicago White Stockings (1901-1902), the New York Highlanders (1903-1908), the Cincinnati Reds (1909-1911), and the Washington Senators (1912-1920). Was principal owner of the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. In 1946, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

We go back to Deveaux's account of Griffith's early days in baseball: Griffith had developed a sore arm at the end of the previous season (1891), and no National League team bid for his services, so he found himself back in the minors at Tacoma, Washington. He rehabilitated his arm and had great success at Tacoma. His team was so strong, though, that the league ended up disbanding as a result. The Tacoma players hadn't been getting a paycheck for weeks anyway, so from there Griffith persuaded several of his teammates to follow him to Missoula, Montana; the townspeople there had offered to pay them Tacoma salaries to represent their team in the Montana State League, an outlaw association which pirated players from wherever it could. Missoula was a wild mining town full of gambling joints and saloons crowded along the one main street. In this atmosphere, Griffith became a hero, but it wouldn't be enough for a man who had already tasted the rewards of playing in the best leagues.

There were no offers coming Clark Griffith's way in 1893 either, so he headed for the west coast, where he joined Oakland of the tough Pacific Coast League. The star second baseman at Oakland was young Joe Cantillon. Again, Griffith was victimized by the instability of the minor-league baseball of the times. Unpaid for several weeks, he led an insurrection against the Oakland owners. The players refused to take the field for a game at San Francisco, and this precipitated a chain of events that led to the disbanding of the entire league.

Griffith had become close friends with Cantillon, and the two drifted up the California coast where they found work as, of all things, actors in a traveling vaudeville show. Griffith put his frontier background to good use, playing the part of an Indian who was shot, twice a night, by the six-shooting Cantillon. In late August, the young pitcher got his reprieve when the major leagues beckoned. James A. Hart, who had signed Griffith to his first contract with Milwaukee, had become president of the National League club at Chicago. Hart needed pitching help for his hapless Colts, and telegraphed Griffith, who proved of little use. Starting but two games, he was hit solidly. The 23-year-old righty made two relief appearances, one of them in Washington, his first appearance in the city where he would leave his most indelible mark. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #186  
Old 11-02-2022, 01:21 AM
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Default John Henry

Player #62B: John P. Henry. Catcher for the Washington Senators in 1910-1917. 397 hits and 55 stolen bases in 9 MLB seasons. He ended his career with the Boston Braves in 1918. His best season was 1916 with the Washington Senators as he posted a .364 OBP with 46 RBIs in 376 plate appearances.

John Henry, went to Amherst College and (through 2008) holds the record for the most at-bats by a major leaguer out of the school. After his major league days he continued to play in the minors through 1923. He coached Cornell University in 1920.

In the majors he was a defensive expert without much of a batting average or much power, but he did draw walks and could steal a base.

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  #187  
Old 11-03-2022, 03:15 AM
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Default The Big Train

Player #54G: 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 addresses a development in 1916: Boston had a southpaw who was providing worthy opposition to Walter Johnson as the league's best pitcher. While Johnson, with his easy whiplike sidearmer, remained overpowering in 1916 -- leading in wins (25), strikeouts, complete games and innings pitched -- he also lost 20 games for the second time in his career. Thirteen of those defeats were by a single run, and four were of the disheartening 1-0 variety. Meanwhile, the big raw youngster of the Red Sox, George Herman "Babe" Ruth, led the American League in earned average, starts, and shutouts (nine, still the single-season league record for a lefthander).

Ruth would also establish a dominance over the Big Train when the two were the pitchers of record. Ruth would win the first six matchups, including a 13-inning barnburner. Within a few short years, however, American League batters would be rejoicing when Ruth would be converted into the greatest offensive phenomenon ever to grace a baseball diamond. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #188  
Old 11-04-2022, 03:09 AM
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Default Pinch McBride

Player #56D: George F. "Pinch" McBride. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1908-1920. 1,203 hits, 7 home runs, and 133 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. Has the lowest batting average of any player with 5,000 MLB at-bats. Managed the Washington Senators in 1921 but was struck in the face by a line drive during batting practice and forced to retire.

