Continue reading »]]> May 19

1919 - The Nats are shutout in Detroit 6-0. The loss begins a season high 11 game losing streak that will drop the Sens into 7th place, where they will stay for the rest of the season, finishing 56-84.

1923 - After Walter Johnson gives up 3 runs in the 9th, Allan Russell relieves Johnson as the Senators defeat the Sox 6-4 at Comiskey. Johnson’s 2 run single in the top of the 9th proves to be the difference.

1925 - The Big Train’s bat does the talking again. Batting as a pinch hitter in the 9th, Johnson hits a game winning, opposite field homer in Cleveland as the Senators edge the Indians 4-3. Johnson becomes only the second right handed batter to clear the 45 foot right field wall at League Park. The Senators improve to 20-9 on the young season, 1 game back of Philadelphia, with the win.

1946 - The Nats broom the White Sox in a twinbill at Chicago. Pale Hose P Ted Lyons absorbs the 4-3 loss in the opener. In game 2, Mickey Vernon hits for the cycle as the Nats hit around Ed Lopat for a 7-1 victory.

1952 - Clark Griffith sells C Sherry Robertson, his nephew, to the Philadelphia A’s. Robertson will return to Washington in 1953 in a front office capacity.

1966 - In Cleveland, SS Ed Brinkman and P Mike McCormick hit back to back homers off Luis Tiant in the 5th. Washington wins easily, 7-2.

1968 - A triple dose of bad news for the Sens today in Detroit. First, Frank Howard‘s consecutive home run streak is halted at 6 games by Detroit’s Earl Wilson. Second, the Nats lose the game 5-4. Third, behind the home runs of Dick McAuliffe and future Hall of Famers Al Kaline and Eddie Mathews, the Nats are whitewashed in the nitecap of this doubleheader 7-0.

Senators Birthdays

Baldomero Pedro Fernandez (Merito) Acosta B May 19, 1896 D Nov. 17, 1963

Merito Acosta was one of the very early members of the Senators’ “Cuban Connection”, playing the outfield for Washington from 1913-1918, with a break in 1917. After 3 games with the 1918 Senators he went to Philadelphia to play for the Athletics. Used sparingly, his most active season was 1915 when he appeared in 72 games for Washington. However, his best year at bat was his last, when he hit .302, with 51 hits for the A’s. Merito Acosta is the brother of Jose Acosta, who pitched for the Senators in 1920 & 1921.

“Merito” Acosta career record

Jacob Willard (Jake) Early B May 19, 1915 D May 31, 1985

A catcher who played 9 years in the major leagues, Jake Early appeared in a Senators uniform from 1939-1943, then had his career interrupted due to military service in 1944 & 1945. He returned to the Senators in 1946. He was traded to the St. Louis Browns for catcher Frank Mancuso prior to the 1947 season. After playing for the Browns in 1947, he was purchased by the Senators and returned to Washington, finishing his career in 1949. His most active season was 1943 when he appeared in 126 games, his best year at the plate 1941 when he hit .287 with 10 home runs.

Jake Early career record

Hugh Henry (Hughie) Tate B May 19, 1880 D Aug. 7, 1956

Another “One Season Wonder” for the Senators, Hughie Tate‘s career consisted of appearing in 4 games in late September 1905 where he played left field and went 4 for 13 at bat with one triple, good for a .308 BA.

Hughie Tate career record

Continue reading »]]> May 18, 1968

Frank “”Hondo”" Howard blasts two home runs at Tiger Stadium to extend his streak to six consecutive games with a home run. The two home runs Howard hit off of the Tigers were his 9th and 10th home runs of the streak

During a six game stretch from May 12, 1968 to May 18, 1968 the 6’7″” tall and 270lbs Howard punished the opposing pitchers by hitting a Major League-record 10 home runs in a span of 20 at bats.

During Hondo’s six-game onslaught he managed to knock in seventeen runs and tallied 44 total bases.

Quick Facts:

Frank Howard led the Majors in 1968 in the following categories.

