NUMBER 10

Speak softly and carry a Big Stick

This past February at the D.C. Baseball History Winter Meeting the first hour of the meeting was set aside for the attendees to introduce themselves and to share a piece of their Washington baseball memorabilia with the group. I would say half of the 50 people who attended the meeting brought in some type of D.C. baseball memorabilia to the meeting

One of the attendees, Jeff Brown, brought in a Baseball Bat order from the Washington Senators. The team ordered the bats on January 11, 1968. I did not have time to get a closer look at the at the bat order at the meeting so I asked Jeff if he could send me a copy of the confirmation of the bat order. A couple days after receiving my request Jeff sent me the player’s bat orders.

The most interesting tidbit from the order is how much larger Frank “Hondo” Howard’s bat was than the rest of his team mates. For us Senators’ fans who remember watching the Senators games from the late 1960′s remember how Frank Howard would make his baseball bat look like a tooth pick as he would swirl his bat over his head in the batters box as the pitcher on the mound would go through his wind up.

For Howard he would always let his big bat do the talking.  During the 1968 season Howard would have his most productive season of career up to that point in time.

Washington Senators bat order 1968 – Jeff Brown

Washington Senators bat order – Jeff Brown

NUMBER NINE

Back where we started: Morse shipped to Seattle; AJ Cole comes home

The Nationals have completed the eagerly-anticipated Michael Morse trade, a three-team deal with the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics that will leave some of the major players with a sense of deja vu.

According to The Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore and other media outlets, Morse returns to his first big league organization,  Seattle, while the Nats get back A.J. Cole, one of the four players shipped to Oakland in the blockbuster deal that brought Gio Gonzalez to Washington. Oakland will also send minor league pitcher Blake Treinen and a player to be named to the Nats, while acquiring catcher John Jaso from Seattle.

Shortly after re-signing first baseman Adam LaRoche, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo acknowledged that Morse had become expendable because he had traded for speedy center fielder Denard Span, leaving no regular spot for Morse in the outfield or infield. He said at the time he was seeking controllable major league talent or prospects to restock the farm system.

It appears he got the latter in this deal, replenishing a pitching pool that was depleted with the departures of Cole, Brad Peacock an Tommy Milone in the Gonzalez deal, and Alex Meyer in the Span trade.

Cole, a 21-year-old right-hander, was the Nats’ fourth-round draft pick in 2010 and received a $2 million signing bonus. He went 4-7 with a 4.04 ERA and a 4.50 K/BB ratio in 2011 with Class-A Hagerstown. But after the trade, he struggled in Stockton, Oakland’s high-A affiliate in the offensively-oriented California League, going 0-7 with a 7.82 ERA and a 3.10 K/BB ratio, falling out of favor with the A’s. After stepping down to low-A Burlington in the Midwest League, he returned to form, going 6-3 with a 2.07 ERA and striking out 102 batters in 95 innings. His fastball is clocked in the high 90s, fitting the profile Rizzo likes to see in his pitchers.

Trienen, a 6-4, 24-year-old right-hander, is also known as a power pitcher who has hit 97 mph, according to oaklandclubhouse.com. He also pitched in Stockton last season and went 7-7 with a 4.37 ERA, walking just 23 batters in 116 innings. He pitched 27 innings the previous season in Burlington, walking just seven batters and posting a 3,67 ERA.

Of course, the man many Nats fans hated to see go was “The Beast,” Morse. Since coming to Washington in a 2009 deal for Ryan Langerhans, he has blossomed from a prospect with no set position into one of the top hitters in the National League, belting 67 homers, including 31 in 2011, when he found a home at first base filling in for the injured LaRoche. Last season, when he battled a torn lat muscle that kept him out for the first third of the season and various hand issues after returning to the lineup, he hit .291/.321..470 with 18 home runs in 102 games. His hitting has been consistent throughout his stay in Washington, never deviating much from his .294/.343/.514 average.