. . . Never strong from the plate, McBride did not hit for either average or power. He compiled a paltry .218 lifetime batting average with just seven home runs, and never collected more than 26 extra base hits in any season. His most productive and consistent offensive seasons in the AL were from 1908 through 1911, during which he averaged between .230 and .235 a season. His hitting declined in the years following, as his average dipped to only .203 and .204 in 1914 and 1915, respectively, while still playing full time. Relegated to part-time duty after that, McBride mustered only a .185 mark over his final four seasons. Like many bad hitters during the Deadball Era, McBride acquired a reputation as a good hitter in the clutch. Incredibly, F.C. Lane of Baseball Magazine once declared that there were “few worse men for the pitcher to face with men on base than this same quiet, flawless fielder …” . . .

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  #189  
Old 11-05-2022, 03:40 AM
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Default Deerfoot Milan

Player #39H: J. Clyde "Deerfoot" Milan. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1907-1922. 2,100 hits and 495 stolen bases in 16 MLB seasons. 1912 and 1913 AL stolen base leader, including a then record 88 in 1912. His career OBP was .353. Managed the Washington Senators in 1922. His best season was probably 1911 for the Washington Senators as he posted a .395 OBP with 58 stolen bases and 109 runs scored in 705 plate appearances.

Milan's SABR biography: . . . Milan began the 1906 season by hitting .356 for Shawnee (Indian Territory) of the South Central League, but the team again disbanded before Milan received his pay. Disgusted with professional baseball, he was thinking about quitting when he received an invitation to join Wichita of the Western Association. “I felt none too sure that I could make good there, for the company was much faster,” Clyde recalled. That partial season in Wichita saw him hit just .211, but he returned in 1907 and batted .304 with 38 stolen bases in 114 games, attracting the attention of Washington manager Joe Cantillon, who had seen him in a spring exhibition. That summer Cantillon dispatched injured catcher Cliff Blankenship to Wichita with orders to purchase Milan’s contract, then go to Weiser, Idaho, to scout and possibly sign Walter Johnson. In later years Clyde loved to relate Blankenship’s remarks during his contract signing: “He told me that he was going out to Idaho to look over some young phenom. ‘It looks like a wild goose chase and probably a waste of train fare to look over that young punk,’ Blankenship said.” Milan cost the Nats $1,000, while Johnson was secured for a $100 bonus plus train fare. . . .

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  #190  
Old 11-06-2022, 01:11 AM
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Default Ray Morgan

Player #65B: Raymond C. "Ray" Morgan. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1911-1918. 630 hits and 88 stolen bases in 8 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .348. His best season was 1913 as he posted a .369 OBP with 19 stolen bases in 565 plate appearances. He has an odd link to Babe Ruth: in 1917, he led off a game by drawing a 4-pitch walk from Boston starter Ruth, who was then ejected from the game by the home plate umpire. Ruth was replaced by Ernie Shore and Morgan was thrown out attempting to steal on Shore's first pitch. Shore then retired the next 26 batters he faced. Shore's "perfect game" was eventually down-graded to a "combined no-hitter" by subsequent revisions in the MLB criteria.

Morgan's SABR biography: During the 1913 season, he began to draw Griffith’s ire, who didn’t like Morgan’s frequent trips home to Baltimore by automobile to socialize with his friends. Travel by car, even the 30 or so miles between Washington and Baltimore, could be an adventure in those days. Morgan also developed a reputation as a fun-loving cut-up on road trips. He was an accomplished piano player, able to accompany any song his teammates wanted to sing. He’d break out in song by himself in hotel rooms or on trains “in that high tenor of his,” often in conjunction with a teammate or two. When these performances came late at night, they surely would not have pleased Griffith, a stickler for training rules.

Spring training in 1914 was the first of several to which Morgan reported well over his playing weight. Although a March 24 report praised his pre-season hitting, it noted that “Morgan is still considerably overweight.” He again started at second base on opening day. Morgan “Chevrolets to Baltimore and back twice a week,” the Washington Times wrote. Driving a car still was unusual enough that when Germany Schaefer, his roommate on the road, joined Morgan as an automobile owner, it was news. So was Griffith’s concern for his player’s safety.