Home Runs – 44

Slugging Average – .552

Total Bases – 330

Continue reading »]]> May 18

1906 - In the 6th inning, Washington’s game against Chicago is interrupted when Senators P “Long” Tom Hughes goes after a heckler in the stands. The “Hitless Wonder” White Sox rout the Sens 10-0 in Washington.

1913 - Ty Cobb‘s steal of home in the bottom of the 7th is the only run that Walter Johnson allows as the Sens nip the Tigers 2-1.

1930 - The Nats lead in the AL is trimmed to 1 game as Lefty Grove and the Philadelphia A’s win 2-1 at Griffith. Sens P Lloyd Brown is the tough luck loser as he surrenders only 3 hits.

1954 - The Senators first visit to Baltimore since 1902 is a success as Mickey McDermott gets the victory in the 3-1 win.

1956 - 1B Pete Runnels goes 5 for 6, including hitting the go ahead single in the top of the 11th, as the Senators top Cleveland 5-4 in 11 innings. Sens C Clint Courtney raps 3 doubles in the game.

1964 - Sens CF Don Lock goes yard twice and drives in 4, but a costly error by Nats 3B Don Zimmer opens the floodgates for a Detroit rally in the top of the 9th. The Tigers go on to score 3 in the inning for a 7-6 Detroit victory.

1965 – Featuring a Frank Howard grand slam, the Sens drop 7 runs on Detroit in the top of the 5th as the Nats roll to a 15-9 win.

1967 - At RFK, Sens P Pete Richert shuts out the Orioles 2-0. 11 days later, Baltimore losing pitcher Frank Bertaina and O’s farmhand Mike Epstein will be traded to Washington for Richert.

1968 - Frank Howard concludes his record setting week by tying the AL record with homers in 6 straight games in the Senators 8-4 win at Detroit. His 10 homers in 6 games are a major league record, as is his 10 homers during a single week (Sunday through Saturday).

Senators Birthdays

Gilbert Fitzgerald (Gil) Coan B May 18, 1922 Still living

Gil Coan was an outfielder who player 11 years in the major leagues, getting his start with the Senators in 1946. He appeared in over 100 games a year from 1948 through 1952, managing back to back batting averages of .303 in 1950 & ’51. After a drop in production in 1953 he was traded to the newly relocated Baltimore Orioles for Roy Sievers. Gil spent 1954 and part of 1955 in Baltimore, also playing for the Chicago White Sox and the New York Giants that same season. His career came to an end in 1956 after only 4 games with the Giants in April of that year.

Gil Coan career record

Kenneth Lee Hamlin B May 18, 1935 Still living

Primarily a shortstop during his 7 year career, Ken Hamlin played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1957 & 1959, spent the 1960 season with the Kansas City Athletics, 1961 with the Los Angeles Angels before finishing his major league career with the Senators in 1962, 1965 & 1966. His most active season was 1960 when he appeared in 140 games for Kansas City. In 1965 he hit .273 with 4 home runs for the Senators.

Ken Hamlin career record

Continue reading »]]>

Baseball in the District, if you ask many fans it would begin and end with Walter Johnson, prior of course to the arrival of Harper and Strasburg. Oh they might throw in a couple of “No-Win’s” and “Tail-Enders” but Johnson, Harper and Strasburg are the focal points. Sad in a way because the District has a unique baseball history.

If say a baseball fan in 1860 was able to travel to 2012 and had just a few minutes he might ask about the teams of his period. The Excelsior Club of Brooklyn? The Atlantic Club of Brooklyn? The fan of today would not have a clue. But what if the fan of 1860 asked about the National Club of Washington, yes the fan of 2012 would say, they have Stephen Strasburg. Baseball has some unique names, the Cincinnati Reds, dates back to 1866 but few have had the staying power of the Nationals of Washington.

The name, Nationals, keeps coming back like the Phoenix rising from the ashes. The name, fitting for a team that plays in the Capital of the Nation. The name has a rich history. The great 1867 club. The golden age, from 1877 to 1880. The 1884 Union Association nine and the Champion 1885 Eastern League Nationals. In 1905, Thomas C Noyes tired with the Senators tag was happy to have the fans vote the Nationals back. One hundred years later baseball was back in the District and so was the name.