Morse’s defense, the one weakness that forced him out of the Washington outfield and kept him behind the Gold Glove LaRoche at first, may be a non-issue in Seattle, where he can play designated hitter.

Of course, Morse also endeared himself to fans at Nationals Park with his “Samurai Cobra Snake” warm-up swings and his walk-up music, the 1980′s syntho-pop song, “Take On Me,” which eventually got the whole park singing and trying to hit the high notes.

So what does this mean for the Nats moving forward? It looks like the team the Nats take to spring training will be the one that takes the field on opening day. Neither Drew Storn nor Tyler Clippard was packaged with Morse, so it looks more likely that both will be in the bullpen, in front of newly acquired closer Rafael Soriano, when the season opens. Zach Duke and Craig Stammen look like the long men. Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann and Ross Detwiler look to fill the rotation,leaving one or two spots in the bullpen up for grabs.

The outfield looks set, with Span in center, Jayson Werth in right and Bryce Harper moving to left. The infield includes LaRoche at first, Danny Espinosa at second, Ian Desmond at short, Ryan Zimmerman at third and a catching combo of Wilson Ramos and Kurt Suzuki.

Off the bench, the Nats will have Tyler Moore, Steve Lombardozzi, Roger Bernadina and Chad Tracy, with room for another bench player if the team decided to keep only 10 pitchers.

NUMBER EIGHT

This Date in Washington Senators History – Ted Williams returns to baseball full-time

NUMBER SEVEN

Ryan Zimmerman’s first 1,000 games

To some of you it may seem like yesterday when a young Ryan Zimmerman played in his first game as a Nat back on September 1, 2005. But in fact Zimmerman has played in 997 games for the Nationals. Ever since that first game Zimmerman has been the face of the franchise.

The 28 year-old Zimmerman will play in his 1,000th game for the Nats this Friday evening when the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals meet each other for the first time in the 2013 season.

During his 997 games with the Nats Zimmerman has been known as the Nats’ Mr. Clutch. The Nats’ 3^rd baseman has hit 8 walk-off home runs during his career. Two of the 8 walk-off homers were grand slams. Here is more information about Zimmerman’s walk-off heroics that I wrote about in a story I wrote in 2011 titled Ryan Zimmerman is Nats’ Mr. Clutch.

Of the eight career walk-off home runs Zimmerman has hit, six were hit off of division rivals, three against the Florida Marlins, two – his last two – against the Philadelphia Phillies and one against the Atlanta Braves.

It is simply amazing when you start to break down the numbers. Of the 21 home runs Zimmerman hit in RFK Stadium, three were walk-offs. The third baseman didn’t waste any time putting his mark on the Nats’ new ballpark. In the inaugural game at Nationals Park on March 30, 2008, a sellout crowd of 39,389 witnessed Zimmerman’s first walk-off home run in the new ballpark.

With two outs in the ninth inning Zimmerman crushed a line-drive, walk-off home run off of the Braves’ pitcher, Peter Moyland. The home run gave the Nats a 3-2 victory over the Braves. Since that cool evening in March, Zimmerman has hit four more walk-off home runs at Nationals Park.

I believe a lot of baseball fans across the country are starting to realize what Nats fans have known for six-plus seasons: that Zimmerman, the two-time Silver Slugger recipient, is one of baseball’s premier clutch hitters. If you don’t believe it, maybe these numbers will make you change your mind. Currently, Zimmerman has hit 125 career home runs, eight being walk-off home runs. Below is a list of the eight players that have hit 600 or more career home runs, with their homer totals and, in parentheses, their walk-offs.

Hank Aaron, 755 (9)
Barry Bonds, 762 (10)
Babe Ruth, 714 (12)
Willie Mays, 660 (6)
Ken Griffey Jr., 630 (5)
Alex Rodriguez, 626 (9)
Sammy Sosa, 609 (10)
Jim Thome, 601 (12)

With Zimmerman being only 26, there is real good chance he will challenge the following five Hall of Famers – and one future Hall of Famer – that are tied with 12 walk-off home runs: Babe Ruth, Jimmie Fox, Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, Frank Robinson and Jim Thome.