The concern proved warranted. On April 10, Morgan’s auto collided with a Baltimore trolley car. He and two friends were on their way back to Washington. Morgan and another man were thrown from the automobile. All three men were shaken up but uninjured. “The machine was so badly damaged that it had to be abandoned,” a newspaper reported.

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  #191  
Old 11-07-2022, 03:15 AM
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Default Sam Rice

Player #74B: 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.

Here is Deveaux's account of Rice's development beginning in 1916: The Senators' offence took another step backwards in 1916, putting the Nats in that regard pretty much on a par with the pathetic A's at the bottom of the league. In a case not unlike Ruth's, the Nats were taking notice of the hitting skills of pitcher Sam Rice. Washington third baseman Edie Foster, for one, was convinced that Rice, with his flat stroke, should give hitting a try. Rice himself became convinced he should when pitcher George "Hooks" Dauss of the Tigers, a notoriously weak hitter, banged a game-winning triple off him.

Given some time in the outfield, Sam Rice hit .299 in nearly 200 at-bats and was on his way to his Hall of Fame induction in 1963. A model of consistency over 19 years with the Senators, Rice would never hit below .294. (He played one final year with the Indians in 1934 and hit .293 at age 44.) He was the classic contact-type hitter who practically never struck out; he did so only 275 times in 20 years. He had no power but hustled enough to hit a good number of doubles and triples; his career high in homers was six, and his life-time total 34. Of Sam Rice's 33 round trippers as a Senator, not one in 19 years was hit over the fence at home, testimony to National Park's disheartening dimensions. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #192  
Old 11-08-2022, 03:19 AM
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Default Howie Shanks

Player #75B: Howard S. "Howie" Shanks. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1912-1922. 1,440 hits and 185 stolen bases in 14 MLB seasons. His best season was 1921 with Washington as he posted an OBP of .370 with 81 runs scored and 69 RBIs in 647 plate appearances. He finished his career with the New York Yankees in 1925.

We go back to Shanks' SABR biography: He was rated an “ordinary hitter” but was “one of the few outfielders who frequently take part in infield plays” because he learned the art of positioning better than most. Numerous stories over his early years–accurately or otherwise–rated him as tops among left fielders in the game.

Shanks improved to .254 in 1913, despite what at first seemed like a broken foot (but was not) and then a turned ankle in mid-September. This season was the closest the Senators came to contending during his 11 seasons with Washington; they finished in second place, 6 1/2 games behind the Athletics. After the season, the famous Bonesetter Reese of Youngstown found a dislocated tendon in Shanks’s ankle and manipulated it back into position. (We will return to this account when Shanks next surfaces in our progression.)

This thread will now pause. Expected restart: 23 November

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  #193  
Old 11-08-2022, 10:28 AM
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Until this informative thread makes a return, I leave you all with an incredibly large scan of a slim and trim Howard Shanks M101-4 Sporting News card with tougher to read, and less informative, scribbling on the back.

The incredibly large scan does have one side benefit - it is providing a better view of the enormous hat the woman spectator is wearing.

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Last edited by brianp-beme; 11-08-2022 at 01:15 PM. Reason: corrected ACC designation on my card
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  #194  
Old 11-23-2022, 03:22 AM
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Default 1917 Washington Senators

Thanks to Brian for the Howie Shanks card, which memorializes a player who will always have special appeal to me because his name reminds me of my golf game. Meanwhile,

The 1917 Washington Senators won 74 games, lost 79, and finished in fifth place in the American League. They were managed by Clark Griffith and played home games at National Park.

The Senators this season hit only four home runs for the entire campaign, second only to the 1908 Chicago White Sox in the modern era, who hit three. First baseman Joe Judge accounted for 50% of them, with two home runs for the season.

Deveaux leads in to the 1917 season: Attendance was down in Washington in 1917, where wartime seems to have had a particularly sobering effect. The Senators lost over $40,000 and could not have stayed afloat without the support of the men who sat on the board of directors. The franchise continued to operate because of loans the directors were able to personally underwrite. On the field, things were nearly as grim. The club climbed to fifth in 1917, but actually dropped two games off the previous year's pace.