And the Senators, a name that has been rejected twice in one hundred years, where did that come from……In 1884 when Washington was a member of the Union Association the ballpark was located on a vacant lot just opposite the north wing, or Senate side of the Capitol, bounded by New Jersey, Indiana Ave and B Street NW. During the long sessions, US Senators would watch the game from the portico. It was so convenient that many of them often secured a pair – a parliamentary excuse for being absent – and walk over to the ballpark and watch the game. One local writer who had witnessed this referred to the Washington team as the “Senators.” The name as stuck ever since.[1]

Continue reading »]]> From the Mickey Vernon Museum, American League Baseball players drawn by Vic Johnson. This caricature of Vic Wertz is just one of a series of 19 caricatures of American League baseball players drawn by Vic Johnson during 1957.

This caricature of Vic Wertz and the the other 18, is taken from a composite collection of those illustrations and the personal signatures of virtually all of the players, managers, and coaches active in the American League during that year, done on a baseball-quality horsehide measuring 45 by 24 inches and collected by Mickey Vernon during the ’57 playing season.

This one-of-a-kind horsehide can be seen at the Mickey Vernon Sports History Museum in Chadds Ford, PA.  Contact Jim Vankoski at vankoski21@comcast.net for more information.

Continue reading »]]> May 17

1925 – At Cleveland, Tris Speaker picks up hit number 3,000 of his fabulous career, but the Senators spoil the occasion by winning 2-1.

1930 - The Nats trample Philadelphia 16-5. In the bottom of the 5th, OF Sammy West of the Sens hits a 3 run homer that causes a fan to have a fatal heart attack.

1935 - Should be Hall of Famer Buddy Myer goes 3 for 3, with 4 RBI, as the Sens hold off Detroit 10-8 in the nation’s capital.

1946 – Bob Feller strikes out 14 Washington batsmen as the Tribe shutouts the Nats 4-0 in game one of a doubleheader in Cleveland. Washington takes the 2nd game, 9-4, as the game is called in the 8th due to darkness.

1961 - In the House that Ruth Built, the Senators stave off a late inning rally by the Yanks and hold on for the 8-7 victory. Roger Maris hits just his 4th homer of the year and begins a stretch of hitting 24 HR in 38 games. Maris would, of course, hit 61 homers in 1961.

1968 - Sailing into the top of the 9th with a one hitter and a 2-1 lead, Tigers pitcher Joe Sparma gives up a leadoff single to Del Unser. One out later, Sparma faces the white hot Frank Howard. Hondo belts his 8th homer in 5 games to give the Sens a 3-2 lead.

But, unfortunately for the Nats, there was a bottom frame of the inning. P Dave Balwin gives up a leadoff single to Norm Cash. After a sac bunt moved PR Dick Tracewski to second, Nats manager Jim Lemon summons P Steve Jones in from the bullpen. Jones induces PH Mickey Stanley to hit a grounder to first for what would have been the second out, but Howard boots the grounder, putting Tigers at 1st and 3rd. Detroit promptly ties it up with game tying single from PH Jim Price. After Jones walks Dick McAuliffe to load the bases, the dangerous Jim Northup steps in. Northup deposits a Jones pitch for a game winning grand slam and a difficult 7-3 loss.

1971 - A seemingly harmless pop fly by Sens RF Tom McGraw to shallow left center results in a violent collision between Indians SS Jack Heideman, LF John Lowenstein and CF Vada Pinson. McGraw races around the bases for a solo inside the park homer, but the Senators still fall 6-3 at RFK. Heideman, Lowenstein and Pinson were all injured on the play and had to be taken out of the game.