With Zimmerman being only 26, there is real good chance he will challenge the following five Hall of Famers – and one future Hall of Famer – that are tied with 12 walk-off home runs: Babe Ruth, Jimmie Fox, Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, Frank Robinson and Jim Thome.

Here are some more of Zimmerman’s achievements during his first 1,000 games.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• 8/5/2007
• 8/22/2011
• 7/23/2012

SILVER SLUGGER

• 2009: Washington
• 2010: Washington

RAWLINGS GOLD GLOVE

• 2009: Washington

ALL-STAR

• 2009: Washington

D.C. Baseball All-Time Hitting Records

D.C. Baseball Single-Season Hitting Records

NUMBER SIX

Sid Hudson blanks Yanks 1-0 on Babe Ruth Day

NUMBER FIVE

The Dummy Hoy Story

NUMBER FOUR

Walter Johnson’s 18-inning complete game shutout

On May 15, 1918 the Washington Senators’ pitcher Walter “Big Train” Johnson pitched a Major League Baseball record *18-inning complete game shutout, to defeat Claude “Lefty” T. Williams and the Chicago White Sox 1-0.

The fans at Griffith Stadium were treated to one of the greatest pitching duels in baseball history. After 9-innings the game was far from being over as the Big Train and Lefty found themselves in a 0-0 pitching duel. After 8 more innings the two teams were still locked up at 0-0.

In the bottom of the 18th inning the Big Train helped him-self when he registered the Senators eighth base hit off of Lefty. The single by the Big Train sent the Senators’ Eddie Ainsworth to third base. Maybe due to fatigue Lefty Williams went on to pitch a wild pitch to the next batter that allowed Ainsworth to score the winning run. This record breaking game only took 2 hours and 47 minutes to play.

Here are few things to note from this game.

* Claude Williams and Walter Johnson pitched complete games.
* There were no errors committed in the game.
* There were no substitutes during the game.

The shutout pitched by the Big Train was only one of the eight that he will pitch during the 1918 season. The Big Train went onto lead the Major League’s in the following categories in 1918.

* Wins:  23
* Strikeouts: 162
* ERA: 1.27
* Shutouts (tied):8

In 1918 the Big Train also won the American League’s and Major League’s Pitching Triple Crown. Winning the Triple Crown was nothing new to the Big Train as he won his first one in 1913. In 1924 the Big Train will record his 3rd American League Triple Crown.

* Carl Hubble tied Walter Johnson‘s 18-inning complete game shutout Major League record in 1933.

Washington Senators 1, Chicago White Sox 0

Day

Discrepancies

Game Played on Wednesday, May 15, 1918 (D) at Griffith Stadium

CHI A    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0  -   0 10  0
WAS A    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  1  -   1  8  0

BATTING

Chicago White Sox            AB   R   H RBI      BB  SO      PO   A
Leibold lf                    7   0   1   0       0   1       8   0
Murphy rf                     6   0   3   0       1   0       5   0
Weaver ss                     6   0   2   0       0   0       1   4
Gandil 1b                     7   0   0   0       0   0      16   0
S. Collins cf                 7   0   0   0       0   0       9   0
Risberg 2b                    7   0   1   0       0   2       5   4
McMullin 3b                   7   0   2   0       0   1       4   4
Schalk c                      6   0   1   0       0   0       4   0
Williams p                    6   0   0   0       0   5       0   2
Totals                       59   0  10   0       1   9      52  14

BATTING - 
2B: Murphy (1); Risberg (3).
SH: Weaver (7); Schalk (3).
Team LOB: 8.