Sam Rice led the offence, cracking the .300 mark during his first full season as a hitter and finishing at .302. George McBride, the regular shortstop since 1908, was replaced adequately by Howard Shanks, an outfielder with the Senators since 1912. Shanks' substitute in the outfield was Mike Menosky, from a place called Glen Campbell, PA., who hit .258. Joe Judge improved from a .220 hitter as a rookie to .285 in his sophomore year at age 23, but in July he broke his leg as a result of a sliding mishap.

Clyde Milan managed to improve to .294 after an off year in '16, and was joined by his brother Horace, who had been brought up for a second cup of coffee. Between the '15 and '17 seasons, Horace Milan got 32 hits in an even 100 at-bats, for a cool .320 career average frozen forever in time. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #195  
Old 11-23-2022, 08:28 PM
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George, welcome back! I truly missed your daily posts about the Senators.

And, in further recognition of your mention that in 1917, in his first year as a regular position player, Sam Rice broke the .300 mark, here are my two favorite 1917 Sam Rice rookie cards:
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Seeking very scarce/rare cards for my Sam Rice master collection, e.g., E210 York Caramel Type 2 (upgrade), 1931 W502, W504 (upgrade), W572 sepia, W573, W575-1 E. S. Rice version, 1922 Haffner's Bread, 1922 Keating Candy, 1922 Witmor Candy Type 2 (vertical back), 1926 Sports Co. of Am. with ad & blank backs. Also T216 Kotton "NGO" card of Hugh Jennings. Also 1917 Merchants Bakery & Weil Baking cards of WaJo.
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  #196  
Old 11-23-2022, 09:24 PM
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I just saw this thread and Coincidentally just watched this YouTube video on antiques roadshow.

https://youtu.be/noiJQZ3zzrk
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My Red Schoendienst collection- https://imageevent.com/lucas00/redsc...enstcollection

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Original Type 1/Press photos etc for sale- https://imageevent.com/lucas00/photosforsale
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  #197  
Old 11-24-2022, 04:01 AM
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Default 1867 Baseball

Thank you, Val, for the sharp Rice RCs. And thank you, Lucas, for the video showing an (very) early Washington baseball pin. In response to Lucas' contribution, I will defer today's scheduled segment and digress briefly:

Washington was more active and important to the early development of baseball than most people might think. For example, it was the Nationals, a team of "government clerks", who went on the first "western swing" in 1867, two years before the Red Stockings' more famous tour. They went undefeated, including beating the Cincinnatis with Harry Wright in the lineup, 53-10, until shockingly they lost to the Forest City Club from Rockford, IL, a team of schoolboys, 29-23. The winning pitcher was seventeen-year-old A. G. Spalding, a Rockford grocery clerk.

Shirley Povich continues: The defeat of the Nationals was as sensational as their string of victories had been. Unfeelingly, the Chicago newspapers taunted the Nationals for that defeat by the Rockford schoolboys and predicted a victory the next day for their own "Champions of the West," the Chicago Excelsiors, who were to be the Nationals final opponents on the tour. The Excelsiors earlier in the month had twice defeated the Forest City conquerors of the Nationals, and in anticipation of further humiliation of the Washington club, the largest crowd ever to witness a baseball game in the West paid the admission fee of half a dollar.

Humiliation was the word for what took place that day, but it was the Excelsiors, not the Nationals, who were humbled. The Nationals took an early 7-0 lead to demoralize the Excelsiors completely and give them a sound beating by a score of 49 to 4. It was a glorious finish to the tour of the Nationals.

And then scandal broke briefly. The Chicago Tribune flatly accused the Washington club of "throwing" the Rockford game for betting purposes before taking on the Excelsiors. In high outrage, president Jones of the Nationals, accompanied by Arthur Pue Gorman, stomped into the Tribune office and compelled a retraction of the charge. (The Washington Senators by Shirley Povich.)

(By the way, Gorman would go on to become a senator from Maryland and give impetus to the use of the nickname "Senators" for future Nationals teams.)