References:

http://www.baseballlibrary.com/chron…month=5&day=17

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bo…96805170.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bo…97105170.shtml

Senators Birthday

Frank Russell Woodward B May 17, 1894 D Jun. 11, 1961

Frank Woodward pitched in the major leagues for 5 years with 4 teams. Starting with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1918, his baseball travels also took him to St. Louis (Cardinals), Washington and Chicago (White Sox). He was on the roster of the Washington Senators in 1921 and 1922 but only appeared in 4 games during those 2 years. His most active season was 1919 when he appeared in 34 games, split evenly at 17 games each in a Phillies and Cardinals uniform.

Frank Woodward career record

Continue reading »]]> The Mickey Vernon Sports History Museum, located in Delaware County, PA,  is a non-profit museum with the purpose of celebrating the life and career of Mickey himself and the athletes of his home county.  It is funded strictly by donations.

Mickey Vernon died on September 24, 2008.  Two months before he died, he and I were taking a trip to the Philadelphia A’s Historical Society to visit his old friend Ernie Montella the executive director.  While in the car, I asked him to proof read a card set that we were producing to celebrate his baseball career.  I was happy when Mickey gave his stamp of approval to the project and was glad to have the chance to correct two mistakes that he found.

Of course, neither of us realized at the time that two months later the cards would become a commemorative set of his life in baseball. This card of Mickey Vernon is the ninth card of a twelve-piece set that we now have available at our museum  The complete set can be obtained by sending a check for ten dollars, postage included,  to the Mickey Vernon Museum at One Beaver Valley Road, Chadds Ford PA 19317.  Make your check out to the Mickey Vernon Museum, and be sure to include your return address.  The sets can also be obtained through pay pal via our website at www.mickeyvernonsportsmuseum.com.   For more information, contact Jim Vankoski at 610-909-4919.

Continue reading »]]> May 16

1921 - Led by the bat of Ty Cobb, who pounds out 4 hits, scores 4 runs and swipes a base, the Tigers complete a 3 game sweep of the Nats in Detroit by a 17-11 score. Senators pitching gives up 33 runs in the series.

1930 - The Senators sweep a twin bill from the Philadelphia A’s 5-3 and 4-0 at Shibe Park. The wins move the Senators into first place ahead of eventual AL champion Philadelphia.

1933 - In a wild extra inning contest with Cleveland at Griffith Stadium, both squads combine to use a then ML record 11 pitchers as the Sens win 11-10 in 12 innings. SS Cecil Travis collects 5 hits in his ML debut.

1968 - Frank Howard continues his torrid hitting with his third 2 HR game in 4 games as the Sens defeat the Tribe in Cleveland 4-1. Howard, with his 2 homers, ties the AL record with 7 HR in 4 games (at least 1 homer in each game). LHP Barry Moore picks up his first victory of the season, with Dennis Higgins getting the save.

1969 - At Comiskey Park, 1B Mike Epstein slugs 3 home runs, but it is not enough as the Nats fall to the White Sox 7-6. The Sens overcome a 6-1 Sox lead, but Chicago’s Carlos May leadoff homer off Casey Cox in the bottom of the 7th is the difference maker. All the Senators runs are scored on home runs, as Frank Howard collects his 14th and PH Brant Alyea connects off the White Sox Wilbur Wood.

Reference: http://www.baseballlibrary.com/chron…month=5&day=16

Continue reading »]]> Bryce Harper ensured his place in Washington baseball history even before he became the youngest major leaguer since 1998 to hit a home run.

At 19 years, 211 days old, Harper isn’t even old enough to buy a drink to celebrate his more than 400-foot blast off San Diego Padres starter Tim Stauffer, which came in his 15th major league game and 54th at-bat, according to The Associated Press and SATS LLC. The homer not only added to his lore and endeared him to Nationals fans, it evoked memories of another vaunted prospect’s first home run, with not much more age and even less major league experience under his belt, almost 41 years earlier.

Like Harper, Jeff Burroughs was the first overall pick in the amateur draft, and like Harper, he was an expensive project. When the Washington Senators selected him in 1969, there were suggestions that Burroughs might have been the first million-dollar “bonus baby” had the Senators not secured his exclusive rights through the recently adopted draft system. At least that’s what former Atlanta Braves general manager Paul Richards told the New York Times’ Red Smith in this 1975 interview.

