This Date in Washington Senators History – ’45 Senators pull within 4.5 games of 1st place

July 5

1915 – At Boston, Sox hurlers Rube Foster and rookie Babe Ruth blank the Nats in two, 4-0 and 6-0. The Babe hits his first career triple and scores 2 runs in the final game.

1917 – Frank Baker‘s inside the park homer off Walter Johnson is just enough for the Yankees to squeeze by the Nats, 5-4 at the Polo Grounds. It is Baker’s 5th lifetime home run off of the Big Train.

1920 – In the early bird tilt of a doubleheader at Griffith, Tom Zachary and the Senators down New York, 4-2. With a WashingtonSenators1227full house on hand anticipating an advertisEd Johnson start in the PM contest, Johnson is unable to go. Manager Clark Griffith selects rookie southpaw Al Schacht as Johnson’s replacement. Schacht does not give up a hit until the 4th and strikes Babe Ruth out with the bases juiced in the 9-3 Sens victory. (See June 15th for more details on Schacht)

1934 – Defeating the Nats single handed with 2 singles, 2 home runs and 7 RBI, Lou Gehrig leads the Yanks to a comfortable 8-3 victory in the Bronx. One of Gehrig’s 2 homers is an inside the park grand slam, his 17 career slam, which places the Iron Horse first on the all time grand slam list ahead of teammate Ruth.

1945 – The Senators complete a 4 game sweep of the Pale Hose in Comiskey with a 5-2 victory. In a tight American League pennant race, the Nats find themselves only 4.5 games back of front running Detroit.

1953 – A Sunday afternoon crowd of 27,685, the largest gathering of the year, witness the Senators sweep of the Yankees in a pair at Griffith. Two former Yanks pitchers do the Bombers in. Senator Bob Porterfield blanks his former team, 4-0, in the opener, while Johnny “Bear Tracks” Schmitz comes out the winner in the finale, 5-4.

1963 – Playing their best ball of this dismal season, the Senators knock off the Angels, 5-1, in RFK. The Angels are unable to solve Washington P Don Rudolph, who limits the Sens expansion cousins to 7 hits in a complete game victory. Eddie Brinkman is 2 of 3, with 2 RBI, to pace the Senators.

Senators Birthdays

Albert Kenneth Kozar B Jul. 5, 1921 D Sep. 6, 2007

Al Kozar started his baseball career with the Boston Red Sox organization in 1941. Before he had a chance to appear before the Fenway faithful in a Red Sox uniform, he was traded, in 1947, to the Washington Senators, along with Leon Culberson for Stan Spence.

Appearing for the Senators in 1948, 1949 and a portion of 1950, Kozar played 2nd base and hit .250 in 150 games in his rookie season. In 1949 he managed to raise his BA to .269 but only appeared in 105 games.

1950 found Kozar only playing in 20 games for the Senators when he was traded again, this time along with Eddie Robinson and Ray Scarborough to the Chicago White Sox for Bob Kuzava, Cass Michaels and Johnny Ostrowski. 10 more games for the White Sox in 1950 would mark the end of Kozar’s major league career.

Al Kozar career record

Irving Darius (Bump) Hadley B Jul. 5, 1904 D Feb. 15, 1963

Bump Hadley played in 16 major league seasons and was on the roster of 6 different major league teams, including two separate stints with the Senators. Hadley is another member of that group of 14 players who hold the “distinction” of having played with the Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Browns and Washington Senators.

Appearing in 1 game for the 1926 Senators, Hadley would remain on the Senators roster through the 1931 season. While in Washington, his best year was 1927 when he went 14-6 with a 2.85 ERA.

Traded to the Chicago White Sox, along with Jackie Hayes and Sam Jones for Carl Reynolds and Sam Kerr, Hadley would only appear in 3 games for the White Sox before being traded in late April to the St. Louis Browns.

Hadley would remain a Brownie through 1934.

In 1935, the Browns traded Hadley back to the Senators for Luke Sewell and cash. Hadley would go 10-15 for the 1935 Senators and was rewarded by being traded yet again, this time, along with Roy Johnson, to the New York Yankees for Jimmie DeShong and Jesse Hill.

Hadley would remain a Yankee from 1936 through 1940, appearing the in World Series of 1936, 1937 & 1939, where he would post a collective 2-1 record.

In 1941 he was purchased by the New York Giants. He played in just 3 games as a Giant and then was returned to the Yankees. One day later he was purchased by the Philadelphia Athletics. He would wind down his career with the A’s in 1941, posting a 4-6 record in 25 games.

“Bump” Hadley career record