Washington Senators          AB   R   H RBI      BB  SO      PO   A
Shotton rf                    7   0   1   0       0   0       0   0
Lavan ss                      7   0   0   0       0   0       4   6
Milan cf                      7   0   2   0       0   0       3   0
Shanks lf                     6   0   1   0       1   0      10   0
Judge 1b                      7   0   1   0       0   1      22   1
Morgan 2b                     5   0   0   0       1   1       2   6
Foster 3b                     7   0   1   0       0   0       0   3
Ainsmith c                    7   1   1   0       0   0      12   2
Johnson p                     7   0   1   0       0   1       1   1
Totals                       60   1   8   0       2   3      54  19

FIELDING - 
DP: 1. Lavan-Morgan-Judge.
PB: Ainsmith (7).

BATTING - 
HBP: Morgan (2).
Team LOB: 10.

PITCHING

Chicago White Sox            IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP
Williams L(5-2)              17.1   8   1   1   2   3   0  63

WP: Williams (2).
HBP: Williams (3).

Washington Senators          IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP
Johnson W(6-4)               18    10   0   0   1   9   0  62

Umpires: HP - George Hildebrand, 1B - Brick Owens

Time of Game: 2:50

The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by
Retrosheet. Interested parties may contact Retrosheet at "www.retrosheet.org"

NUMBER THREE

Nationals Need to Sell, Not Buy, at Trading Deadline

After the 2012 joyride, this season, flush with foolish proclamations like Davey Johnson’s “World Series or bust” comment and media publications, notorious for their poor accuracy, proclaiming the Nationals the likely World Series winner, the 2013 baseball season in Washington has felt like one long disappointment.

However, to the close observer, the seeds of an underachieving season were sewn well before Opening Day:

– the trade for Denard Span forced Bryce Harper into a new outfield position and altered the chemistry and reduced the power of a line-up that came into its own last season with Jayson Werth in the leadoff position. (The trade also cost Washington a promising young pitcher).

– Danny Espinosa’s refusal to get surgery to repair a torn left rotator cuff and the team’s  decision to play him regularly anyway saddled the team with a compromised ballplayer performing far below even replacement-level player quality. The Nationals should have learned from Adam LaRoche’s poor decision to try to play with a torn labrum in 2011. His and Espinosa’s statistics playing while injured are eerily similar.

LaRoche’s batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS slash line: (.172/.288/.258/.546)

Espinosa: .158/.193/.272/.465

– The decision to sign a new closer, Rafael Soriano, disrupted the roles of the incumbent bullpen members, causing an adjustment that took more than 70 games to settle.

– Ryan Zimmerman’s offseason shoulder surgery, while necessary, left him a compromised player – with less range, more throwing woe, and far less hitting power.

– The excruciating, inexcusable way the team kicked away Game 5 of the NLDS left understandable psychological scars, leaving a skittish, nervous team who failed in nearly every pressure situation the season’s first two months.

While all these factors argued against the Nationals being able to repeat their best-in-baseball 98 win performance of 2012, it still left a team capable of wins in the low 90s and competing for a spot in the post-season. Unfortunately, more trauma hit in this Murphy’s Law season:

– Dan Haren, his recent uptick aside, proved to be a disastrous #5 pitcher, performing at levels worse than a decent AAA player plucked from any roster in the majors.

– Injuries to Ross Detwiler and Stephen Strasburg, with no John Lannan available in Syracuse, forced the Nationals to rush not-quite-ready AA pitchers to the mound. Taylor Jordan looks passable, but he is in far over his head this season.

– Lengthy injuries to Bryce Harper (courtesy of a wall in Los Angeles and a dunderheaded decision to rush back to the field) and Wilson Ramos removed two of the team’s best hitters from the line-up, forcing bench players into action who failed as spectacularly in 2013 as they succeeded the year before.

– Nagging injuries to Jayson Werth left him off the field often enough to add to the dreadful offensive performance of the Nationals.

– Horrendous defense and baserunning have resulted in numerous big innings against the Nationals and squandered chances on the rare occasions they did rally. Twice in the past three weeks, the team has had runners on 2nd and 3rd or the bases loaded and nobody out and failed to score in tied or 1-run games that eventually ended in gut-wrenching losses.