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  #198  
Old 11-25-2022, 03:13 AM
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Default Eddie Foster

Player #77B: Edward C. "Eddie" Foster. Third baseman with the Washington Senators in 1912-1919. 1,490 hits and 195 stolen bases in 13 MLB seasons. His career OBP was .329. He debuted with the New York Highlanders in 1910. His first season in Washington was one of his best as he posted a .345 OBP with 98 runs scored and 27 stolen bases in 682 plate appearances. His final season was with the St. Louis Browns in 1922-1923.

Deveaux takes up Foster's greatest ability: It was during this period (beginning in 1912) that Griffith developed the famous "run-and-hit" play, which mainly featured the 5'6 1/2" Eddie "Kid" Foster, who was very adept at placing his hits. Griffith insisted Foster was even better than the former crony he had just let go, Willie Keeler. Instead of employing the hit-and-run, then already in vogue, it was assumed that with Kid Foster at the plate, any Senator baserunner would be going, so skilled was Foster at placing the ball where he wanted.

Foster hit .285 in his rookie year and led the league in at-bats, an accomplishment he would replicate three more times. Not only was he a complete player, but he had great endurance as well, missing no games in four of his first five seasons in Washington. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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  #199  
Old 11-26-2022, 03:03 AM
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Default Bert Gallia

Player #78: Melvin A. "Bert" Gallia. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1912-1917. 66 wins and 10 saves in 9 MLB seasons. His career ERA was 3.14. His best season may have been 1915 with Washington as he posted a record of 17-11 with a 2.29 ERA in 259.2 innings pitched. His final season was 1920 with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Bert Gallia pitched nine years in the majors, mostly in the American League and primarily for the Washington Senators, for whom he won 17 games two years in a row.

Gallia was the first American League pitcher to hit three batters in the same inning, when he plunked batsmen thrice in the first frame of a June 20, 1913 game, while pitching for the Washington Senators.

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Old 11-27-2022, 03:09 AM
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Default Harry Harper

Player #79: Harry C. Harper. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1913-1919. 57 wins and 5 saves in 10 MLB seasons. His best season was 1918 with Washington as he posted an 11-10 record with a 2.18 ERA in 244 innings pitched. His final season was 1923 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Harper's SABR biography presents Harper's unusual contract and his eventual transition from Wahington to Boston: In January 1914 a story about Harper ran nationally. He returned his contract because it had omitted a clause on which his mother had insisted, excusing him from playing baseball on Sundays. Semipro ball on Sundays was apparently acceptable; Davis had first discovered Harper playing on a Sunday. The only other ballplayer with a clause excusing him from working on Sundays was Christy Mathewson. . . .

. . . Washington Post sportswriter J.V. Fitz Gerald wrote in late March 1919 that Harper “has never looked better” and that he “appears to be a certainty to have the best year of his career.” Instead, he had the worst, losing 21 games – more than any other pitcher in the league. Walter Johnson was 20-14, but Harper was 6-21, with an ERA of 3.72. He walked 97 batters and struck out only 87.

Three of Harper’s six wins were against the Boston Red Sox, and he lost three times to the Red Sox by scores of 2-0, 4-3, and 2-1. With a little run support, he could well have won at least two of those games. In the 49 innings he worked against Boston, he had a 1.65 ERA. The Red Sox were impressed. Two days before the end of the year, they traded for him. The Red Sox sent Braggo Roth and Red Shannon to Washington for Eddie Foster, Mike Menosky, and Harper. Harper was the main target in the trade. The Boston Globe thought the Red Sox got the better part of the trade and that, in the 24-year-old Harper’s case, “It would appear that he has the best part of his baseball career ahead of him.” For his part, Harper was thinking of quitting, and attending to his growing business in Hackensack. He was a holdout – he wanted a higher salary and he still refused to play on Sundays.

The 1920 Red Sox, now without Babe Ruth, finished fifth. Harper’s 3.04 ERA was one of the best on the staff (the team ERA was 3.82), but his 5-14 record was similar to that of the year before. He won his first two starts, then lost 10 straight decisions – and in those 10 losses his teammates produced a total of 14 runs. It’s hard to win games if there’s little or no offense. One of those games was against the Senators and neither Harper nor Walter Johnson allowed a run through six innings. The Senators scored once in the top of the seventh, but Johnson no-hit the Red Sox for a 1-0 win. Only one man reached base, on an error that marred an otherwise perfect game.

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