And while Burroughs never saw even proportionally the same kind of money that Harper is getting paid by the Nats ($3.65 million over five seasons), he was stuck with the label of “can’t miss prospect.” Senators manager Ted Williams, always looking for a prodigy who might succeed him as a .400 hitter, thought Burroughs just might be the kid. And the Senators, struggling in both the standings and at the gate in 1970, rushed him to the major leagues, at roughly the same age as Harper.

But at age 19, the “can’t miss” kid wasn’t ready. Not by a longshot. He collected just two hits, both singles, in his six-game “cup of coffee” from July 20 to July 30, his average never getting above .250. But exactly one year later, with the team starting to gain some momentum after a 26-47 start, Williams thought it was time. The Senators had won 15 of their last 22 games and three straight when Burroughs started in left field on July 20, and he responded with a hit, a walk and a run as the team extended its streak to four games with a 5-1 win over Milwaukee.

Three days later, the team hit the road for games in Chicago, Minnesota, Milwaukee and Detroit. Burroughs went 1-for 4 against the White Sox in a 6-5 loss in the first game of a doubleheader, but struggled afterward, collecting only one more hit in nine at-bats, playing only occasionally, as the team went 3-6.

The Senators slumped into Detroit on Aug. 2, having lost the last two of a four-game set in Milwaukee, and Burroughs had gone hitless in his only start against the Brewers and walked in a pinch-hitting appearance. But that night at cozy Tigers Stadium, Burroughs would have the biggest night of his big league career to that date and show the potential the team saw when it had taken him in the first round almost two years before.

The Tigers jumped all over Washington starter Pete Broberg. When Broberg wasn’t walking batters, the Tigers were lacing hits and taking taking extra bases on poor fielding plays. Broberg departed after giving up a bases-loaded, two-run single to Bill Freehan, having retired just one batter and given up four earned runs. The Tigers led 5-0 in the first after reliever Horacio Pina gave up an RBI single for ex-Senator Ed Brinkman.

The Senators stuck around though, and even after Willie Horton hit a two-run homer, trailed 7-2 going into the seventh against a tiring Tigers starter Joe Coleman. He yielded back-to-back, one-out walks to Dave Nelson and Don Mincher, and the runners advanced to second and third on Frank Howard’s groundout. Larry Bittner made it 7-4 by singling in Nelson and Mincher, and after Coleman Walked Dick Billings, Detroit manager Billy Martin had seen enough. He pulled Coleman and called in left-hander Ron Perranoski, who needed just one out to get out of the inning with the lead intact.

Williams played the matchup, pinch hitting the right-hand hitting Burroughs for left-hander Bernie Allen. Burroughs was just 20 years and 128 days old and was playing in his 14th major league game when he stepped to the plate for his 28th career at-bat, but it would be his most memorable to that point. He took Perranoski the other way, stroking a ball into the right field stands for his first career homer, a three-run shot that tied the game at 7.

Relievers Casey Cox and Joe Grzenda would let the Tigers off the hook, with the help of a two-run passed ball by Billings, while the Senators advanced only two men as far as second base the rest of the way. The Tigers won 11-7, but Burroughs had earned his reputation. As the team muddled through the end of its final season in the nation’s capital, Burroughs would become a regular outfielder, playing both left and right, finishing at .232 with five homers and 25 RBIs in 59 games.

Once the team moved to Texas, he was destined for even bigger things, winning the American League MVP award just three years later in 1974, when he hit .301 with 25 homers and led the league with 118 RBIs. In 16 major league seasons, he would amass 240 home runs. including 30 in 1973 with Texas and 41 in 1977 with Atlanta. He would twice drive in more than 100 runs in his 882-RBI career and make the All-Star team in each league.

The expectations for Harper are at least that big, if not bigger. Whether he will live up to them remains to be seen, but he’s already achieved more success, at a younger age, and with only a bit more big league experience than Jeff Burroughs, the Senators’ final “can’t miss prospect” before moving to Texas.

Continue reading »]]> 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

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