So, now that the Nationals are back at the .500 level one game before the All-Star break (remember the years when fans would have celebrated such performance) and the trading deadline 17 days away, what should the Nationals do?

Should they buy or sell?

My opinion: It’s a no-brainer — sell?

The 2013 Nationals are too flawed to compete for the post-season. Their rotation is too thin, their hitting too weak, their bench too limited. To trade away prospects now would risk compromising what looks to be a very bright future for this franchise in what will prove to be a vain, pathetic reach for the post-season that will ultimately fail.

The farm needs more almost-ready major league quality players, not less. Now is the time to get them.

My suggestions:

– trade Span to a contending team in need of speed and defense in the outfield (St. Louis comes to mind, as does Texas). He has an affordable contract with two years left on it, so he could fetch some value.

– trade LaRoche to a team in need of left-handed power and defense (Texas is a clear need, Boston may want him as a Doug Mientkiewitcz clone)

– trade Soriano to a team in need of a closer (Boston again comes to mind and the Yankees may want him back as a set-up man).

– if anyone will take him, trade Haren. If not, just let him play out his one-year deal and show him the door.

These players might not fetch much in trades, but, depending on needs and injuries, they will yield some value, free up space for younger players to learn their craft, and provide more cash to spend on less splashy, more sensible free agents next year such as Michael Morse (for the record, I think the Morse trade was fine and a huge win for the Nationals on the strength of Ian Krol alone).

With these trades, the Nationals can put younger players back into familiar roles such as Storen and Clippard sharing closing duties and to move Bryce Harper back to centerfield. It does create holes in left field and at first base, but the Nationals have in-house possibilities for 2014 (teach Zach Walters how to play the outfield, Matt Skole at first base) as well as an always ample free agent market.

With youngsters like Robbie Ray, Nathan Karns, Jordan, Christian Garcia, and others on the way, pitching looks to be in good shape. Hitters such as Brian Goodwin and Jason Martinson are coming soon from Harrisburg as well. Baseball is a young man’s game, so start clearing the way for the youngsters now.

From the day they purchased the team, the Lerner family proclaimed they wanted a team that could win year-in and year-out, not just one season of glory followed by years of losing (see – Florida Marlins). They veered from that philosophy this season by trading a prime prospect for a guy who looks more like Nook Logan every day and by spending $40 million for free agents past their primes (Haren, Soriano, LaRoche).

It is time to get back to the core philosophy of building a sustainable winner. Write 2013 off now as a disappointment. Get younger, hungrier (and, I might add, a lot more humble) and more talented in 2014. Start planning for that day now.

Fine prospects are coming soon. More can be had by selling off limited, but useful veterans to teams desperate to make a one-year grab for glory.

–
Stephen J. Walker
Author: A Whole New Ballgame: The 1969 Washington Senators
Publisher: Pocol Press
www.pocolpress.com
Steve@StephenJWalker.com

NUMBER TWO

MASN MAKES FIRST ERROR OF THE SPRING

I realize that Peter Angelos owns the MASN cable TV network and therefore is out to shaft the Nationals any way he can. Just look at the meager rights fees the Nats have received in recent seasons, although negotiations are under way to restructure financial matters more equitably.

Having said that, let’s toss MASN a hardball question: Why in hell isn’t the station televising Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener between the Nats and Mets?

Given the Nats’ MLB-best 98-64 record and NL East championship last season and their sky’s-the-limit hopes for 2013, the game might have attracted MASN’s biggest exhibition audience ever — particularly with Stephen Strasburg on the mound. I know I would have watched.

Asked by e-mail why he and analyst F.P. Santangelo won’t be working this weekend, veteran play-by-play man Bob Carpenter replied, “[That’s] way above my pay grade.” Which means he doesn’t get it either.

The Grapefruit opener isn’t even on radio, although Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler will be doing Sunday’s game against the Marlins on 106.7-FM. The first of six telecasts from Florida won’t come until the evening of Feb. 28 against the Mets.

So I guess I’ll spend most of this weekend shivering (but hopefully not shoveling) and waiting a while longer for the first signs of spring. To quote former D.C. sportscaster Warner Wolf, a big fat Boo of the Week for MASN.

NUMBER ONE

Chuck Hinton (1934-2013): An Appreciation

Chuck Hinton was indeed, one in a million. I first met Chuck in the mid-1990s while I was writing my book on the expansion Senators. I asked him if he would allow me to interview him for the book. I was surprised and thrilled when he said, “yes.” This was one of my first “up-close and personal” meetings with a former major league baseball player and I began the interview with more than a slight case of nerves. Frankly, I was in awe to be sitting across from the last Washington Senators player to hit .300 and someone I cheered for during my early teens when Chuck patrolled the outfield at Griffith Stadium and the new D.C. Stadium. Chuck made me feel that no question was too trivial, and we spent what must have been the better part of an hour talking about his eleven-year career with the Senators, Indians and Angels. But there was much more to Chuck Hinton than his career as a major league baseball player.

For 28 years, Chuck was the head baseball coach at Howard University. During his career at Howard, Chuck coached such media luminaries as Gus Johnson of CBS Sports and Glenn Harris of News Channel8 in Washington. During Chuck’s tenure, Howard established records for most games won and most MEAC championships. All of the Howard championships came while Chuck was working full-time for the D.C. Department of Recreation as a Roving Leader to D.C.’s at-risk youth. As if those accomplishments weren’t enough, Chuck, Jim Hannan and Fred Valentine were the forces behind the establishment of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association. Thanks to the MLBPAA’s efforts, former major leaguers who previously were declared ineligible for pensions because they lacked the necessary years of major league service, are now receiving pension checks. I was in awe not only of a baseball player, but of someone who tirelessly gave of himself.

The Chuck Hinton that I had watched as a child became the Chuck Hinton of my adult life. We ran into each other several times over the years at a variety of venues from Bethesda Big Train baseball games to (of all places) Arena Stage where Tom Holster, Hank Thomas, Chuck and I served as “historical advisors” for Arena Stage’s 2005 production of “Damn Yankees.”

Chuck was a guest at two of the Washington Baseball Historical Society’s player reunions that were called “Nats Fests.” He was a frequent guest at memorabilia shows and charitable events around the D.C. area and beyond.

Whenever our paths crossed, Chuck would always greet me with a warm smile, a handshake and ask the same question: “When are you going to have another one of those reunions?”  He seemed to have the rare quality of making everyone he met feel like a good friend. On Opening Night at Nationals Park in 2008, I was on the upper concourse when I heard someone shout, “Hey Jim!” I turned around and there was Chuck, smiling, as usual. The simple fact that he would take the time to say hello to me completely blew me away. But that was Chuck Hinton.

The baseball seasons passed and the Nationals were playing poorly, but Chuck was often at the ballpark, sitting in the final row behind Section 110. I always took the time to stop by and say hello, and we would talk about the Nats and any other thing that came to mind. But during the 2012 season, every time I stopped by Section 110 to say hello, Chuck was not in his usual spot. I prayed that he wasn’t having a recurrence of health issues that had bothered him in previous years.

When Chuck decided to write his autobiography, “My Time At Bat,” in 2002, I spoke often with his daughter Kimberly who was handling the publication of the book. I offered her any help I could provide to make the process easier and offered any publicity she needed in “Nats News.” When I received an e-mail from Kimberly on Monday morning and saw the subject line, I felt an immediate sense of loss. My fears had been confirmed. Kimberly wrote that her father had passed away on Sunday, January 27.

Chuck Hinton was a kind, gentle man who made a difference in the lives of everyone he met. I know that whenever I walk past Chuck’s section at Nationals Park, I’ll still be looking for him.